Ayrton Senna Movie to Open in Japan - Oct 8th, 2010

Ayrton Senna: The Movie (Trailer)

A documentary on the life and career of Ayrton Senna, the great Brazilian Formula One driver, will open in theaters in Japan on Friday.

This is one of the few movies that will result in theatres full of grown men in tears.

The documentary on the life and career of Ayrton Senna, the great Brazilian Formula One racecar driver, will have a special screening in Suzuka, Japan, on Thursday, as teams prepare for the Grand Prix of Japan, according to The Globe and Mail. The film opens in theaters across Japan on Friday.

The film, “Senna,” was directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by Working Title Films and Midfield Films. The filmmakers received tremendous access after the Senna family gave its approval. “The most emotional time in my life was going to São Paulo to pitch the story to his sister, Viviane,” said Manish Pandey, who wrote the film and also served as an executive producer. Bernie Ecclestone, the commercial rights holder to Formula One, also opened up his archives to the filmmakers.

Senna died during the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy, in 1994, at the age of 33. He was a three-time champion and held the prospects for more. Although there are drivers with more championships (Michael Schumacher has seven, Juan-Manuel Fangio has five, Alain Prost has four) Senna is considered by many current top Formula One drivers as the best ever.

“I really didn’t want to do a film about the death of Ayrton Senna because I thought it would really miss the point of him, even if the plan was to do three days at Imola with flashbacks,” said Pandey. “I really wanted to make it cinematic by giving him the classic three-act structure of the story: The ascendancy of the guy, his massive meteoric rise and then the third act about his death.”

“Senna” will have its official world premiere in São Paolo next month. A release date for the United States has yet to be announced.

Posted via email from dedeporsche's posterous