EXCLUSIVE: Prolific Italian producer Andrea Iervolino has set his sights on another film about the world of motor racing, with the announcement that he is developing a biopic about motor sports legend Bruce McLaren.
The iconic New Zealand driver and engineer died tragically young but left a legacy in Formula 1 history, with the McLaren Racing team he founded and left in his wake.
The film will tell the story of a man who, from a very young age, had to overcome significant physical and personal challenges.
At the age of nine, McLaren was diagnosed with Perthes disease, a rare childhood bone disorder that affected his left hip and forced him to spend more than two years in hospital with his leg immobilized in a traction device. Rather than stopping him in his tracks, this challenge ignited a passion for mechanics and racing cars, fueled in part by his father, who ran a service station in Auckland.
“Bruce McLaren’s life is an extraordinary example of how adversity can become the spark of a remarkable destiny,” said Iervolino.
“From a child confined to a hospital bed to a genius of speed, Bruce didn’t just race—he built, innovated, and inspired. This film will not only pay tribute to his career, but to his brilliant mind and unwavering determination. We aim to tell the story of a man who transformed pain into vision, and physical limitation into a drive for excellence.”
The project is currently in development and will be an international production, with filming locations planned in New Zealand and the U.K. Iervolino added that he is the process of reaching out to McLaren’s family about the project.
The movie will trace McLaren’s full journey, starting from local races in New Zealand, to his early triumph in Formula 1, when he became the youngest Grand Prix winner at age 22; to the founding of Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd in 1963, and his untimely death in 1970 during a test run of the M8D at the Goodwood Circuit.
The biopic follows in the wake of a trio of supercar and motor racing themed movies produced by Iervolino, spanning Ferrari, Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend and Maserati: The Brothers.
