Michael Mann returns to the director’s chair after seven years with the highly-anticipated biopic, Ferrari. The film has been a lifelong passion project for Mann, dating back to when he was still a film student. After years in the making, the biopic is coming out just in time for Christmas, and it will focus on Enzo Ferrari’s life story (especially his involvement in the Mille Miglia race). From Adam Driver to Shailene Woodley, the film’s starlit cast features several well-known Hollywood names. Here is a guide to who will play who in Mann’s upcoming project about the automobile entrepreneur.

Ferrari

Set in the summer of 1957, with Enzo Ferrari’s auto empire in crisis, the ex-racer turned entrepreneur pushes himself and his drivers to the edge as they launch into the Mille Miglia, a treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy.

Release Date December 25, 2023

Director Michael Mann

Runtime 130 minutes

Main Genre Biography

Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari

Enzo Ferrari was a former racer and the founder of the popular sports car company. In the timeline featured in the film, the protagonist is going through a tumultuous moment in both his personal and professional life. Torn between his wife and lover on one end and dealing with potential bankruptcy on the other, Enzo is willing to bet his chances on the Mille Miglia race in the hopes of the winning team being the one that is using his car.

Adam Driver has come a long way since starring opposite Lena Dunham in Girls. In the past few years, the Academy Award-nominee has worked alongside some prestigious directors, including several collaborations with Noah Baumbach (their most well-received project being Marriage Story) and Ridley Scott. Now it is time for him to adopt back the Italian accent from his role in House of Gucci as he embodies Enzo Ferrari in the upcoming biopic. His other iconic roles include playing Kylo Ren in the Star Wars sequel trilogy and playing Flip Zimmerman in the Spike Lee joint BlacKkKlansman. Up next for Driver is the highly anticipated sci-fi drama Megalopolis from legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. It is also heavily rumored that he’ll be reuniting with Michael Mann by playing Young Neil McCauley in Heat 2. Before Driver was cast in the role of Enzo Ferrari, both Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman were attached to the part, but exited.

Penélope Cruz as Laura Ferrari

Laura Ferrari was Enzo’s wife and the person responsible for keeping the company afloat. Even though she was still grieving her son Dino’s death and her marriage was crumbling, Laura always maintained her composure and strength. Although real-life Laura was considered “terrifying and difficult,” the character is much more nuanced in Mann’s take on the carmaker’s story.

Penélope Cruz plays Laura Ferrari in the biopic and the actress is best known for her longstanding partnership with Pedro Almodóvar, especially in films like Volver and Parallel Mothers. For her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, she became the only Spanish actress to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Cruz was also a part of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and starred as Donatella Versace in Ryan Murphy‘s The Assassination of Gianni Versace – American Crime Story.

Shailene Woodley as Lina Lardi

Lina Lardi was Enzo’s mistress and Piero’s mother, the carmaker’s son born outside his marriage to Laura. Lina is one of the two loves in Enzo’s life, and he always feels torn between staying with her or with his wife. In the time frame of the film, her son isn’t recognized as an heir to the Ferrari company because of the Italian laws at the time.

Shailene Woodley started her acting career in YA TV shows like The O.C. and The Secret Life of an American Teenager. Later on, she became the lead of the Divergent franchise and played Hazel Grace Lancaster in the onscreen adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars. Her most prestigious role thus far has been Jane Chapman in the HBO series Big Little Lies, which led her to receive a Golden Globe and an Emmy nomination. Woodley. Ferrari caps off a busy 2023 for Woodley, as she also starred in the films To Catch a Killer, Robots, and Dumb Money. Woodley’s next projects include the Starz series Three Women, as well as the crime dramas Killer Heat and The Murderous Miss Highsmith.

Gabriel Leone as Alfonso De Portago

Alfonso De Portago was a racer known for driving Ferrari cars. He was one of the team members who competed in the Mille Miglia, putting his life on the line for the sake of the sport. The race (which is showcased in the film) did lead to his death, as well as the death of his navigator and nine other attendees at the highly-anticipated event.

Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone plays Alfonso De Portago in Ferrari and this is his Hollywood breakout role. Before this film, he starred in several Brazilian telenovelas and in a Prime Video original series called Dom. He is also cast as another well-known racer in Netflix’s upcoming series about the late F1 driver Ayrton Senna.

Sarah Gadon as Linda Christian

Linda Christian was an American actress famous for playing the first Bond girl on TV in 1952. In the film, we see Christian as Alfonso De Potago’s girlfriend. The couple shared a kiss shortly before Portago’s fatal car crash in the Mille Miglia, and the picture of their kiss was later named by the press “the kiss of death.”

Sarah Gadon is Linda Christian in the biopic, and she is most known for playing the lead in the CBC miniseries Alias Grace. The Canadian actress has also worked in three David Cronenberg films (including A Dangerous Method) and starred in several TV shows, such as Letterkenny and True Detective. Her next projects include the family sports movie You Gotta Believe, the romantic drama Cry from the Sea, and she is set to make her feature directorial debut with Lullabies for Little Criminals.

Patrick Dempsey as Piero Taruffi

Piero Taruffi was a race car driver and one of the team members in the Mille Miglia race. He won the race driving a Ferrari 315 S, but his career came to an end right after the competition given the fatal crash that killed one of his peers.

Patrick Dempsey is popularly known for playing neurosurgeon Derek Shepherd (aka McDreamy) on Grey’s Anatomy. He also starred in Disney’s Enchanted and several rom-coms, including Sweet Home Alabama and Made of Honor. Most recently, he starred as Sheriff Eric Newlon in Eli Roth‘s slasher movie Thanksgiving. Outside his onscreen endeavors, Dempsey is a racing driver like his Ferrari character.

Jack O’Connell as Peter Collins

Peter Collins was a racer known for his kindness and selflessness in and out of the competition. He was one of the Ferrari team members and finished second in the Mille Miglia race. Different from teammate Piero, Peter continued to compete and died in a car crash a year after Alfonso De Portago.

Jack O’Connell made his onscreen debut in British YA hit series Skins and has since starred in multiple acclaimed indie projects, including Starred and ’71. He received a BAFTA Rising Star Award for his performance in Unbroken and garnered a Critics’ Choice nomination for his work in the Netflix series Godless. O’Connell will next play Balke Fielder-Civil, in the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black.

Ferrari also stars Michele Savoia as Carlo Chiti, Erik Haugen as Edmund Nelson, Andrea Dolente as Gino Rancati, Giuseppe Bonifati as Giacomo Cuoghi, and Daniela Piperno as Adalgisa Ferrari.

Ferrari will arrive in theaters on December 25, so you can click here for tickets and showtimes near you.