Hugh Jackman is in talks to play Enzo Ferrari in Michael Mann Biopic.

Hugh Jackman is in talks to play Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari in Michael Mann’s upcoming biopic Ferrari.

Based on the book Enzo Ferrari – The Man and the Machine by Brock Yates, the script has been written by The Italian Job‘s late Troy Kennedy Martin, and then reworked by Mann, according to Variety.

Ferrari will follow Ferrari in the summer of 1957 during which he and his wife Laura tried to manage their struggling business, alongside the death of their son and Enzo’s affair with another woman, with whom he had another son. The film is also set to focus on the Mille Miglia race in Italy, a notoriously difficult race taking place across the country.

Filming is expected to begin in spring 2021. STX is on board to distribute the movie in the U.K. and Ireland and is handling international sales at the Cannes virtual market. CAA Media Finance is handling the movie's rights in the U.S. In an interview, STX said, “During the dangerous race, Laura will discover long kept secrets, opportunities will rise and fade, and drivers, like surrogate sons, will push beyond the edge. Ferrari is the story of one summer in 1957 when all the dynamic forces in Enzo Ferrari’s life – as combustible and volatile as the race cars he builds – collide. Mann will bring his passion for the extraordinarily vivid characters and the dangerous world of motor racing in the 1950s to create an epic, cinematic experience.”

Michael Mann is a four-time Academy Award nominee. Some of his previous directing credits include Heat, The Insider, Collateral and Public Enemies. Interestingly, Mann served as a producer on last year's Ford vs. Ferrari, which was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Hugh Jackman is coming off of a run playing Wolverine for nearly two decades in the X-Men franchise, which concluded in 2017 with Logan. Jackman has since starred in the hit musical The Greatest Showman, as well as the Gary Hart biopic The Front Runner. Jackman will be seen next in the sci-fi flick Reminiscence, which is directed by Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy.

Enzo Ferrari had a very successful racing career as a driver but his legacy in the automobile industry is the sports car company named after him. Founded in 1939, Ferrari remains amongst the most respected names in auto racing the sports car world. Ferrari passed away in 1988 but his legacy has endured far beyond his years. We'll be sure to keep you posted as further details on the project are made available. This news was previously reported by Variety.

Hugh Jackman most recently starred in Bad Education, another true-story drama about the infamous school embezzlement scandal in Roslyn, New York, led by superintendent Frank Tassone.

No release date set for Ferrari yet.