Trivia / Ford v Ferrari

• California Doubling:
  • The California/Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California doubles for Daytona International Speedway. Though CGI is used to add some of the period-correct Daytona grandstand details, the giveaways are California's bright blue walls (Daytona's were gray), and the orange-colored pit buildings the cast stand in front of. This leads to a hurricane of anachronisms. For one, the scoring pylon is too modern, and Daytona never had one in the 60's. Even more glaring is the fact that the speedway's walls are decked out in foam reinforced safety barriers. The idea of safety barriers at NASCAR tracks only came about after Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s death in 2001.
  • Road Atlanta, in Atlanta, Georgia (the US state), home of the Petit Le Mans 12 hour race, doubles for the actual Circuit de la Sarthe.
• Cast the Expert:
  • Racing legend Dan Gurney is portrayed by his son Alex. Alex is himself a professional race car driver who has competed multiple times in the 24 Hours of Daytona, a sister race to Le Mans. Phill Hill and Dave MacDonald are also played by their Sons Derek and Rich.
  • Denny Hulme, Ken's co-driver at Le Mans, is played by Ben Collins, a former professional racer, current stunt driver, who is best known for playing the Stig.
  • Ronnie Bucknum, driver of the #5 Ford that finished 3rd, is portrayed by professional racing driver Tanner Foust, who also presented the American version of Top Gear. His Co-Driver Dick Hutcherson is played by freestyle motocross legend Brian Deegan.
• Completely Different Title: In Spanish, the film is known as Contra lo imposible ("Against the Impossible") in Latin America and as Le Mans '66 in Spain (Le Mans '66 being in fact the title used in some European territories).
• Dueling-Stars Movie: Matt Damon and Christian Bale are both just about as successful and famous as each other, which is reflected in both Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles being equally as important and prominent throughout the film. The advertising reflects this by not pushing one over the other.
• Dyeing for Your Art: According to Matt Damon, Christian Bale had to lose seventy pounds before filming began. Bale had previously gained a lot of weight for his role in Vice (2018) and had about seven months to lose it all and then some to play the lean race car driver, Ken Miles. Damon inquired of Bale how he managed to lose all the weight, to which Bale replied that he simply didn't eat. Damon said he was impressed by Bale's monk-like discipline.
• Fake Nationality: Downplayed. Bale and Damon both portray their own respective nationalities, British and American, but both use accents not their own due to their characters being from different parts of the country. Welsh-born Bale speaks with a Birmingham "Brummie" accent, and Damon, who's from the Boston area, speaks with a Texas drawl.
• Release Date Change: Originally scheduled for June 28, 2019, it was pushed back to November 15.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt were initially considered before James Mangold signed on to direct.
  • Michael Mann was also initially in talks to direct the film when it was planned as an adaptation of A. J. Balme's Go Like Hell, but remained involved as an executive producer after Mangold was hired.
  • Mangold originally approached Harrison Ford for a part in the film. Though said part didn't materialize, Mangold and Ford got to work together later on in The Call of the Wild (2020) and in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
• Working Title: Go Like Hell, back when the production had the rights to the A. J. Balme book of that title.

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