**A Conversation with the Director of Ford v Ferrari**

The director of the film Ford v Ferrari, James Mangold, sat down to talk about his experience bringing the true story of American car designer Carroll Shelby and racing driver Ken Miles to life on the big screen. Mangold revealed that he had always been fascinated by the friendship between Shelby and Miles, which was at the center of the film's underdog story.

Mangold explained that the script they used was much more extensive than the final version of the film, with a larger cast of characters and more plotlines. However, they boiled it down to focus on the relationship between Shelby and Miles, and the challenges they faced as they worked together to develop the Ford GT40 car.

One of Mangold's biggest concerns was that the film would be too focused on car racing, which can often involve a lot of CGI and unrealistic crashes. Instead, he opted for practical effects and real-world driving sequences, which added to the sense of authenticity and danger. The director praised his second-unit team and drivers, who were all experts in their field.

Mangold also discussed the importance of Carroll Shelby's racing history and experience. He was approached by Ford with the idea of developing a car that could compete with Ferrari's GT40, and Shelby was recruited to lead the project. Mangold noted that Shelby was known for his ability to recruit top drivers, including Ken Miles, who would eventually become an integral part of the film.

The director also shared some stories about the cast and crew, including his interactions with Carroll Shelby himself. He revealed that he had met some of the actors who played Shelby's family members, including Alex Gurney and Dan Gurney, whose sons were involved in racing.

Mangold also spoke about the bond between Shelby and Miles, which was at the heart of the film's story. He praised the chemistry between the two leads, Christian Bale and Matt Damon, who brought their characters to life in a convincing way.

One of the most poignant moments from Mangold's conversation came when he showed him a coin that had been printed by Carroll Shelby as a tribute to his father, who was killed racing. The director revealed that Shelby had produced 300 coins, which were only available to a select few.

Finally, Mangold shared some behind-the-scenes stories about the film's car sequences, including one memorable scene in which he took the camera crew for a spin and got a taste of what it's like to be a racing driver. He joked that he was almost as good as Carroll Shelby himself, but admitted that he wouldn't be trying to outdo him anytime soon.

