Penélope Cruz and Adam Driver have been spotted in Italy shooting the Michael Mann (Heat) film Ferrari. The film is a drama surrounding the life racing and automotive legend, Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver), and his wife Laura (Penélope Cruz).

Ferrari has been trying to get off the ground for the better part of two decades. Even recently it looked like it wouldn’t happen when STX, the studio behind the film, faced financial difficulties. The studio was saved thanks to the studio being sold to Najafi Companies.

The film is set during the summer of 1957. Enzo Ferrari finds himself in a financial crisis as bankruptcy threatens his company that he and his wife, Laura, built just ten years ago. Not only is their financial situation precarious, so is their marriage as they mourn the loss of one of their sons and struggle to acknowledge the other. To counter his losses, Ferrari bets it all on one race, the Mille Miglia, a 1,000-mile race across Italy.

Italian press reports have stated that large parts of Maranello, the home of Ferrari, was closed to traffic assumedly for filming purposes. Modena, the nearby city, had its main street (Corso Canalgrande) closed off as it underwent a process to make it look like it did in 1957.

Alongside Driver and Cruz, the cast is stacked. It includes Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy, Enchanted), Shailene Woodley (Fault in Our Stars, Big Little Lies) Jack O’Connell (Unbroken, Godless), Sarah Gordon (11.22.63, Alias Grace), and Gabriel Leone (Eduardo and Monica).

In 2017, the titular role was to be played by Hugh Jackman with Noomi Rapace as his wife. Rapace was no longer involved by 2020 and Jackman left the project in February 2022. In 2015, Christian Bale was attached to the role but he exited the film due to concerns surrounding the weight requirements for the role as he couldn’t gain weight healthily in the short time required.

Michael Mann is directing with a script by Troy Kennedy Martin (The Italian Job) and revised by Mann and David Rayfiel (The Firm). It’s based on the book Enzo Ferrari, The Man, The Cars, The Races by Brock Yates. This has been a passion project for Mann who, according to some reports, has been trying to make this movie in 1993 with Robert De Niro attached to star (this is unsubstantiated). More recent dates for this state it the project has been gestating for 15 years with the initial involvement of Sydney Pollack (Eyes Wide Shut).

Ferrari will be released worldwide by STX Entertainment however a release date has yet to be announced.