October is ending soon on a feature film about Shelby helping Ford win LeMans and so will filming on various sites around the world. This is a regular feature film, not to be confused with the documentaries such as the one by Adam Carolla. The working title is "Ford vs.Ferrari"
You can only guess at the direction by reading the cast list--there's nobody cast for Shelby's early sponsors pre Cobra, and won't be much on his career as a failed chicken farmer. Or even to contain much about his winning the 24 Heures du Mans in 1959 for Aston Martin
I believe it will center on the famous four-year period when a Detroit automaker took up the challenge of building a race car that could unseat Ferrari at LeMans. It likely won’t have much on the Cobra, either, since Ford’s focus was on winning at the Circuit de la Sarthe, and even the 170-mph Cobra Daytona Coupe wasn’t fast enough to catch the Ferrari prototypes there.
What exactly pushed Henry Ford II from sponsoring the Cobras into creating an endurance car might be revealed if they do this correctly. Some say it was a wisecrack by “The Deuce’s” Italian wife, who pointed at the Ferraris during an earlier LeMans event, maybe 1963, and said something to the effect of, “Ford could never build a car that will beat those red cars.” I see on the cast listed a Henry Ford II and someone as his wife.
Other historians say what pushed HF II over the edge was having the door at Maranello slammed in his face. He thought he had a deal to buy out Ferrari in ’63, at least the road-car side of the operation, but Ferrari abruptly cancelled negotiations. That’s when HF II summoned his aides and told them Ford would make their own damn endurance racer. It took them two years of trying—1964 and 1965—before they had a car that could beat Ferrari to the finish line. That happened in ’66, with the legendary three-abreast finish.
Proof that this 20th Century Fox project has been green-lighted came when the State of California promised the film producers $17 million in tax credits if they would film the majority of the film in-state. The last budget estimate I heard was $100 million.
Filming was at several tracks, including California’s Willow Springs Raceway, at Ontario airport and Aqua Dulce airport, plus some indoor shooting in New Orleans, and more outdoor scenes at a track in Savannah, Georgia. Nothing can double for France, so there was a second unit sent there, and they may “recreate” Italy and Great Britain (since the GT40s started out being built in GB).
As far as the cars you’ll see on-screen, one California replica maker--Superformance-- has supplied several GT40 Mk I and Mk II coupes,(some of which are expected to arrive back soon in rough shape) but it is unknown what the producers are going to do about the 1964 car (which differed in appearance) or the J-car, the flatback prototype that driver Ken Miles was killed in while testing. It is also unknown by this writer if the script will include the ’67 24 Hours of Le Mans, where Ford earned its second victory. The ’68 and ’69 Ford GT40 victories at LeMans were by the Gulf
Oil-sponsored team, with minimal support from Ford. (One Ford official told me “We sent them an engine, that’s the one they used to win the race.”)
The movie stars one of the biggest box-office celebrities available—Matt Damon—playing Shelby, with Christian Bale playing his test driver/race driver, British-born Ken Miles. There's also actors cast to play Roy Lunn, Ford's chief engineer on the GT40 and Lee Iacocca, who spearheaded the racing tie-ins to help move more Mustangs out the door (It was Iacocca who ordered the Shelby Mustang)
The project has been slow to get rolling. Studio 20th Century Fox bought the rights to Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans by A.J. Baime more than a year ago. The working title for the film is “Ford vs. Ferrari” but that’s not going to be the final title on release; they’re being coy about that decision until closer to the June 2019 release date. Oddly, 20th Century sold the rights to Baime’s book to a TV production firm, who are reportedly making a 10-part TV series based upon it, but there’s been no announcement of when filming will begin.
Jon Bernthal of The Punisher series on Netflix and previously in The Walking Dead was being looked at to portray HF’s right-hand man Lee Iacocca (who later went on to “save” Chrysler). Caitriona Balfe from Outlander has the role of Ken Miles’ wife. There’s even a young actor cast as their son, which gives you a clue there is going to be some family drama in addition to racetrack action.
Director James Mangold scored big with Logan, 3:10 to Yuma, and Walk the Line, so there’s high hopes among Shelby fans that he can turn a racing story into a compelling drama (especially after the public reaction to Rush, another racing drama, wasn’t ideal). The screenwriting team consists of two brothers, Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, who are credited with previously writing the Tom Cruise sci-fi flick Edge of Tomorrow, while Jez had a screenplay by credit on the James Bond movie Spectre. They’re located in England, so hopefully they’ll run across veteran mechanics and such who can give them more insight into the behind-the-scenes of racing.
There’s some wreckage along the road to Hollywood left over from scuttled earlier projects aimed at capturing the Ford vs. Ferrari battle. Tom Cruise announced an effort in 2013 for a Shelby-themed project for release in 2015. Although Cruise couldn’t match Shelby’s 6-foot stature, he was pedal-to-the-metal on the project, pegging himself for the part of Carroll Shelby, but it came to naught. Some feel it was the inclusion of Brad Pitt in the plans that led to a canceling of the project, since both are “leading man” types.
The inclusion of Christian Bale as Miles is ironic because, back in 2015, Bale had signed on with Michael Mann to do a cinematic adaption on the book Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races by famous Car & Driver writer Brock Yates. The story would have dealt with the fatal crash of Ferrari driver Alfonso de Portago at the 1957 Mille Miglia, where his co-driver, Edmont Nelson, and nine race spectators were also killed.
Mangold’s company, Chernin Entertainment, is producing Ford vs. Ferrari for 20th Century Fox, using other sources for historical content besides the Baime book.
How the project will fare among the critics, who already grumble about the announced plotline of having Shelby and Miles invent the GT40 is hard to say. Maybe there will be so much action on screen, the historical details won't matter. Just remember, re-shoots are a *****.
Having previously interfaced with a TV company that wanted to do this story (Fremantlemedia in 2011) , I tried to reach the 20th but there is no stone wall higher than the one Hollywood erects around its projects...
PARTIAL CAST LIST
Christian Bale ... Ken Miles
Matt Damon ... Carroll Shelby
Caitriona Balfe Mollie Miles
Jon Bernthal ... Lee Iacocca
Noah Jupe Peter Miles
Ray McKinnon Phil Remington
Josh Lucas ... Leo Beebe
JJ Feild ... Roy Lunn
Tracy Letts ... Henry Ford II
Stefania Spampinato Ferrari Translator
Adam Mayfield ... Lloyd Ruby
Ward Horton ... Burt
Christopher Darga John Holman
Marisa Petroro ... Mrs. Henry Ford II
Rudolf Martin ... Dieter Voss