Ferrari (2023)

Adam Driver: Enzo Ferrari

Photos 

Quotes 

• Enzo Ferrari : You lack commitment. Look at the Maserati team. Fangio. Behra. Stirling Moss. Hard-nosed pros. Men with a brutal determination to win. With a cruel emptiness in their stomachs. Detachment. Loyal to one thing- not the team. Loyal to their lust to win. It rains. The track is slick with oil, an evil-handling car. Will they falter? No. My spring team. Skillful? Courageous? Yes. Recently in school. Aristocrats from Almanach de Gotha. Gentleman sportsman. Very nice. On the straight into the tight corner at Nouveau Monde, there's only one line through it. Behra pulls up next to you, challenging. You're even. But two objects cannot occupy the same point in space at the same moment in time. Behra doesn't lift. The corner races at you. You have perhaps a crisis of identity: "Am I a sportsman or a competitor? How will the French think of me if I run Behra into a tree?" You lift, he passes. He won, you lost! Because at that same moment, Behra thought, "Fuck it, we both die." Make no mistake, all of us are racers- or have been. We are all certain, "It will never happen to me." Then my friend is killed. I give up racing forever on Monday. I'm back racing by Sunday. We all know it's our deadly passion. Our terrible joy. But if you get into one of my cars- and no one is forcing you to take that seat- you get in to win. Brake later. Steal their line. Make them make the mistake.

• Enzo Ferrari : How'd she handle?

  Alfonso de Portago : Good.

  Enzo Ferrari : This is not, "How was lunch?" "Good." I want to know brake wear. I want steering, suspension, gear ratios, final drive. If it's going to run in the Mille Miglia, it's got to be one hundred percent.

• [test session in progress at the Modena Autodrome] 

  Enzo Ferrari : You bought one of my cars last year and won the Tour de France.

  Alfonso de Portago : Yes. Now I'm looking for a works drive.

  Enzo Ferrari : I don't need another driver, Portago.

  [Eugenio Castellotti fails to make the turn, crashes] 

  Enzo Ferrari : De Portago, call my office on Monday.

• Enzo Ferrari : I did not kill Castellotti.

  Adalgisa Ferrari : The papers blame you.

  Enzo Ferrari : It wasn't me. If anyone, it was his mother. It's true. He was engaged to Cecilia Manzini. His mother wanted him to marry a woman with more class. As a result of the weight she put on his shoulders, he became distracted, he lost his concentration, he crashed and died.

  Adalgisa Ferrari : He blames the mother!

  Enzo Ferrari : What I'm saying is, when a mother interferes in this business, death usually follows.

• Laura Ferrari : This is God's way of punishing us.

  Enzo Ferrari : Us? You think he slaughtered nine people at Guidizzolo to get even with you and me? I got a message from the bank. You cashed the check.

  Laura Ferrari : Mm.

  Enzo Ferrari : They're calling insolvency experts. We're done.

  Laura Ferrari : The bank is getting hysterical over nothing.

  Enzo Ferrari : Nothing? You bankrupted us.

  Laura Ferrari : Enzo, stop it. What good are you doing yourself? Mm, "I'm a scapegoat, I'm a martyr." Who are you? What have you become? St. Sebastian? You stand there and let them shoot arrows in your ass? Go beat the hell out of them. The writers. Those cheap hacks. Threaten them. Extort them. And those still on their feet, the most sanctimonious and hypocritical, those, you give them brown envelopes. And then they will discover that, "Perhaps the Sage of Maranello has been maligned unfairly. Perhaps moderation should reassert itself in the distinguished Italian press." And for that, you need the cash.

• Enzo Ferrari : So what do you think?

  Piero Taruffi : Ah, there is no ashtray.

  Enzo Ferrari : Are you a prima donna?

  Piero Taruffi : You ever try flicking ash out of a car at two hundred kilometers an hour?

  Enzo Ferrari : I'm offering you a brand new car which has the edge on Maserati.

  Piero Taruffi : Bullshit. The Maserati is faster and it has an ashtray.

  Enzo Ferrari : If I put in an ashtray, will you drive it in the Mille Miglia?

  Piero Taruffi : [sighs] 

  Enzo Ferrari : Good. And don't ask me for a navigator.

  Piero Taruffi : Wha...

  Enzo Ferrari : You know every inch. You've raced it sixteen times. I can see in your eyes you're going to ask me, and I'm not seduced by you, silver fox.

• [over the phone] 

  Enzo Ferrari : Eugenio, my boy.

  Eugenio Castellotti : Commendatore.

  Enzo Ferrari : Can you be at the Modena Autodrome by eleven? Bring your lucky gloves.

  Eugenio Castellotti : What gloves?

  Enzo Ferrari : The gloves that will beat Behra, who's come to steal from you our record.

• Piero Taruffi : Hello?

  Enzo Ferrari : Piero.

  Piero Taruffi : Yes.

  Enzo Ferrari : It's Enzo. I wanted to congratulate you.

  Piero Taruffi : Mmm.

  Enzo Ferrari : Well, what happened is separate from your victory today. It will go into the history books.

  Piero Taruffi : Commendatore...

  Enzo Ferrari : Good night, Piero. And again, I salute you.

• Enzo Ferrari : Giuseppe. Rancati, there's something I want you to do for me. Write an article suggesting that there are rumors that I'm talking to Henry Ford II about the future of the factory. At the end, say you asked me, bluntly, and that I categorically denied it.

  Gino Rancati : And are you? Categorically denying it?

  Enzo Ferrari : Ah, yes, of course. Categorically, I deny it.

  Gino Rancati : If I write this article, will you give me an exclusive on your private life?

  Enzo Ferrari : Yes. If you promise not to publish it.

