McLaren Film In The Pipeline

[ShiftingGears]

http://www.planet-f1.com/News/Story_Page/0,15909,3210_3213_1857707,00.html

McLaren film in the pipeline
Saturday January 20 2007

It was announced today at the New Zealand A1 GP that a film featuring the life of Bruce McLaren is set to go into production.

McLaren's widow and daughter announced the plans at the Taupo circuit this weekend. They were accompanied by government minister Jim Anderton and Emerson Fittipaldi, Sir Jack Brabham and some former McLaren Racing directors.

The film is set to premiere in 2009 even though casting is yet to begin. Meanwhile, it was reported that the film has the blessing of F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.





I am looking forward to this! I hope there's footage of McLaren in Grands Prix but also Can-Am.

[Jonesi]

It would be great if they can do it right. I don't know where they are going to find race tracks that look like the 1960s, (without it being heavy CGI and obvious that it is.) They could easily spend $20-30 million on the old looking cars alone.

[Prof Yaffle]

Alot of the old McLarens will be knocking about i expect they will use alot of older footage already filmed from the previous GP's and GoodWood hasnt changed much since his death.

[Nikki Katz]

Whatever happened to the Jacques Villeneuve film with Leonardo di Caprio? I'll believe Tom Cruise as Bruce McLaren when I see it. Or possibly not!

[K-Pu]

Uagh, Tom Cruise!
Any film featuring him is "hard to see". He has become one of the worst actors around here :S

[AJP]

Uagh, Tom Cruise!
Any film featuring him is "hard to see". He has become one of the worst actors around here :S

agreed K-Pu...

lets hope they do this properly with an unknown actor....

or atleast someone who will be remotely passionate about motorsport and not in it for the money...

I'll do it... :)

[ArrowsFA1]

Filmakers are not known for producing great motorsport movies (except for "Grand Prix" of course :s mokin: ) but with the Bruce McLaren story they have a story worth telling.

Let's hope they tell it well.

[wmcot]

agreed K-Pu...

lets hope they do this properly with an unknown actor....

or atleast someone who will be remotely passionate about motorsport and not in it for the money...

I'll do it... :)

It would be best with a New Zealander as the actor. Tom Cruise would be a poor choice (the only worse one would be Sylvester Stallone!)

[futuretiger9]

The fact that the movie has the blessing of former McLaren personnel, various luminaries and the racing establishment in general, bodes well.

I just hope that they don't go overboard in terms of distorting the story for the sake of sensationalism. Also, as has been stated, they should go for an actor who has a passion for racing, whether he is relatively unknown or not.
Part of the success of "Grand Prix" and "Le Mans" was the fact that the likes of James Garner and Steve McQueen came across convincingly as racing drivers. All too often, motor racing films have been compromised by the need for a big-name Hollywood star to play to the gallery.

I can't wait to see the film when it opens.

[Hawkmoon]

I take it that this is not a Hollywood production? Americans don't seem all that interested in modern F1, I doubt that they have much interest in F1 history. If it won't make money in the US, Hollywood won't make it, so I'm assuming that it's an international production.

It's a curious choice of subject matter. I'm willing to bet that whilst many people know the McLaren name, far fewer know that Bruce McLaren founded the team. He doesn't have the same fame that Clark or Fangio have.

I figure the Senna story is probably the best one to turn into a big budget Hollywood film.

[futuretiger9]

It may indeed be better if this production will be independent of Hollywood. It depends upon which market they are aiming at. Most interest in Bruce McLaren would likely be in Europe and the Antipodes. Interest in North America would possibly confined to older road-racing fans.

Let's hope that the film is more of a "niche" effort, aimed at the motor racing purists, rather than pandering to the "lowest common denominator" in order to attain box-office success.