Adam Driver wasn’t allowed to drive a Ferrari in his ‘Ferrari’ movie

  • Adam Driver plays Enzo Ferrari in the upcoming biopic about Ferrari’s founder
  • He wasn’t allowed to drive any cars on set, but his co-star Patrick Dempsey was
  • The movie will be distributed by an independent company called NEON

Published on Nov 14, 2023 at 7:55 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis

Last updated on Nov 20, 2023 at 10:18 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Adam Gray

Adam Driver stars as Enzo Ferrari in Michael Mann’s new biopic ‘Ferrari‘.

The irony is the 39-year-old Hollywood star wasn’t even allowed to drive a Ferrari sports car while filming the movie.

But when you learn the reason why, it actually makes sense.

READ MORE: Fresh from House of Gucci, Adam Driver to star in movie about Ferrari

Ferrari is famously super fastidious when it comes to what people can – and can’t do – with its cars.

That’s why we often hear rumors about this or that celebrity being blacklisted by the brand.

However, on this particular occasion, Ferrari’s company policy had nothing to do with it.

The problem is the movie is set in 1957 and it only features cars from that era.

And, for the most part, they’re real cars, not just movie props.

This means the cars are nigh on impossible to find in good condition and when you do find them, the insurance premium to get behind the wheel is insane.

The producers were simply too worried about that, and 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.

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Experienced content creator with a strong focus on cars and watches. Alessandro penned the first-ever post on the Supercar Blondie website and covers cars, watches, yachts, real estate and crypto. Former DriveTribe writer, fixed gear bike owner, obsessed with ducks for some reason.