Ferrari viewers horrified by Adam Driver’s ‘absolutely awful’ Italian accent

Adam Driver’s “outrageous” Italian accent in the new movie Ferrari has divided fans after the film’s worldwide theatrical release on Christmas Day.

Driver, 40, plays the titular role of Ferrari founder, Italian race car driver and entrepreneur Enzo Ferrari in the new biopic from Heat director Michael Mann.

The film also stars Penélope Cruz as Enzo’s wife Laura Ferrari, Shailene Woodley as his mistress Lina Lardi, and Patrick Demsey as Italian F1 driver Piero Taruffi.

Since its release, both the film and Driver’s Italian accent have drawn mixed reactions from fans on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

“I need whoever approved Adam Driver and Shailene Woodley’s Italian accent to be fired expeditiously,” one comment read.

Another person wrote: “Ferrari is a disappointment. I did not have any expectations going into this movie, but I still ended up disappointed. The film follows the life of Enzo Ferrari, played by Adam Driver, who has an absolutely awful Italian accent. The only saving grace of this movie is the driving.”

Several people drew comparisons with Driver’s performance in House of Gucci, noting that his Italian accent remained as “questionable” in the Ferrari biopic as it had in the 2021 Ridley Scott film about the assassination of Gucci scion Maurizio Gucci.

“I think we can all agree that Michael Mann returning to directing feature films is wonderful but forcing us to watch Adam Driver struggle with an Italian accent in a biopic for the second time in as many years and being like ‘And then I’m gonna do HEAT 2‘ is savage,” one person wrote.

“It’s very funny that some of our greatest living directors look at Adam Driver and go ‘I am going to cast you as a guy with a cartoonishly Italian accent’,” another comment read. “I guess he kind of is the Al Pacino of this generation, who kept getting cast as a Cuban guy in the Eighties.”

A third user commented: “if i had a nickel for every time adam driver had to do an italian accent for a movie id have two nickels which isnt a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice [sic].”

Others praised Mann’s latest film as well as Driver’s “understated” Italian accent, with one person writing: “Just watched Ferrari and loved it. It didn’t feel like the kind of thing Michael Mann usually does, but it was well-shot and not melodramatic. Adam Driver is great in the role, with a really understated Italian accent. Penélope Cruz is awesome as always.”

Last month, Driver, who is one of the film’s executive producers, stunned audiences at a screening for the film in Poland with his response to a “rude” question about the movie’s crash scenes.

During a Q&A session at the Camerimage Film Festival on 12 November, one audience member asked the actor: “What do you think about [the] crash scenes? They looked pretty harsh, drastic and, I must say, cheesy for me. What do you think?”

Driver replied: “F*** you? I don’t know. Next question.”

The film received a six-minute standing ovation when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September, leaving Driver “fighting back tears”.

You can read The Independent’s three-star review by our critic Clarisse Loughrey here.