Hugh Jackman, Noomi Rapace May Star in Michael Mann's 'Ferrari'

Hugh Jackman’s final performance as Wolverine in James Mangold’s Logan is earning plaudits both from critics and audiences, raking in big bucks at the box office. What that means for the future of Wolverine on the big screen is still up in the air, but for Michael Mann’s Ferrari, it may mean a green light.

That’s because Jackman is now in talks to star as the famed Italian race car designer Enzo Ferrari, according to Deadline. Noomi Rapace (Prometheus, below) is also in talks to join the cast; she would play Ferrari’s wife Linda, whose relationship with her husband was “fiery and combustible” during the time that the story unfolds.

Specifically, the movie will be set in 1957, a fateful year when an accident involving a Ferrari vehicle, a blown tire, and multiple casualties created a scandal. Back in August 2015, Christian Bale agreed to star as Ferrari, but by January 2016 he’d dropped out, citing “health concerns over the weight gain” considered necessary for the role. Bale, of course, is well familiar with those challenges; he lost an extreme amount of weight for The Machinist and gained weight for American Hustle.

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To play the ripped Wolverine, Jackman has worked diligently to maintain his physical appearance. The report indicates that Jackman and Mann have been “loosely discussing” the movie for months and Ferrari is now aiming to begin production in the summer of 2018, which should give Jackman plenty of time to gain weight in order to meet the physical requirements of the role.

Mann first began developing the project in association with producer and director Sydney Pollack nearly 17 years ago. Thanks to Logan, it seems that Jackman’s new box office weight will help jump-start another exciting drama…

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