“Lamborghini: The Man behind the Legend” Trailer Drops

Frank Grillo stars as Ferruccio Lamborghini seeking to challenge Enzo Ferrari, played by Gabriel Byrne.

You may have heard about a Ferrari film in the works, with Adam Driver in the title role as Enzo Ferrari, but would you also be in the market for a film centered on Ferruccio Lamborghini?

Yes, there are now two rival films about two rival supercar makers—a situation that we would not have foreseen just a couple of years ago—and Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend, with Frank Grillo in the title role, will actually hit theaters first, beating Ferrari to market.

Putting aside the question of just how we’re suddenly getting two rival dramas about two rival Italian sports car makers, the trailer released this week is our first look at the film, which has actually been in production for quite some time.

As the trailer makes abundantly clear, the film will be about the rivalry between Enzo Ferrari, played by Gabriel Byrne (with Enzo’s trademark sunglasses working hard to hammer the resemblance into place), and Ferruccio Lamborghini, focusing on the latter’s aspirations of launching his own sports car business following success as a maker of farm tractors.

Directed and written by Bobby Moresco, known for writing Crash, the film is surprisingly not be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (at least judging by the trailer—you never know), and is actually about subject matter gearheads should enjoy.

(Spoiler: Ferruccio Lamborghini succeeds in launching his company, and it becomes a maker of sports cars called Lamborghini).

We won’t spoil the rest of the plot, but let’s just say that at some point a very wedge-shaped car will be produced by Lamborghini and will become one of the symbols of supercar luxury of the 1980s.

On a more serious note, sometimes it’s hard to tell by the trailer just what a movie has in store for us, but this one appears to be playing it fairly straight with lines like, “I want the world to never forget my name!” and “You buy a Ferrari when you want to be someone; you buy a Lamborghini when you are someone.” So subtlety and avoidance of overt displays of ego may not be on the menu, at least judging by the trailer.

Then again, a production company is aiming for a certain demographic when it comes to target audiences, so a generous selection of cheese is perhaps mandatory to ensure a wider reception. We just hope the film won’t be weighed down by exceedingly tired lines with which biopics like this are frequently encumbered.

It’s never easy to bring anything about car personalities to the big screen, as the infrequent box office flops will attest, but we’re now in an era in which big studios are trying to escape the grasp of the Comic Book Superhero Industrial Complex, so we’ll give this new direction the benefit of the doubt. Who knows—in a few years we might get a Ronin sequel out of this trend.

Also, this means we’re probably just a couple of years away from a Ferdinand Porsche biopic.

Lush colors with heavy vignettes and some period-look color processing dominate the trailer’s visual style, with plenty of character-driven drama and a mandatory drag racing scene between two rivals punctuating the plot.

The film co-stars Mira Sorvino, Romano Reggiani, Eliana Jones, Giorgio Cantarini, Matteo Leoni, Hannah van der Westhuysen, Fortunato Cerlino, and Leonardo Cecchi.

Lamborghini: The Man Behind The Legend, opens in the US on November 18, 2022.

Jay Ramey Jay Ramey grew up around very strange European cars, and instead of seeking out something reliable and comfortable for his own personal use he has been drawn to the more adventurous side of the dependability spectrum.