Tony, Ridley Scott On Board FME’s Le Mans Drama

LONDON: Scott Free Productions, the venture founded by Tony and Ridley Scott, has joined Headline Pictures, Sennet Entertainment and FremantleMedia Enterprises as a co-producer on The Drivers, a period drama set against the backdrop of Le Mans.

FME is funding the project, which Scott Free will co-produce with Headline and Sennet based on the book Shelby: The Man, The Cars, the Legend by Wallace A. Wyss (optioned from Iconografix). The drama will focus on the wild young drivers from the U.S., Germany, France, Italy and Britain competing in Le Mans in the 50s and 60s.

“I grew up in the North of England at a time when Stirling Moss was a hero," said Ridley Scott. "Everyone wanted to be a racing driver. This is a hugely ambitious project and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tell the story of these iconic and legendary men who risked everything to win at Le Mans. It’s an epic story of courage and ambition and a history of racing which has never been told on such a grand scale.”

David Ellender, global CEO at FME, added, “Having Ridley and Tony on board brings something really special to the project. They are indisputably two of the best filmmakers in the world today and their involvement raises the bar on this project to a much higher level of storytelling and production. Their vast international success combined with their British background puts them in a unique position to understand characters and stories from both sides of the Atlantic.”