Michael Fassbender: Road to Le Mans – The Film

Michael Fassbender: Road to Le Mans – The Film

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alisdairm

Original Poster:

242 posts

162 months

Tuesday 12th December 2023
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFvQbWRxajc

"Road to Le Mans - The Film tells the story of Michael Fassbender’s dream to race against the best teams and drivers in the world at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This is the final chapter of the story following Michael’s journey to compete at the world’s ultimate motorsport event."

I've not watched it yet, but will put it on over the weekend.

Aysedasi2

503 posts

18 months

Tuesday 12th December 2023
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Thanks for the link. Just watched the whole thing. Despite being primarily about Fassbender's LM 'journey', it's one of the best LM race documentaries I've seen. Worth an hour and a half of anyone's time. smile

flatlandsman

764 posts

8 months

Tuesday 12th December 2023
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I was very disappointed at the end, when he keeps talking about finally he felt he was there, yet still wrote the damn thing off near the end, and seemed to disregard the other guys who had worked their arses off to get back time he had lost, because finally he found out he could drive the thing to a high limit after two years trying.

I enjoyed the series more, this was not as good, and it is time to end it now, he has proven himself a capable driver but not good enough to deal with a race like this especially mentally.

Aysedasi2

503 posts

18 months

Wednesday 13th December 2023
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flatlandsman said:
I was very disappointed at the end, when he keeps talking about finally he felt he was there, yet still wrote the damn thing off near the end, and seemed to disregard the other guys who had worked their arses off to get back time he had lost, because finally he found out he could drive the thing to a high limit after two years trying.

I enjoyed the series more, this was not as good, and it is time to end it now, he has proven himself a capable driver but not good enough to deal with a race like this especially mentally.
I don't think he disregarded them at all, quite the opposite. I'm not sure he actually lost a lot of time, other than that which will inevitably be lost by an amateur driver. Taking some while to get into the rhythm is far from unusual. Having not caught much of the series, I enjoyed this immensely, perhaps in part because things are pretty quiet with 6 months still to go.

flatlandsman

764 posts

8 months

Wednesday 13th December 2023
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My over riding impression when he came back was him vibing massively about finally being on the pace and getting it, yet his team mates were obviously gutted they had not finished.

this might have been direction, it is a show about him clearly, but it came across that he was more satisfied about his last stint being better than not finishing, and I have watched all of the shows and this film, so maybe this was the case sadly. Plus there was a lot of stuff about him getting out of cars and into karts, so maybe that is more his style, I siply think LM was too much for him.

Aysedasi2

503 posts

18 months

Thursday 14th December 2023
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I think he was just putting the best spin (no pun intended) on it from his personal perspective. It was a very disappointing end to a race where they could have got a podium. It seemed to me that it was the team manager who was most gutted at the outcome. For the likes of Rump and particularly Lietz, failures like that are just part of the deal when you run as a pro in an AM team. As to ability, clearly there are better amateur drivers, but there have also been many far worse. I assume that Michael will now call it a day as far as LM is concerned.

RL17

1,231 posts

94 months

Thursday 14th December 2023
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Was the whole project more about videos (named Road to Le Mans starting over 4 years ago) and the publicity for Porsche and Le Mans for a US market?

Based on finishing 11th in ELMS in 2022 (4th in 2021 & 11th this year) they were at centenary for publication reasons.

His commitment in time and money ( even just lost film earnings) in fully committing for 4 full seasons from April to October and moving to Portugal is huge.

Seeing some of the short video series you can understand his feelings about about his driving in this years Le Mans (as it justifies the whole process) but there are loads of examples of him expressing feelings for teammates when things have gone wrong too.

flatlandsman

764 posts

8 months

Thursday 14th December 2023
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I enjoyed the series format, did not enjoy the movie like this so much, he seemed to developed less, and therefore struggled still hugely mentally with racing, as he did the first time round when he almost broke down.

He clearly has ability but clearly did not have the mental strength to cope with racing at the biggest races, I feel chucking him into a few WEC races might have helped but I guess they thought ELMS was enough.

But overall a an interesting project, I would love to know if he himself helped to fund it or if it was all done viz Porsche marketing knowing the likely potential for interest.

My over riding theme though was of others feeling helpless to help him, trying to, but him wallowing in self pity a little, understandable if you ploughed your life into it, i think it probably shocked him!! But that feeling pervaded all the LM shows, not the other programs.

Kev_Mk3

2,781 posts

96 months

Friday 15th December 2023
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Series was brilliant, Film seemed a bit rushed but grateful for Porsche to make this.

Aysedasi2

503 posts

18 months

Friday 15th December 2023
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Kev_Mk3 said:
Series was brilliant, Film seemed a bit rushed but grateful for Porsche to make this.
I think I probably benefited from not watching the series. I thought the film was excellent.

Dynion Araf Uchaf

4,461 posts

224 months

Friday 15th December 2023
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flatlandsman said:
I enjoyed the series format, did not enjoy the movie like this so much, he seemed to developed less, and therefore struggled still hugely mentally with racing, as he did the first time round when he almost broke down.

He clearly has ability but clearly did not have the mental strength to cope with racing at the biggest races, I feel chucking him into a few WEC races might have helped but I guess they thought ELMS was enough.

But overall a an interesting project, I would love to know if he himself helped to fund it or if it was all done viz Porsche marketing knowing the likely potential for interest.

My over riding theme though was of others feeling helpless to help him, trying to, but him wallowing in self pity a little, understandable if you ploughed your life into it, i think it probably shocked him!! But that feeling pervaded all the LM shows, not the other programs.
there's absolutely no chance he didn't get paid for it.
Big name, million plus views on the tube, he gets paid for sure.
The only question is whether its via a production company or porsche them selves

eps

6,297 posts

270 months

Friday 5th January
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Great documentary smile really enjoyed the insight into the behind the team decision making.