Thursday 3rd November 2022

Lamborghini biopic trailer lands ahead of release

The Man Behind The Legend seeks to tell the story of Italy's other great automaker

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Car fans are typically (and somewhat curiously) an underworked audience in cinematic terms. Sure, there have been some humdingers over the years, mostly in the motorsport genre - and plenty of films featuring stellar car-based sequences - but Hollywood is only rarely inclined to tell the human stories behind the industry, despite no lack of characters to choose from. Ford vs Ferrari, a film blessed with both acting talent and abundant funding, is obviously a break from that tradition, and while it was by no stretch of the imagination perfect (or historically accurate) it does seem to have provoked imitation. 

Most notably in the form of ‘Lamborghini: The Man Behind The Legend’ a film that has been languishing on the backburner for years, but is now suddenly due for release on Nov 18th. Now, assessing quality based on a two-minute trailer isn’t terribly fair, but we’re probably not risking our necks by suggesting that Frank Grillo - in the role of Ferruccio Lamborghini - is no Christian Bale. And while director Robert Moresco is a confirmed Academy Award winner (for co-writing Crash with Paul Haggis) it’s probably fair to say he hasn’t taken Hollywood by creative storm since then. 

Nevertheless, we’re going to ignore the cod accents and ample evidence of the dramatic tension being overly reliant on Gabriel Byrne winking, and hope for the best here because there’s absolutely no question that the Lamborghini story is one worth telling. The man was one of those extraordinary multi-faceted entrepreneurs who emerged in Europe after the Second World War, and his grouchy relationship with Enzo Ferrari is a matter of historical record. Whether we’ll get a proper warts-and-all tale remains to be seen, but evidently the film builds toward the launch of the Countach in 1974. 

For lovers of irony, there’s a fair chance that the film of Lamborghini’s life will be overshadowed in time by the film of Enzo’s life. Michael Mann (the mastermind behind 'Heat' among others) has been nursing a biopic through development hell for more than twenty years, and is at last filming ‘Ferrari’ in Italy as we speak with Adam Driver wearing the sunglasses. Based on Mann’s impressive track record and the money required to cast a white-hot A-lister in the lead role, we’re going to go out on a limb and say that might end up being the biopic we’ve all been waiting for. But Lamborghini and Grillo go first. 

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[Robertb]

Looks fun, shall certainly go and see it!

The Mondial 8 vs Countach race should be interesting for a start. Surely a BB or Daytona would be a proper sparring partner.

[Turbobanana]

Robertb said:

Looks fun, shall certainly go and see it!

The Mondial 8 vs Countach race should be interesting for a start. Surely a BB or Daytona would be a proper sparring partner.

Quite. The Mondial wouldn't see which way the Countach went.

I wonder how they'll handle the pronunciation of "Countach".

[boholoblanka]

the main character looks like Jon Hamm

[LotusOmega375D]

Yeah, that’s a Lamborghini Countach Quattrovalvole versus a lowly Ferrari Mondial 8, so maybe 455bhp vs. 214bhp! I.e. less than half the power.

[Ray_Aber]

I love films like this in concept, but a little bit of realism would stop me cringing when I actually watch them.

Countach v Mondial? Oh, come ON. A ridiculous comparison.

See also:

Cortina v Esprit (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Alfa 159 v Aston Martin DBS (Quantum of Solace)
Every single episode of the Dukes of Hazzard

Any other utterly unrealistic film car chases?

[VR6 Eug]

Mondial vs Countach! The Ferrari has zero chance, even the Testarossa was no match for the Countach.

[nismo48]

Should be an interesting watch..

[Equus]

Ray_Aber said:

Countach v Mondial? Oh, come ON. A ridiculous comparison.

I'm more puzzled to discover the context and relevance to the plot, to be honest.

Bearing in mind that the Mondial wasn't launched until 1980, whilst Ferruccio Lamborghini had sold his remaining shares in the car company, taking no further interest and pretty much retiring to his vinyard in in 1974, six years before it even existed...

[P5BNij]

I'll definitely give it a go but having read about the real story so many times, some timeline errors leapt out at me in the trailer - when Lamborghini meets Ferrari (it actually happened in 1962) there's a poster behind them showing a 250LM variant, which wasn't launched until '64. The famous line ''you buy a Ferrari when you want to be somebody, you buy a Lamborghini when you are somebody' was spoken by Frank Sinatra when he bought his Miura, not Ferruccio at the launch of the 350GT (which looks utterly fabulous on screen by the way). I suppose it's inevitable that the producers and writers would play around with history though, so ce la vie.