• Enzo Ferrari : [to de Portago]  You'll drive a works 250. Not the most powerful car, but reliable and it goes like hell round corners, so I'll expect you to be in the points. Actresses. I have admiration, but keep them away from the paddock. They distract photographers, whose attention I want on my cars. Understand? Okay.

• Alfonso de Portago : Signor Ferrari? Alfonso de Portago.

  Enzo Ferrari : We met on the Largo Garibaldi.

  Alfonso de Portago : Yes, sir. I was seeking to introduce myself.

  Enzo Ferrari : Yeah, but the light, it turned green.

• Giacomo Cuoghi : You're going broke. Laura's right.

  Enzo Ferrari : How?

  Giacomo Cuoghi : How? You spend more money than you make. That's how.

  Enzo Ferrari : The production cars pay for the racing.

  Giacomo Cuoghi : I could run Portugal on what you spend on racing. How many production cars did you make last year?

  Enzo Ferrari : Uh, one hundred forty, one hundred fifty.

  Giacomo Cuoghi : Ninety-eight.

  Enzo Ferrari : One hundred ninety-eight.

  Giacomo Cuoghi : No. Ninety-eight.

  Enzo Ferrari : So what do I do?

  Giacomo Cuoghi : Find a partner.

  Enzo Ferrari : I have a partner. My wife. She is very mean with money.

  Giacomo Cuoghi : A real partner. Like Agnelli at Fiat or Henry Ford. Someone who has capital to pump in.

  Enzo Ferrari : No. Impossible. With money, they want control. I must have total control.

  Giacomo Cuoghi : The right partner would help you with the production cars, while you do what you like with the racing. Increase production to four hundred customer cars. Attract finance. Then you can negotiate.

  Enzo Ferrari : How do we make- never mind how do we sell- four hundred customer cars?

  Giacomo Cuoghi : Jaguar took the first three places at Le Mans. Their sales books are full. You win on Sunday, you sell on Monday. You already have kings waiting in line.

  Enzo Ferrari : Mm, Jaguar. Jaguar races only to sell cars. I sell cars only to be racing. We are completely different organisms.

  Giacomo Cuoghi : Survive, or you are no organism.

• Laura Ferrari : [sighs]  I have a headache. The phone's been ringing all night. I took it off the hook.

  [sighs] 

  Laura Ferrari : You're in real trouble, you know. To do with the tires. The press is competing for who can vilify you the most.

  Enzo Ferrari : Nothing wrong with the tires. He hit something. Did you take any calls?

  Laura Ferrari : [scoffs]  Ugolini from The Gazette.

  Enzo Ferrari : What did you tell him?

  Laura Ferrari : I told him to fuck himself. Then that man from Autosport. I told him to fuck himself. Then Agnelli.

  Enzo Ferrari : Agnelli?

  Laura Ferrari : I told him... to call back.

  Enzo Ferrari : Anyone else?

  Laura Ferrari : Cuoghi. I told him to fuck himself, then I took the phone off the hook.

• Peppino : What's going on in there?

  Alda : Her gentleness, the signora, is trying to shoot the Commendatore.

  Laura Ferrari : Buongiorno, Peppino. I let him live.

  Enzo Ferrari : That gun was given to you for your protection.

  Laura Ferrari : And talk to Cuoghi. You're going broke.

  Adalgisa Ferrari : I knew it would come to this. You gave her a gun, she'll use it.

  Enzo Ferrari : She carries the payroll for the factory around in that handbag.

  Adalgisa Ferrari : I'd re-arm Germany before I gave that woman a gun.

• [to a scrum of reporters] 

  Enzo Ferrari : When we win, I can't see my cars for shots of starlets' asses. When we lose, you're a lynch mob!

• [poring over a blueprint with his son] 

  Enzo Ferrari : Okay. pretend you're inside this engine. In the intake manifold. Right here. Really pretend. You're tiny. The size of a little ant. Now look up. It's silver. What do you see?

  Piero Lardi : A big tunnel.

  Enzo Ferrari : Like a pipe, yes? Now pretend water races through. And when it hits this side, what does it do?

  Piero Lardi : Some will splash sideways.

  Enzo Ferrari : But, if I make the curve more gentle, more slippery, what does it do?

  Piero Lardi : It will go faster.

  Enzo Ferrari : Fuel and air will move faster just like the water. And that is all an engine does. Moves fuel in, sparks them into rapid expansion, moves old gases out, new fuel in. And the faster it can do that, the more power you make.

  Piero Lardi : It looks better.

  Enzo Ferrari : Does it? I have a secret to tell you. In all life, when a thing works better, usually it is more beautiful to the eye.

• Lina Lardi : In two weeks, he'll be confirmed. As whom? Piero Lardi or Piero Ferrari? We said when he was ten, we would sort this out. Then Dino's illness got worse, and he's still Piero Lardi. I'm out of excuses.

  Enzo Ferrari : Postpone the confirmation.

  Lina Lardi : His whole class is being confirmed.

  Enzo Ferrari : Say he lost his faith in God.

  Lina Lardi : Enzo. Who else knows about him?

  Enzo Ferrari : Nobody. Apart from the chief of police.

  Lina Lardi : The doctor?

  Enzo Ferrari : Well, yes, the doctor.

  Lina Lardi : And Piero's teachers.

  Enzo Ferrari : The teachers.

  Lina Lardi : Tavoni, Sergio.

  Enzo Ferrari : Of course, Tavoni.

  Lina Lardi : And the bank manager?

  Enzo Ferrari : The bank manager.

  Lina Lardi : Enzo.

  Enzo Ferrari : Apart from them, no one.

  Lina Lardi : Enzo. This is Italy, yes? All of Modena knows!