Adam Driver stars as Enzo Ferrari in Michael Mann’s upcoming biopic ‘Ferrari‘.
The irony is the 39-year-old Hollywood star was actually not actually allowed to drive a Ferrari sports car while filming the movie.
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Ferrari is famously super fastidious when it comes to who can do what with its cars.
That’s why we often hear about this or that celebrity being banned or blacklisted by the brand.
However, for once, Ferrari’s unique policy didn’t play a part in the whole thing.
The movie is set in 1957 and it only features cars from that era.
To say that those cars are tricky to get your hands on, let alone drive, would be an understatement.
The producers were simply too worried about the cars, and more importantly about Adam Driver’s safety, to take that risk.
The Academy-nominated actor himself explained what happened behind the scenes at a press conference for the film at the 80th Venice Film Festival.
“They were the scariest things on set, but they wouldn’t let me drive the cars for insurance reasons,” Adam Driver said.
However, not everyone on set was barred from driving the cars.
Former Grey’s Anatomy star and known car enthusiast Patrick Dempsey had the chance to get behind the wheel of some of the 1950s Ferraris featured in the movie.
“It was quite terrifying. Driving a modern car you have a roll cage, but there was no cage with these cars,” Dempsey said.
Dempsey plays Italian Formula One driver Piero Taruffi in the movie.
So why could Dempsey get behind the wheel while Adam Driver couldn’t?
Well, 57-year-old Dempsey is a bona fide racing driver in real life.
He has his own racing team, called Dempsey-Proton, and he’s competed in a variety of racing events, including the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Talk about method acting.
