Believe it or not, Matt Damon is a huge Christian Bale fan. In fact, Damon has said that the number one reason he wanted to do the movie was to work with Bale.

Christian Bale is known for his method acting. So it’s no surprise that, before filming commenced on Ford v Ferrari, Bale made time at the Bondurant High Performance Driving School in Phoenix, Arizona, dubbed “The fastest 60 acres in America.” It may have been coincidence (but we think not) that the founder had been a friend of Ken Miles and regaled Bale wit storied of the 1960s racing scene, adding to the depth of his character.

Christian Bale was fresh off the set of Vice (2018) before filming commenced on Ford v Ferrari and had to lose 70 pounds (32 kilograms) in seven months in order to portray the lean racing driver of Ken Miles. When asked how he lost the weight, he simply replied, “I didn’t eat.”

Le Mans is a legendary and historical circuit that hosts a number of races each year. So closing the circuit for months of filming was simply not an option. To recreate the circuit for Ford v Ferrari, the on-track scenes had to be shot in five different locations, a continuity directors nightmare. For each shot, each car had to be placed precisely, the weather had to be consistent and the cars had to look identical. VFX ended up playing a critical role in fixing continuity issues, right down to adjusting clocks to the right time.

American racing driver Dan Gurney is portrayed in Ford v Ferrari by his youngest son, Alex Gurney, who is also a racing driver.