The car nut behind Lamborghini, Ferrari and Maserati films

First there was Lamborghini: the man behind the legend, The 2022 film stars Frank Grillo and is written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Robert Moresco (Shatter). Then came the high octane FerrariThe 2023 biographical film is directed by Michael Mann, with Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz and Shailene Woodley. Now, at the famous Cinecittà studios in Rome, another legendary Italian supercar maker is being immortalized in Moresco Maserati: Brothersin which Italian actor Michele Morrone plays one of the three siblings who founded the Trident brand in 1914. (Also starring Anthony Hopkins, Andy Garcia, and Jessica Alba.)

The producer behind the three films, 37-year-old Italian Canadian Andrea Iervolino, is bringing automobile origin stories to the screen at a time when Hollywood has gone car-crazy. Watch next F1 Starring Brad Pitt, or the recently announced Austin Butler and Tom Holland film American speedOr the new rumor that Tom Cruise is planning a reboot of the 1990 NASCAR movie Thunder days.

Irvolino says the founders of Italian supercars have a special cinematic appeal. “If you look at these people’s life stories, it seems like it actually became a movie because they went through so many challenges,” he says. “They pioneered a new sports car market, a new belief, a new way of thinking, and they started producing these cars when no one believed in their logic.” He equates it to another Italian legend: “It’s a proverb rocky“The lives of all these men are a parable,” he says rocky“.

Irvolino, despite his young age, has been working in the film industry for more than 20 years. He started production when he was just 15, he says, collecting money door to door from shop owners in his hometown of Cassino, Italy, to produce small-scale productions. In 2004, when he was just 18 years old, he was a co-executive producer on the show Merchant of VeniceStarring Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons. He has since been involved in the production and distribution of more than 75 films. He has made animated films for streaming. He has made films with the Vatican. He even made a series of films that were shown on a social media platform that rewarded viewers and creators with cryptocurrencies.

An avid car collector and amateur racer, Irvolino realized that many people didn’t know the fascinating backstories of Italy’s most famous car brands. “People in the world realize that behind a company called Apple, there was a man called Steve Jobs,” he says. “But they didn’t know that behind the Lamborghini, there was a man named Ferruccio Lamborghini.”

Like the tech giants, these automakers have led the startups of their era, and they all hail from a particular region. “In the same way that California has Silicon Valley, in Italy we call the area between Modena and Bologna Auto Valley,” says Iervolino. “Lamborghini, Ferrari and Maserati all come from that area.”

These companies are known for protecting their archives and intellectual property. But even though he wasn’t born or raised in Motor Valley, Iervolino had something in his favor when he tried to access history and personal materials. “I am Italian, and Italy is not a huge country; “It’s a small country, only 60 million people,” he says. “So it was always easy to have access to a family member, to have access to people I could talk to in person and interact with.”

He’s already thinking about a fourth car movie, one based on the founding of the Franco-German-Italian brand, Bugatti. “I have ideas, but I prefer not to say them yet because I haven’t contacted the actors yet,” he says.

Iervolino believes the current glut of car movies reflects an interest in, or perhaps protective nostalgia for, the enormous power provided by gas-guzzling vehicles. “Electric cars are super fast. But they don’t have that noise, that emotion.

He looks at the depth of this change. “I don’t know if in the future we will have cars as exciting, as adrenaline-inducing cars as we have now.”

But he does not rule out this possibility. In fact, he might be the one doing it. “Thanks to these films, I learned how to build a sports car,” he says. “And maybe one day we’ll produce one.”

This story appeared in the January 9 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.