Bobby Moresco to Direct ‘Ferrari vs Mercedes,’ Latest Italian Auto Racing Movie Produced by Andrea Iervolino (EXCLUSIVE)

Oscar-winning writer-director Bobby Moresco (“Crash”) is set to direct “Ferrari vs. Mercedes,” the latest movie set in Italy’s vintage auto racing world – following Moresco’s “Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend” and Micheal Mann’s “Ferrari” – being produced by Andrea Iervolino.

Just like “Lamborghini,” which in the U.S. went straight to Amazon Prime Video, “Ferrari vs. Mercedes” is being produced by Iervolino’s ILBE Group, in which he is partnered with Monika Bacardi.

Besides serving as lead producers on “Lamborghini,” and also being among producers of Mann’s “Ferrari” – which focusses on a specific short period of Enzo Ferrari’s life and career – ILBE last March announced they are developing a “Maserati” biopic about the family behind the high-performance automobiles that, along with Ferrari and Lamborghini, Italy is known for.

So ILBE have now covered the full range of movie opportunities provided by Italy’s glorious auto racing heritage.

“Ferrari vs. Mercedes” is being described as a journey back in time to an era when Mercedes dominated the motor racing world unchallenged.

“Against this backdrop of powerful cars and aggressive drivers, Enzo Ferrari emerges, a young novice driver with an obsessive passion for engines and speed, whose only desire is to beat Mercedes’ formidable rivals,” according to the project’s provided synopsis.

“With ‘Ferrari vs. Mercedes’ we will be proud to bring to movie theatres an Italian success story [the story of Enzo Ferrari] that, starting out purely with ambition, has achieved glory all over the world,” said Andrea Iervolino, CEO of Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment, in a statement.

Iervolino added that “One of the most exciting aspects of ‘Ferrari vs Mercedes’ will be the possibility of uniting top Italian talents with great international actors.” This is a clear reference to polemics recently prompted in Italy by the fact that Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” features a mostly non-Italian cast led by Adam Driver, who plays Enzo Ferrari, and Penélope Cruz as his wife Laura. Italy when “Ferrari” premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

Last week, after “Ferrari” premiered at the Venice Film Festival, Italian A-list actor Pierfrancesco Favino – who was at Venice with two Italian films “Comandante” and “Adagio” – blasted the “cultural appropriation” inherent in the fact that in Mann’s movie Driver played Enzo Ferrari claiming that role should have gone to an Italian actor.

“This film will be a unique showcase for our extraordinary national talent and will demonstrate that Italy is an inexhaustible source of creativity and skill in the world of cinema,” Iervolino pointed out in the statement.

“We would be very happy to collaborate, in this new production of ours, with top Italian actors, capable of working alongside international stars in a film that has the potential to be seen worldwide. We would also be delighted in this sense to forge partnerships with the most important institutional and entrepreneurial representatives of the [Italian film] sector,” he continued.

Now it will be interesting to see who will play Enzo Ferrari in Moresco’s movie and whether an Italian company, such as Italy’s RAI Cinema which finances the bulk of local productions, will respond to Iervolino’s invitation and come on board “Ferrari vs Mercedes.”

Best of Variety

• 'Game of Thrones' Filming Locations in Northern Ireland to Open as Tourist Attractions

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.