Featured Image Credit: Stefania D'Alessandro/WireImage. Neon
Topics: Film and TV
Stewart Perrie
The biopic about the origins of the legendary Ferrari car brand has been given a rockstar reception at the Venice International Film Festival.
Adam Driver stars as Enzo Ferrari, the Italian motor racing driver and entrepreneur who founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team.
He has completely transformed his appearance for the role to accurately portray the racing legend.
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The synopsis is listed as: "Ferrari is set during the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle and danger of 1950’s Formula 1, ex-racer, Enzo Ferrari, is in crisis.
"Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for their one son.
"Ferrari struggles with the acknowledgement of another. His drivers' lust to win pushes them out to the edge. He wagers all in a roll of the dice on one race, the treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia."
Michael Mann is directing the film and it's based on the 1991 biography Enzo Ferrari: The Man and the Machine.
After premiering in Venice, the film got a six-minute standing ovation, according to Variety.
The outlet claims Driver 'fought back tears at the tragic conclusion of the film' and the director helped him up to 'receive the applause for the Italian-set film'.
Venice's annual event was missing a lot of its star power due to the ongoing actors and writers strike in Hollywood.
People supporting or participating in the strike action have banned themselves from talking about past, current or future projects.
Ferrari is an exception to the rule because it's an indie movie from distributor Neon and therefore its permitted to be promoted.
However, Penelope Cruz, who plays Laura Ferrari in the biopic, was noticeably absent from the Venice Film Festival.
It seems as though critics are rallying behind Ferrari as the first set of reviews come through.
Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson said: "It’s been a long wait to see another of Mann’s muscular visions on the big screen, and while Ferrari is perhaps more muted than some might hope for, it’s a pleasure to watch the filmmaker explore some new styles and timbres."
Matthew Turner from Action Reloaded added: "Adam Driver is on typically splendid form here, nailing Ferrari’s distinctive accent and creating a complex, charismatic character, torn in several different directions."
While Rolling Stone's Marlow Stern wrote: "There is an unstoppable force at the center of Michael Mann’s Ferrari. It is fast, fierce, and wildly unpredictable. One moment it has you in the throes of ecstasy; the next, fearing for your life... I’m talking, of course, about Penélope Cruz."
It current has an 80 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Ferrari is slated for release on Christmas Day this year.