Hollywood takes on iconic racing story in ‘Ford v Ferrari'

Hollywood is taking on the true story of American car designer Carroll Shelby and British-born driver Ken Miles -- who teamed up to build a revolutionary race car for Henry Ford II -- with an upcoming feature film titled Ford v Ferrari.

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. debuted the worldwide trailer for the film, starring Academy Award winners Matt Damon and Christian Bale, Sunday night during Game 2 of the NBA Finals on ABC.

The nearly three-minute trailer shows Shelby, portrayed by Damon, work with Miles, played by Bale, to take on the dominating race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in 1966.

For more coverage of the movie from Autoweek, an affiliate of Automotive News, click here.

Former Ford Motor Co. executive Lee Iacocca, played by Jon Bernthal, approaches Shelby to build Ford II the "greatest race car the world's ever seen."

Shelby says to Iacocca that winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans takes "something money can't buy."

Iacocca responds: "Money can buy speed."

"You need a pure racer behind the wheel of your car; that's Ken Miles," Damon's voice-over as Shelby says while Bale as Miles is seen putting his race car helmet on.

Next, Miles and Shelby are sitting at a table in a diner talking about the race proposal.

"You're going to build a car to beat Ferrari with a Ford?" asks Miles. "And how long did you tell them that you needed? Two-, three hundred years?"

Shelby responds: "Ninety days."

Next, Ford II, portrayed by Tracy Letts, says to Shelby in the Ford executive office, "This isn't the first time that Ford Motor's gone to war."

During a night scene of the Ford race car, a voice-over of Letts as Ford II says, "We know how to do more than push paper. Go ahead, Carroll, go to war."

The trailer continues with a sequence of gutsy, action-filled racing scenes before finishing with Shelby giving Ford II a ride around the track in the race car.

Film's origin

Shelby, who died in 2012 at 89, was known as an American automotive designer, racing driver and entrepreneur.

His vehicles, such as the Ford-powered Cobra sports car, first-generation Shelby Mustang, Le Mans-winning GT40 and modern Mustang are among Ford's post-Word War II highlights. Shelby also had a hand in the development of the Dodge Viper sports car, various high-performance Chrysler products and his own sports car, the Shelby Series 1.

Iacocca, Ford's general manager in the early 1960s, knew of Shelby and knew he was installing Ford engines into British sports cars. It's unclear whether Iacocca approached Shelby or vice versa about turning the Mustang into a performance car, according to an Automotive News account published in 2014.

"It was Lee Iacocca who really stayed behind us all the way, encouraged us, and then got us into the Mustang program," Shelby wrote in Alex Gabbard's 1990 book, Fast Mustangs.

Ford v Ferrari, directed by James Mangold, is set to hit theaters Nov. 15.