Ferruccio's son Tonino did an interview fairly recently where he spoke about his father's meeting with old Enzo, he gave no mention whatsoever about any potential merger between the two firms, as proposed by Frank Grillo in character in that clip.

I'm sure I'll still enjoy it for the cars, the cinematography and locations though.

My favourite photo of the man himself...



And the car which caused him to complain to Ferrari in '62...

Edited by P5BNij on Thursday 3rd November 19:43

ETA - humble pie time - the 250LM in the poster is actually a 250GT variant

Edited by P5BNij on Thursday 3rd November 19:46

[EvPa]

Isn't that a Mondial Quattrovalvole rather than a Mondial 8?
The rear badging seems pretty close to the Quattrovalvole's one:

[stuart100]

Ray_Aber said:

I love films like this in concept, but a little bit of realism would stop me cringing when I actually watch them.

Countach v Mondial? Oh, come ON. A ridiculous comparison.

See also:

Cortina v Esprit (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Alfa 159 v Aston Martin DBS (Quantum of Solace)
Every single episode of the Dukes of Hazzard

Any other utterly unrealistic film car chases?

BMW M5 and Peugeot 605 (Ronin).
Ferrari 575 and a car transporter (Bad Boys 2)

[SAB888]

P5BNij said:

The famous line ''you buy a Ferrari when you want to be somebody, you buy a Lamborghini when you are somebody' was spoken by Frank Sinatra when he bought his Miura, not Ferruccio at the launch of the 350GT (which looks utterly fabulous on screen by the way). I suppose it's inevitable that the producers and writers would play around with history though, so ce la vie.

Yes, I spotted that error in the trailer, which is a pretty big mistake to make.

Also, when the wood box is opened, the badge is the current one not the old original badge. Same for the artwork next to the box.

Edited by SAB888 on Thursday 3rd November 21:13

[m62tu]

stuart100 said:

BMW M5 and Peugeot 605 (Ronin).
Ferrari 575 and a car transporter (Bad Boys 2)

In the actual filming of Ronin, they used a 535i. So 218bhp vs 3.0 605 210bhp give or take. Even match.

[Kermit74]

christ that looks awful.

[noble12345]

Film looks like more Hollywierd crap, at least Lamborghini was a man so they got that bit right i guess, i will pass.

Ray_Aber said:

I love films like this in concept, but a little bit of realism would stop me cringing when I actually watch them.

Countach v Mondial? Oh, come ON. A ridiculous comparison.

See also:

Cortina v Esprit (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Alfa 159 v Aston Martin DBS (Quantum of Solace)
Every single episode of the Dukes of Hazzard

Any other utterly unrealistic film car chases?

Mr2 kit car vs that POS aston.. again Obv the Mr2 would win, esp with that Back to the Future DeLorean time machine engine in the front.




Also




The moment she realised she was chasing after a Gay guy in a car

[BVB]

I look forward to it. Frank Grillo is ace in Warrior, what a dude.

[pycraft]

Surely it should have been called "Raging Bull"?

[MF35]

Ray_Aber said:

I love films like this in concept, but a little bit of realism would stop me cringing when I actually watch them.

Countach v Mondial? Oh, come ON. A ridiculous comparison.

See also:

Cortina v Esprit (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Alfa 159 v Aston Martin DBS (Quantum of Solace)
Every single episode of the Dukes of Hazzard

Any other utterly unrealistic film car chases?

Depressingly, I'd say most of them - they seem to be directed by non-enthusiasts, and aimed at a non enthusiast audience, with over-dubbed tyre squeal etc.

[MF35]

pycraft said:

Surely it should have been called "Raging Bull"?

Indeed - much better.

[MF35]

There's one in for service at my local indie mechanic. Last week, my kids, normally pityingly-dismissive of "old stuff", including "old cars" (pretty much every other old car they’ve ever seen is damned for its perceived fusty styling and general lack of screenage, and greeted with mild interest, or indifference), could barely conceal their excitement on seeing it. They were genuinely gob-smacked, and flocked around it, exclaiming about how cool it was and asking me questions.

The Countach never grows old. It still is more outrageous than anything you'll see today.