Automobiles First Look: “Lamborghini, The Man Behind the Legend”The Lamborghini movie premiers in December and will showcase the life and times of Ferruccio Lamborghini, a guy who grew to be super rich and truly loath Ferraris.

Words Iron & Air Staff

From the trailer of Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend (Dec. 9), you might recognize the lead of the upcoming film but not be able to place his mug. Frank Grillo, a 57-year-old New York native, has performed a handful of ass-kicking roles in a handful of movies and TV series you’ve likely seen, including Captain America: Winter Soldier, Warrior, Kingdom, and two films in The Purge franchise.

But portraying Ferruccio Lamborghini, the son of a grape farmer who would go on to found a successful tractor company before launching Automobili Lamborghini in 1963, will likely call for a different type of ass-kickery. As in, fewer scenes that involve snapping bones and busting skulls and more screen time spent on how a major obsession with bringing to life a car “that doesn’t exist yet” involved battling naysayers and even those closest to him.

Directed and written by Bobby Moresco — producer of 2005’s Oscar winner Crash and the critically acclaimed Million Dollar Baby — the film is marketed as “based on the true story of Lamborghini’s life.”

That said, it should be interesting to see how the interactions between rival Enzo Ferrari will differ (if at all) from Michael Mann’s forthcoming Ferrari-focused flick starring Adam Driver.

The Ferrari-Lamborghini feud, as the story goes, started because Lamborghini, who had made a fortune building tractors and later manufacturing heating and cooling units after serving in the Italian Air Force mechanics corps, encountered a recurring issue with his Ferrari: the clutch.

A closer look at the problem uncovered something surprising: Ferarri was using the same clutch as the Lamborghini Trattori (aka tractor), albeit at a huge markup.

Since Lamborghini couldn’t tweet his unhappiness at this discovery, he instead headed to Ferrari’s office to complain in person.

After hearing the complaint, Ferarri determined that the crux of the issue wasn’t shoddy clutches, it was a shitty driver.

Words were exchanged and things escalated. Lamborghini became hell-bent on building his own high-end supercar. (Spoiler alert: He does it!)

Of course, this is the TLDR version. There’s much more meat to this story, including the meteoric rise and swift crash of the Lamborghini brand, as well as his eventual exit from the companies he founded.

We’re looking forward to seeing Frank Grillo showcase his drama chops as an actor. Hopefully, it goes well, otherwise, he may beat the living hell out of critics who pan his performance.