Italian movie producer Andrea Iervolino, who helped make the Ferrari movie starring Adam Driver and Lamborghini: The Man Behind The Legend with Frank Grillo, is working on not one but two more biopics about European sports car makers. The first will cover Maserati’s origin story and reportedly star screen legend Anthony Hopkins, while the other will be about Bugatti’s rise.
“Having Anthony Hopkins on board is phenomenal,” Iervolino told Variety earlier this month. “His unparalleled ability to embody complex characters will undoubtedly elevate our story, and we are eager to see how he brings depth to his role.” The Welsh actor is slated to play an Italian financier who bankrolls the Maserati brothers, according to Deadline. Suitably, the film’s current title is Maserati: The Brothers, and it’s scheduled to begin shooting soon in Bologna if all goes according to plan.
As for the Bugatti flick, Deadline broke the news about that project Monday with another statement from Iervolino: “After the success of our films on Lamborghini and Ferrari, I am thrilled to bring another global automotive icon to the screen. Bugatti will be a film that honors the passion and innovation that have defined one of the most iconic car manufacturers of all time.”
There’s nothing in that second sentence that the producer couldn’t have said about Lamborghini, Ferrari, or indeed Maserati, but clearly, the man has a formula for telling these stories. Plans can disintegrate in Hollywood fast, though, so we’d recommend not getting too attached until we have release dates.
Bugatti’s story is an interesting one and could definitely make good source material for a movie. Ettore Bugatti started the company in 1909 and found real success in racing by ’29. His son Jean tragically died a decade later testing one of their race cars. There was a subsequent spiral and fizzle-out in the ’50s, but the brand got an injection of life in the ’80s thanks to an Italian investor, which ultimately led to the EB110 supercar. Volkswagen acquired the rights in ’98, taking the Bugatti name into its modern era with the introduction of the Veyron five years later.
If either or both Maserati and Bugatti projects end up in cinemas, let’s just hope they’re better than Lamborghini. I made it about 20 minutes into that one before bailing. Considering its brutal 6% (not a typo, six percent!) Rotten Tomatoes score, I am actually a little surprised anybody’s keen to give Iervolino and co. more money to keep making supercar movies.
Why doesn’t someone call up Jackie Chan and do a Mitsubishi-sponsored action flick? Oh, right—that already happened. It’s called Thunderbolt, and it remains the greatest car movie ever.
Got any good car movie suggestions? Send the author an email at andrew.collins@thedrive.com