With the absolutely massive success of Fast Five, it's probably safe to assume that we'll be seeing a lot more fast, shiny, brightly colored cars in our future. In fact, even critically acclaimed director and producer Michael Mann is looking to get his beak wet with some of that sweet automobile cash, as reported by the fine folks over at Deadline.
Apparently, 20th Century Fox has approached the director and they are currently in discussions for Mann to develop a film based on A.J. Baime's book, Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari and their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans. If you can make it through the tome's absurdly long title, you would find a historical account of the 1966 Le Mans race, where Henry Ford II challenged Enzo Ferrari with a new Ford sports car, presumably with a decal of Calvin peeing on the Ferrari symbol plastered on the back window. We're already taking bets on whether the film will include a Tracy Chapman song over the credits.
Mann reportedly has an interest in the subject material, even having Sonny Crockett drive only Ferrari cars throughout the television version of Miami Vice, which makes total sense given the average salary of a Miami-Dade Police Department detective during the 1980s. If he commits to the project, the earliest he'll be getting around to it is after wrapping postproduction on the HBO series, Luck on which he is collaborating with David Milch.
Not surprisingly, Fox isn't the only studio interested in making a movie about this particular event, as Paramount owns the life rights of Caroll Shelby, the former driver who actually designed Ford's car. Paramount's version is written by Lisa Schrager, while Fox's most recent draft was penned by Jason Keller, who, ironically, also penned one of the two Snow White projects currently in development, The Brothers Grimm: Snow White. Is that ironic or just stupid? We can never tell.
