Speaking on Adam Carolla’s podcast, producer Lucas Foster (producer of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” “Man On Fire” and “Law Abiding Citizen”) has revealed that Brad Pitt and Josh Brolin have expressed interest in his upcoming car racing film for 20th Century Fox, “Go Like Hell.”
Based on A.J. Baime’s “Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans,” the film will follow young Henry Ford II as he teams with visionary Lee Iacocca and racing-champion-turned-engineer Carroll Shelby in reinventing his grandfather’s company and challenging Enzo Ferrari’s dominance in the illustrious world of European car racing, namely the 24 hour race at the Le Mans track.
Carolla, a car fanatic, compared the rivalry between Ford and Ferrari to that between the U.S. and Russia during the Space Race and discussed the implicating brutality of the rivalry which saw racers and spectators alike regularly killed due to the intensity of the 24 hour races and lack of technological advancements in safety.
“I’m trying to make a movie that’s about the drivers more than the politics,” producer Foster noted. “Carroll Shelby is a big character, Lee Iacocca is a big character, Enzo [Ferrari] is a big character, Henry Ford II is a big character and we’ll obviously cast them well but, to me, it’s really about the drivers and I’m trying to make a first-person experience out of this where it really puts the audience in the cockpit. This is what it’s like to go 200 miles an hour with a car that not really all that controllable.”
Way to ruin it. The politics behind it all sounded much more interesting than a period-piece “Fast and Furious” but obviously it’s only early days and hopefully talent involved will sort it out. Of which, Foster revealed he “had a really cool writer,” was “in the middle of hiring a director” and that he was interested in the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis , Russell Crowe, Matt Damon (for the character of American driver Phil Hill) and Eric Bana for the pic (gee, is that it? Sure there’s no one else you want?). Sure, and we want Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet to star in our home movie too. Don’t get too caught up in this. Producers eyes are always bigger than their stomachs or reach, but then again Lucas is the real deal and does have a good CV to his name.
Bana we could see easily joining — after all he did make a documentary this year titled “Love The Beast” that followed his love affair with his first car, a (drumroll) Ford — but we’re not sure how Foster will go with his other pie-in-the-sky interests. Although if Pitt and Brolin are interested and if a strong director comes aboard, maybe we could see an Ocean’s-style cast building?
“I have a lot of interest from big actors,” Foster said before name-dropping the aforementioned actors. ” It would shock you the telephone calls that have come in from people who we are chasing. Typically, I’m begging these people to read these scripts that we develop and, on this one, luckily, thank God [it’s the other way round] and I think it will cause it to get made.” And, at the end of day — as Carolla notes — what actor wouldn’t want to get paid to go to France for six months and race amazing vintage cars?
Don’t expect this to go in front cameras any time soon but. “This movie will, by the time we actually physically go make it, will certainly be four or five years in,” Foster added. With such big names potentially involved but, surely Fox would fast-track this? Or is there interest just curiosity right now? File this one away for a possibility that might happen one day if this producer’s lucky and the stars align. We’ll see.
