ENGThe Michael Mann interview: on Ferrari, Adam Driver, and Ukrainian heritage

– First off, let me ask – how does it feel to have your dream come true and finally release this film after so many years in the making?

– It’s a brilliant piece of writing by Troy Kennedy Martin that takes us behind the inscrutable facade of this icon into an absolutely tumultuous, operatic set of conflicts in the private life, a deep dive in the private life. And it resonated with me, always, as something powerfully human, the way people are and behave, and the decisions they make in unique ways in reality, as opposed to the kinds of conflicts that we’re used to in movies. The contradictions that we all have don’t typically resolve the way they do in movies. We take our contradictions to the grave with us, okay? [he laughs] 

That quality of the story was exciting to me in 1995. At various times I considered abandoning it, but then I got the script, got to page two or three, and I was into it, all over again. It’s the brilliant quality of the writing and the drama that kept me in it. 

But the first day of shooting, the first real day of production, is day one. It’s not a 25-year-old [project], it feels like the first day. Because everything else prior to that, when you’re developing it, it’s all a theory of how it would be to make this film. It’s the making of the film that is really exciting. 

– You’ve touched on the genesis of this project, but was there anything personal for you in this script? It’s almost a cliche to compare a director’s job with any other job that involves managing a lot of people, but I couldn’t help but feel that there were a lot of similarities between what Enzo Ferrari’s and a film director’s job entails. Do you see yourself in some parts of Enzo’s story? 

– I think I’m interested in the ferocious impulse to do something, to build something. To pursue something outside of yourself. In Ferrari’s case it’s that addictive quality of racing. He started out as a race car driver, now he’s building his own race cars. He calls it “my terrible joy”, “a dangerous passion”.  

In that sense, there’s a commonality between Adam Driver trying to act to a degree of excellence and transform himself not only into an Italian in 1957, but someone from a Modena culture. For me it’s trying to make this film, trying to be a film director. It’s always a challenging adventure on some sort of a frontier. And Enzo, when asked what car is his favorite, his answer was always the same: “The next one”. So in that sense there’s a commonality. But that’s what gives an access into the character. 

– You mentioned Adam Driver, what a terrific job he does with this part. I was actually reminded by your quote about Will Smith in Ali: “He made a decision to be [Muhammad] Ali”. It seems that Adam also made a decision to be Enzo Ferrari, not just play this part. Is there a comparison with what Adam and Will did when they played these parts? Or was that a different process?

– I think, yeah, there is. Both [parts] are very challenging and very difficult, you better get it right. [he laughs] It’s an audacious task, it’s not for the faint of heart, it’s not for actors who are a little bit insecure. You have to be really secure as an actor and really trusting in the director, I guess, that we’re going to get all the way there. Because it’s really a long way, it’s a big leap, to think right, move right, feel right, to understand that culture, to be able to be spontaneous in reacting to things that come from the politics, culture and system of 1957 in Modena in Italy. 

And for Will, the jeopardy was even stronger, in a way, because he’s African American, and within American culture, if you presume you’re going to take on Muhammad Ali, you really better get it right. And Will’s attitude was that at that age, at 33, he was either going to play Ali or not… And Ali had approval over the director, me, and also over Will, he was actively involved in pre-production and when we were shooting.