Overall, Mangold's conversation provided a fascinating glimpse into the making of Ford v Ferrari, and offered insights into the film's themes, characters, and behind-the-scenes stories.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enever since the invention of the wheel we've been obsessed with 29-foot than our legs can take it once the automobile came along it was off to the races but whether you're competing for a professional title or the pride that comes with being a true speed demon racing is better with a rival and there's been some real doozies Senna versus Prost Pearson versus Petit Leno versus Allen Oh you pushing me oh hey I pulled something but there's one racing rivalry that is so legendary they just made a movie about it we've talked a lot about Ford versus Ferrari on this show but here's a quick rundown Lamont is the world's oldest endurance sports car race with an unprecedented six consecutive wins from 1960 1965 Enzo Ferraris team seemed unbeatable over in America Henry Ford wanted in and offered ends up ten million dollars for half a share in his Italian race car company and after nine months of negotiations Ferrari said no glad see Andrade Ford assembled a dream team to design a car that would beat the pantalones off his new nemesis and put a brash Texan named Carol Shelby in charge of the whole shebang a racecar driver auto designer and entrepreneur Shelby was the kind of man who could talk a dog off a meat truck he convinced legendary driver ten miles to join Ford's crew when together they unveiled the GP for what happened you don't know by now go see the movie here to tell us more is the act of playing Carol Shelby on the big screen Freddie Mac could you see it my friend it is new you know why these three cars are here know what let me take that jacket off a second put this jacket on trust me let me explain you what's going on okay Carroll Shelby was my hero and you're playing my hero sorry well yeah you never want to meet you Hiro but in this case you do and while I was 50 and I bought this issue of road and track see this oh and it has the Mustang the Ford GT and the Cobra and I asked you to bring the Cobra cause already got the Ford GT and the Mustang I thought we could recreate this picture so you stand right over there right about there okay let me get out of the shot ready perfect I want to talk about the movie great this is the first time my life I've known someone who was made the subject of movie played by someone I know because I always wondered what people thought if they really thought they captured the essence of the person in the film and you really did I knew Carroll he'd been here many times and I really believe that I mean you had the body language did you ever meet him I never got to meet him and Christian obviously never got to meet 10 miles so it was a lot of watching old documentaries about that right you know this is a project has been around almost as long as I've been in Hollywood since the 70s people wanted to do Carroll Shelby 10 miles ahold the whole story and never seem to get off the ground well what what made this time different you think I was approached with a much bigger script with a lot more characters and it was just too unwieldy to try to do in a couple hours right but this script way they boiled it down to these two guys and this underdog story told through the eyes of this friendship these kind of guys were yeah different I thought you did a great job and my biggest fear I hate car movies where people go whoa you know they go off some jump and it's CGI and I know come on it's not the Dukes that has a threat but where's these the crashes nothing looks cgi nothing in CGI I mean he got all in camera and we had an unbelievable second unit team and really good drivers these guys were special breed like they would just get the get the biggest engine they could and put it on the lightest thing they could find and right I asked Carroll once what he didn't like about Enzo Ferrari and he told me he killed too many drivers yeah his nickname was the assassin Ferrari back in those days one guy died a week in professional auto racing it was a very dangerous scary time I mean the reason they recruited Carroll Shelby is because he raced there in 59 and he was the only guy they knew American who had raced in this French racetrack it's not even a racetrack it's public road middle of the French countryside just the idea of going 230 miles an hour down the Mulsanne straight and not knowing if you're going to be able to stop there's stories from back then of guys flipping a car and fuel dripping on them and they're just in the middle of cow feet right there in a pasture and nobody's gonna come save them the gt40 had the fuel lines going through the doors and they're just waiting for a spark that's gonna just light them on fire and kill them and in fact one of the drivers very famously started taping a wrench to a steering wheel to kind of work his way out of the situation if he was jammed in the car a dangerous sport obviously but not like what these guys were doing right and also they raced for virtually nothing free tires gas and oil right oh wow that's unbelievable and that's what professional sports was back in those days it wasn't the big business it is now did you meet any members of the family no we talked to some of the guys who worked with him who were on that LeMond crew and then there was a really neat thing that happened where some of the drivers sons played their dads yeah well Alex gurney exactly yeah it was a Dan Gurney yeah well touch them you know Carroll Shelby's son he had these printed up in memory of his dad these are these coins he had 300 of these made and I think they were so impressed with your performance they asked me to give you this one oh man this is from the family and I think it's just a pretty cool little thing it's not available in the Franklin Mint you can't buy it I couldn't get one shelby would have sold it to me he was also a bit of a PT Barnum he could sell something like with these cobras he would have won and he'd repainted every week to look like he had a Carman different one was on the car you know all those kind of deals best salesman of all time it was the best sales of that but a great heart you know that that's what I loved about the guy I want to see if you're as a good a driver is Carol shell because I doubt he raced it Lamar you know they did the whole deal you want to take me for Ryan come on considering how you pulled in here I don't know if this is such a smart idea oh yeah no kid he's a maxi I don't know I try to help get exposure home it'll work one of these days is this your first time driving a car / doing this film yeah doing the movie yeah and I was shocked at how easy it is to get the back wheels too you know yeah I mean it doesn't take a lot of cars have traction control stuff to keep you