French online magazine Les Hardis just released an interview of Patrick Dempsey in which he talks about his new film Ferrari (now available on Prime Video), his passion for racing and watches. Read the translation below.

Patrick Dempsey, the film Ferrari and his passion for racing

Michael Mann’s film, Ferrari, with Patrick Dempsey and Adam Driver, has been on Prime Video since March 8. We, at Les Hardis really liked this film which focuses on three months in the life of the great car manufacturer between March and May 1957. At that time, ten years after the creation of his brand, Enzo Ferrari was already a legend adored in his country but the sports results are not good and the company is on the verge of bankruptcy. The future of the brand will be decided at a single race: the Mille Miglia, the scene of a dramatic accident but won by pilot Piero Taruffi played by Patrick Dempsey, who is himself a pilot in his spare time. We were lucky enough to be able to interview him thanks to the help of the watchmaker TAG Heuer of which he is the ambassador.

You play the role of Piero Taruffi in Michael Mann’s film Ferrari, did you have to insist a lot to get this role?

Patrick Dempsey: I had been following the preparation of the film from afar for more than fifteen years. Every time it seemed like it was going to be made, there was a setback, the actor couldn’t do it or the funding was lacking. I was impatiently waiting for the moment to offer my services. And then one day at the end of 2021, I learned from Adam Driver’s makeup artist that the film was going to be made in the spring of 2022.
I immediately sent an email to Michael Mann, we made an appointment: we talked about car racing and my experience as a driver. I told him that I was ready to do anything on the film as long as I was in it. A week later, he offered me the role of Piero Taruffi. I was delighted.

What kind of car fan is Michael Mann?

Patrick Dempsey: He is very well versed in motor racing. For this film alone he had an entire library dedicated to the 1950s. He has been passionate about car and moto racing for a very long time and on top of that he has a very nice collection of cars.

Were you able to drive the real Ferraris of that era in the film?

Patrick Dempsey: We had only one original Ferrari 335 S, Taruffi’s actually, which now belongs to an Englishman. We used it to record the sound of the V12, but could not drive with it during filming because this car is far too expensive (auctioned off for 32 million euros in 2016, editor’s note).
We therefore had to build replicas for the race and especially for crash scenes. Car preparer, Neil Layton took a Caterham chassis and screwed on a bodywork hand-shaped by Luigi Campana’s company, which already manufactured the bodies in the 1950s in Modena.

What were your impressions at the wheel of these cars?

Patrick Dempsey: It was scary, because I’m used to modern racing cars, with a roll bar, harness and full face helmet. But it allowed me to understand the staggering risks that pilots took at the time. During filming, we drove the cars at full speed between 250 and 260 km/h to really give the viewer the impression of speed. I also thank the production for allowing me to drive the car myself alongside the stunt drivers. Steve McQueen was unable to drive in the film Le Mans [1971] for insurance reasons.

As a TAG Heuer ambassador, what watch did you get to wear in Ferrari?

Patrick Dempsey: I really fell in love with my character. I discovered that he had a small leather pocket on his wrist to protect the timer which allowed him to know where he was from stage to stage during the Mille Miglia.
I also had an identical small pocket sewn to protect the vintage Heuer watch that we found with the curators of the TAG Heuer museum. It was a model with a black dial as seen in the 1950s, the sublime 3336T model. Unfortunately I had to return it at the end of filming.

With the Carrera Panamericana in Mexico in which you participated last October, did you feel like you were reliving the sensations of filming?

Patrick Dempsey: Thanks to TAG Heuer I was able to do this race in a Porsche 718 GT4 RS, it was all the more fantastic because Piero Taruffi, my character in Ferrari, won this race in 1951 in a Ferrari 212.
To this day, the Carrera Panamericana is the closest thing to open road races like the Mille Miglia, the Italian race in which Taruffi participated 16 times and last won in 1957. This is precisely the topic of Ferrari, which focuses on the three decisive months of the history of the scuderia just before this dramatic race.

What are the common points between being an actor and being a driver?

Patrick Dempsey: You have to know how to isolate yourself and concentrate in a public arena, ignore the pressure and the media. But what I like most about the drivers is the spirit of camaraderie on the tracks. Another advantage is that with racing the verdict is immediate, either we are fast or we are not. You must also face your fear, and know how far to push the car before it breaks. The race changes the perception we have of the world, and it makes me feel alive, I love it.

With productions like Ferrari, but also Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia about rallies or the miniseries Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story on Disney + with Keanu Reeves, can we talk about a trend of racing?

Patrick Dempsey: I think that thanks to the success of James Mangold’s film Ford v Ferrari – which raised $225 million at the box office with a budget of $98 million, editor’s note – the studios understood that it was possible to make money with stories about motorsport. And then there was the hit series Formula 1 – Drive to Survive on Netflix. Before this series, which started in 2019, there was no incarnation, people saw the car as a moving object on the screen and on a track. Since then, Formula 1 has become the number one motorsport in the USA because the public has a better understanding of who the protagonists are, the different teams and the workings of the discipline. This creates a new appetite. For instance, Brad Pitt is preparing his film Apex about the champion Lewis Hamilton, and there are other projects underway.

The question that we are dying to ask: how many cars do you have?

Patrick Dempsey: I still have my 1960 Porsche 356 which is the first car I bought. I also have a Porsche tractor. So that’s 6 vintage cars. For me, they are like works of art. My dream would be to have a 906 or a 907. I would also like the 914-6 very much. But I have more watches than cars, because you need a large garage for cars, watches are easier to store.

Precisely, how many watches do you own?

Patrick Dempsey: I didn’t count, but I really have a lot of them. I particularly like the ones that are made of gold. And I just recently discovered the Skipper, I discovered sailing and I liked it a lot. Now I hope to be able to do another regatta with TAG Heuer this year. Finally, today for our interview I wear the TAG Heuer Monza in carbon. It is a light, very elegant and a little nostalgic watch that goes well with the Ferrari movie.

Trick question: do you prefer your TAG Heuer Carrera or your TAG Heuer Monaco, two watches dedicated to racing?

Patrick Dempsey: I don’t like to choose, especially since each one has a special meaning for me, they both remind me of a special moment in my life.
For example, the Monaco watch that I wore on the podium at the 24 hours of Le Mans in 2015 as a driver, or the Monaco in the colours of Gulf when I was on the podium as a team manager in 2018. But I also occasionally wear the latest Carrera which I also during the Carrera Panamericana last October.

So do you prefer to be a team manager or a driver?

Patrick Dempsey: Team manager is more stressful because we are always looking for money to find sponsors. As a driver, it’s a different stress.

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Source: https://www.leshardis.com/2024/03/interview-patrick-dempsey-film-ferrari-passion-voitures/