Ferrari cinematographer Eric Messerschmidt talks intense race scenes – The Hollywood Reporter

Adam Driver plays Italian automaker Enzo Ferrari in Michael Mann’s Ferrari.

Courtesy of STX Entertainment

There was a lot of pressure on the day director Michael Mann and his team filmed the violent car crash at the 1957 Mille Miglia race for his next film. Ferrari. “We only got one chance,” says cinematographer Eric Messerschmidt, explaining that the special effects team created and rigged a single self-driving car that could reach the required speed, launch into the air and tumble before landing in a ditch. Without a second take, they filmed the action with six cameras as a precaution.

Based on CV Enzo Ferrari: the man, the cars, the races, the machineThe drama was filmed in and around the Italian city of Modena, the birthplace of the eponymous car maker, played in the film by Adam Driver. The film follows Ferrari’s personal life as well as professional racing, including the brutal Mille Miglia accident that claimed the lives of driver Alfonso de Portago, his co-driver and 10 spectators.

Mann’s research for this scene included racing footage such as a fatal Le Mans crash during the early 1950s. “It was a good reference both for the brutal reality of this type of accident but also for the way it would be covered. “He wanted it to be very CCTV, almost like a newsreel,” says Messerschmidt. “They did weeks of testing with different cars, different weights.” , and they put weights in different parts of the car to make the car roll in certain ways – and hopefully get it where we wanted it to be. Mike was very specific, as always. “He wanted the car to land in this ditch.”

Oscar winning DP Mank (Who returns this year with David Fincher in the Netflix thriller the killer) He carefully chose to shoot the scene at a specific time of day when the sun was low and he could get the right lighting. “We waited and waited and waited, and then we shot,” he says. “It turned out that the car landed exactly where the special effects team expected it would land. It was extraordinary. I’d never seen anything like it before.”

This practical trick is combined with visual effects to put spectators in the frame and complete the shot. On set, the team arranged puppets around the set “because Michael wanted to be very specific about placing the people,” Messerschmidt says. “The dummies are weighted, so they interact with the car in a very specific way, and they are an excellent reference for the visual effects team. We (also) shot panels with extras.

In general, the visual style Ferrari (which will be released on December 25 by Neon) featured two distinct aesthetics – a graphic look for Ferrari’s personal story and a more aggressive racing camera. “Michael wanted it to be very deep, very high energy, and he wanted to put the audience in the seat with the drivers,” says DP. “We were also driving the cars very fast. He wanted the cars to go as fast as the drivers were used to driving them. And we did that.”

Ferrari It is among the first films shot with the Sony Venice 2 camera and a prototype of the Rialto 2 extension system that effectively separates the sensor from the camera body to allow it to be placed in smaller spaces. “We put them all over the car,” Messerschmidt says. “We put them on the fenders, on the front hood, on the steering wheel, hand-held in the passenger seat, and carried outside the car on a biscuit stand. This system has liberated us greatly, and allowed us to be completely expressive with the camera in a way that I don’t think would normally be possible. Certainly not “This quality.”

For the scenes depicting Ferrari’s relationships with his wife Laura (Penelope Cruz) and his lover Lena (Shailene Woodley), Messerschmidt says Mann wanted something that was shot and lit “classically,” with a more “patient” camera and artistic look. “He was interested in emulating Italian Renaissance paintings,” DP says of Mann’s reference points. “He asked me to look at Caravaggio and that school of painting. “I particularly adore the Venetian school,” adds Messerschmidt. “I put together a look book and sent pictures – Tintoretto, Titian and Caravaggio, of course. And a bit of Rembrandt too…that style of classical Italian portraiture, with a mix of Dutch artists as well. And that was the direction we wanted to go in with the personal story.

This story first appeared in the November 16 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.