Following in the footsteps of Batman v Superman, Alien v Predator, and next year’s Godzilla v King Kong, the first trailer for Ford v. Ferrari has raced its way online. Unlike the big-budget grudge matches that nobody asked for, Ford v. Ferrari is a fact-based drama that stars Matt Damon and Christian Bale charting the rivalry between Ford and Ferrari to build the best machine for the Le Mans endurance race in 1966.
Directed by James Mangold (Logan, Walk The Line), Ford v. Ferrari has been in the works for a while with a previous attempt eying Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt for the lead roles. That’s not how things panned out, so we have Damon as the legendary car designer Carroll Shelby, and Bale as famed driver Ken Miles. The two men put their visionary skills to the ultimate test to push more than the laws of physics to make racing history.
As a lifelong non-fan of just about any sporting event, the majority of my window into many of sports finest moments has come from biopics. That hasn’t stopped me enjoying films like Rush or other fact-based stories of triumph. While the film has that unmistakable Oscar goal in sight, Ford v. Ferrari looks like it could be a fascinating insight into one of the most defining moments in racing history. Also starring Caitriona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Josh Lucas, Tracy Letts and Noah Jupe, Ford v. Ferrari arrives in cinemas November 15.
Based on a true story, the film follows an eccentric, determined team of American engineers and designers, led by automotive visionary Carroll Shelby and his British driver, Ken Miles, who are dispatched by Henry Ford II with the mission of building from scratch an entirely new automobile with the potential to finally defeat the perennially dominant Ferrari at the 1966 Le Mans World Championship.