in your lane this is like you're on your own path right here right which gives you a whole appreciation for these guysever since the invention of the wheel we've been obsessed with 29-foot than our legs can take it once the automobile came along it was off to the races but whether you're competing for a professional title or the pride that comes with being a true speed demon racing is better with a rival and there's been some real doozies Senna versus Prost Pearson versus Petit Leno versus Allen Oh you pushing me oh hey I pulled something but there's one racing rivalry that is so legendary they just made a movie about it we've talked a lot about Ford versus Ferrari on this show but here's a quick rundown Lamont is the world's oldest endurance sports car race with an unprecedented six consecutive wins from 1960 1965 Enzo Ferraris team seemed unbeatable over in America Henry Ford wanted in and offered ends up ten million dollars for half a share in his Italian race car company and after nine months of negotiations Ferrari said no glad see Andrade Ford assembled a dream team to design a car that would beat the pantalones off his new nemesis and put a brash Texan named Carol Shelby in charge of the whole shebang a racecar driver auto designer and entrepreneur Shelby was the kind of man who could talk a dog off a meat truck he convinced legendary driver ten miles to join Ford's crew when together they unveiled the GP for what happened you don't know by now go see the movie here to tell us more is the act of playing Carol Shelby on the big screen Freddie Mac could you see it my friend it is new you know why these three cars are here know what let me take that jacket off a second put this jacket on trust me let me explain you what's going on okay Carroll Shelby was my hero and you're playing my hero sorry well yeah you never want to meet you Hiro but in this case you do and while I was 50 and I bought this issue of road and track see this oh and it has the Mustang the Ford GT and the Cobra and I asked you to bring the Cobra cause already got the Ford GT and the Mustang I thought we could recreate this picture so you stand right over there right about there okay let me get out of the shot ready perfect I want to talk about the movie great this is the first time my life I've known someone who was made the subject of movie played by someone I know because I always wondered what people thought if they really thought they captured the essence of the person in the film and you really did I knew Carroll he'd been here many times and I really believe that I mean you had the body language did you ever meet him I never got to meet him and Christian obviously never got to meet 10 miles so it was a lot of watching old documentaries about that right you know this is a project has been around almost as long as I've been in Hollywood since the 70s people wanted to do Carroll Shelby 10 miles ahold the whole story and never seem to get off the ground well what what made this time different you think I was approached with a much bigger script with a lot more characters and it was just too unwieldy to try to do in a couple hours right but this script way they boiled it down to these two guys and this underdog story told through the eyes of this friendship these kind of guys were yeah different I thought you did a great job and my biggest fear I hate car movies where people go whoa you know they go off some jump and it's CGI and I know come on it's not the Dukes that has a threat but where's these the crashes nothing looks cgi nothing in CGI I mean he got all in camera and we had an unbelievable second unit team and really good drivers these guys were special breed like they would just get the get the biggest engine they could and put it on the lightest thing they could find and right I asked Carroll once what he didn't like about Enzo Ferrari and he told me he killed too many drivers yeah his nickname was the assassin Ferrari back in those days one guy died a week in professional auto racing it was a very dangerous scary time I mean the reason they recruited Carroll Shelby is because he raced there in 59 and he was the only guy they knew American who had raced in this French racetrack it's not even a racetrack it's public road middle of the French countryside just the idea of going 230 miles an hour down the Mulsanne straight and not knowing if you're going to be able to stop there's stories from back then of guys flipping a car and fuel dripping on them and they're just in the middle of cow feet right there in a pasture and nobody's gonna come save them the gt40 had the fuel lines going through the doors and they're just waiting for a spark that's gonna just light them on fire and kill them and in fact one of the drivers very famously started taping a wrench to a steering wheel to kind of work his way out of the situation if he was jammed in the car a dangerous sport obviously but not like what these guys were doing right and also they raced for virtually nothing free tires gas and oil right oh wow that's unbelievable and that's what professional sports was back in those days it wasn't the big business it is now did you meet any members of the family no we talked to some of the guys who worked with him who were on that LeMond crew and then there was a really neat thing that happened where some of the drivers sons played their dads yeah well Alex gurney exactly yeah it was a Dan Gurney yeah well touch them you know Carroll Shelby's son he had these printed up in memory of his dad these are these coins he had 300 of these made and I think they were so impressed with your performance they asked me to give you this one oh man this is from the family and I think it's just a pretty cool little thing it's not available in the Franklin Mint you can't buy it I couldn't get one shelby would have sold it to me he was also a bit of a PT Barnum he could sell something like with these cobras he would have won and he'd repainted every week to look like he had a Carman different one was on the car you know all those kind of deals best salesman of all time it was the best sales of that but a great heart you know that that's what I loved about the guy I want to see if you're as a good a driver is Carol shell because I doubt he raced it Lamar you know they did the whole deal you want to take me for Ryan come on considering how you pulled in here I don't know if this is such a smart idea oh yeah no kid he's a maxi I don't know I try to help get exposure home it'll work one of these days is this your first time driving a car / doing this film yeah doing the movie yeah and I was shocked at how easy it is to get the back wheels too you know yeah I mean it doesn't take a lot of cars have traction control stuff to keep you in your lane this is like you're on your own path right here right which gives you a whole appreciation for these guys\n"