Featured Image Credit: Tommaso Boddi/ Stringer/ Neon
Topics: Film and TV, Cars, Celebrity, US News, World News
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Film and TV, Cars, Celebrity, US News, World News
Adam Driver has said he'd like to experiment with another genre post Ferrari.
The comment comes as Driver is set to appear on the big screen in the action-packed racing film this Christmas.
Driver, Penélope Cruz and Shailene Woodley steer the cast in raw and captivating performances, accelerating viewers at full-throttle into the personal lives of those in the Ferrari motoring empire.
The film also lifts the lid on the darker side of racing, the sport depicted in a 'horrific' way, Driver reflects.
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And after tackling such an intense film and intricate role, it's no surprise the actor's looking to switch lanes for his next project, Driver telling UNILAD a particular genre he's interested in pursuing. Catch a look at the interview here:
Driver notes one of the 'best parts about acting is [having] forced empathy for an extended period of time'.
And playing Enzo Ferrari - the promiscuous founder of the Italian luxury sports car manufacturer, haunted by his past and conflicted over the need to win versus simply relishing in his passions - he certainly had to go deep into the character's mentality.
Driver also reflects how 'a lot of people don't have the luxury [to have that forced empathy] because they're too busy surviving and working'.
"That's the one of the biggest luxuries, is understanding someone else's perspective and culture," he continues.
Saying that, it doesn't mean Driver wouldn't like to try another genre which takes the pedal off the intensity slightly.
Driver tells UNILAD: "I like all [...] different kinds of genres. [...] For me, it's a filmmaker's medium. [...] so I kind of follow that.
"I would like to do a comedy though. Penelope and I have been talking about it. I'm trying to make a joke here now."
Reflecting on his roles in films such as Marriage Story and Ferrari - both with intense themes surrounding family - Driver admits those movies can be 'kind of taxing'.
He continues: "They require you to kind of give something up of yourself, to the cast members and to the director.
"You can't hide when you're in movies like that, because you kind of have to make it personal to you.
"So it'd be nice - not that comedies aren't personal - if it was just a little lighter sometimes."
And while Ferrari is indeed heavy, the film only feels revved up a gear by the prickling presence of Enzo's wife Laura (Cruz) and his mistress Lina (Woodley).
They say behind every great man there's a great woman, but in this case, there's two. And two much more complex, dynamic and intriguingly written characters as well.
Laura passed away in 1978, but what does Cruz think she would make of her performance if she could see it?
Cruz tells UNILAD she loves 'getting in the skin, of the shoes of somebody else and experiencing a scene live from that point of view' and hopes if Laura could 'see Ferrari from somewhere out there, she will at least realise that we try to find some truth'.
Woodley - who views acting as 'a form of therapy' - adds: "It's not just the person who I think we all hope to honor and hope they would feel like we've done them justice, but it's all of the people that that person touched [too]."
And Driver resolves: "It's impossible to honor everybody's idea of what they thought that person would be.
"So you have to stick to our version, and what [director] Michael [Mann] wants to portray and what the script says.
"But I will say if Penelope Cruz and Shailene Woodley were portraying me in a movie, I would be thrilled."
Indeed, Cruz, Driver and Woodley all thrill in Ferrari, successfully spurring on their characters' development with powerful performances.
However, despite the driving force of the cast - and Ferrari literally being about speedy racing cars - the pace and plot of the rest of the film feels as if it's simply ploughing along, holding out for the toe-curlingly graphic events of 1957 to be depicted towards the end.
Nevertheless, even if you don't have the foggiest idea who Enzo is or the faintest interest in cars - I'm guilty on both accounts - Ferrari's themes of pride, grief, sacrifice, control and regret are ones of which we can all relate - even if most of the film feels a bit too much like a parade lap.
Ferrari arrives in cinemas on 26 December & on Sky Cinema next year.