Seeing red goes further than Ferrari
Fremantle’s new documentary “Luca: Seeing Red” is about former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo. But it isn’t just now about Ferrari.
“That was one of the conditions. First, it won’t just be about Ferrari. Second, it won’t be fiction. You don’t want an actor to play Kimi Räikkönen, you want to see Kimi Räikkönen. Third, it won’t be about my private life,” says Di Montezemolo. Variety in Cannes.
“If you are passionate about racing and cars, you will see them. You will see Enzo Ferrari, Michael Schumacher, Niki Lauda’s accident and his face scarred by fire. But this film is also about Italy.”
As well as di Montezemolo’s other ventures, from the launch of the yacht racing team Azzurra – “People named their daughters after it!” – to co-founder of train transport company Italo and leading the final concert of Three Tenors.
“It was difficult to convince Pavarotti. He said: ‘Why do I have to share.’ [the stage] with these two guys? I can do it myself,’” he laughs, recalling the event that united Pavarotti with Plácido Domingo and José Carreras.
“This film has given me the opportunity to think about all the things I’ve done.”
Together with Chris Harris of “Top Gear”, di Montezemolo looks back in the documentary on a long road that started in the 1970s when Enzo Ferrari hired him as an assistant.
“I was only 25 years old, but I have always liked to take risks and put my face first. I have won 19 Formula 1 championship titles, but I know how much work goes behind these victories. You have to choose the right people and set clear goals, but I have been lucky to have art in my life, my family and my friends. Apart from perhaps your health, these are the absolute priorities.”
Although the film – which will be presented to buyers at Mipcom – offers ‘a nice mix of archive and new material’, some of the glamor remains intact.
“Ferrari is a myth,” says di Montezemolo.
“Even Raikkonen told me when he started racing for Sauber and McLaren that Ferrari was always his dream. [he won the 2007 Formula One World Championship while driving for it]. There is a beautiful shot of a red Ferrari in the film, in the square of Bologna called Piazza delle Sette Chiese. We show a different Italy than the stereotype [combo] of Florence, Venice and Rome.”
Director Manish Pandey, also behind the award-winning ‘Senna’, notes: “For me, this film is about two things. The backdrop is of course Italy, but it is about loyalty and about family. That is the common theme in every single frame. There is an important line at the end: ‘Apart from my family, Ferrari is the most important thing in my life’.”
“To tell this story you have to understand Luca, and you have to understand Italy. That’s why we put him together with Chris, who sees Luca as a father figure,” he says, calling the film’s third act “essential.”
“You always see him say ‘yes’ to the Agnellis [behind Fiat]and then they give him the impossible task. And that’s suddenly when Chris is in the movie. There is a turning point. He spends two-thirds of the story listening. But in the final act he is absolutely part of the drama. And it’s a tough one: it’s a corporate murder happening right in front of you.
The film has already been shown in Rome and London.
“It is clear that this is not a fictional Formula 1 film with Brad Pitt [theatrical partner] Everyman Cinemas saw it and loved it. They showed the film in 30 cinemas and 18 of these screenings were completely sold out,” says Pandey. In Rome, the film was shown to a select audience at the Parco della Musica Auditorium.
“I was so happy that 900 people came there for me, and not for some actor or actress. I didn’t expect it,” added di Montezemolo. “When people in Rome watch a movie, they usually talk to each other or comment. Now it was quiet.”
