Once again, Hollywood is talking Ford vs. Ferrari TV series | FerrariChat

Once again, Hollywood is talking Ford vs. Ferrari TV series

Discussion in 'Creative Arts' started by bitzman, Nov 27, 2017.

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  1. bitzman

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    Image Unavailable, Please Login Ford vs. Ferrari Story for TV?





    It was announced in mid-October that Channing Tatum , an actor and producer, will produce a TV series about rival carmakers Ferrari and Ford with Peter Dinklage, also an actor. I don’t know which of the two will be on screen or if their role is just as producers.

    There have been several attempts to bring the Shelby vs. Ferrari story to the screen, if not his whole life, which would include the Cobra era.

    These producers sound like they will focus solely on Shelby’s role in helping Ford win LeMans in ’66 when three Ford GT40 Mk.II models crossed the finish line in positions 1-2-3.

    The news was announced by IM Global Television at Mipcom, an annual convention in Cannes, France where they announce new TV projects.

    The 10-episode series will explore the almost two fisted war between the two car makers Enzo Ferrari and Henry Ford II, Enzo the founder of his empire and HFII (known in Detroit as “The Deuce”) the grandson of the firm’s original founder.

    Presumably, in leading up to the victory there will be some behind-the-scenes dramatizations of that period in the early ‘60s where Enzo was going to sell his company, or at least the production car part, to Ford but the meetings ended abruptly when Enzo found that Ford would be approving his expenditures. He ended up selling his firm to Fiat a few years later.

    The drama in the story is what happened after Henry Ford II had the door at Modena slammed in the face of his emissaries during buyout negotiations. He merely turned to his sub-ordinates, including Royston Lunn, an engineer from England, and said something to the effect of “ Well, the hell with him--we’ll build our own damn endurance racer.”

    The first GT40 rolled out into the sun in ’64, but after a rough opening season, the car went to Shelby to further refine and it was while at Shelby’s the giant 7-liter (427) was squeezed in and that was the car that won in ’66.

    The screenwriter named for the TV series is Zak Schwartz (Taken, Person of Interest) and produced by Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) and Channing Tatum (Kingsman: The Golden Circl. Each has a production company, Estuary Films and Free Association respectively.

    No one is mentioned as far as a lead actor to play Shelby but if you ask me—a guy who has written three books on Shelby—you can’t get more Texan than Matthew Mcconaughey. And at least he’s tall (sorry, Tom Cruise…)

    Another firm mentioned in the AFP-Relaxnews press release is Atrium TV, a new association of international streaming and telecommunication platforms, such as France’s Orange, Deutsche Telekom in Germany.

    A previous announcement of the purchase of film rights to a book about the Ford victory didn’t result in a film.

    I think these producers will be able to make the big decision to leave the Cobra out of it, because although Shelby had some interesting decades following the Ford victory including marketing the Cobra, developing the Shelby Mustang, operating a game ranch in Africa, going to Chrysler, developing the ill-fated Olds-powered Series I car, and entering the replica field, all that pales in significance sports wise compared to him carrying the spear to lead Ford to victory.

    Why was that victory so important? Because European automakers had just about convinced the world that American automakers produced naught but crude cars, and were hopelessly inept in engineering sophistication. And the charm of Shelby (at least to me) was that he, a high school graduate at best, could lead a racing effort that blew off Europe’s best, using cars that were, in some ways crude (yes, with cast iron block pushrod engines, take that Ferrari!).

    Shelby was a master at playing the “Aw shucks,” failed chicken farmer who just-fell-off-the –turnip truck. In real life, he was somewhat more sophisticated, belonging to the Bel Air Country Club, co-owning a Rolls Royce dealership, ordering bespoke custom made shoes and jewelry, and mastering Italian. He knew that failed chicken farmer image was a popular one and maintained that image right to the end.

    Growing up in Detroit in that era, I remember feeling mighty proud when Ford unseated Ferrari, even though I was a budding Ferrari fan (ever since seeing the Testa Rossa in the Fuller Brush catalog..).



    I wish the new producers the best of luck in bringing ol’ Shel’s story to the screen and rest assured I’ll be among first in line to see it…

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