Although Michael Mann’s Blackhat was considered a disappointment by many, the 72-year-old director is looking to follow it up fairly quickly with an interesting passion project that he has been trying to get off the ground for almost 15 years. The film is simply called Ferrari and it is a biopic about Italian entrepreneur and race car driver Enzo Ferrari, one of the founding forces behind Formula One racing. Mann was developing the movie in partnership with Sydney Pollack prior to his death in 2008, based on Brock Yates’ 1991 book Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races. Now it looks as though he has finally secured a pretty big A-list actor for the film, although (surprise, surprise) there is another competing Ferrari project also said to be in the works. Hit the jump for more details.

According to Deadline, Christian Bale has agreed to star in Michael Mann’s upcoming Ferrari biopic. The movie still does not yet have full financing, but is expected to be a hot item shopped at several upcoming film festivals including Telluride, Toronto and Venice. Last we heard, Mann had a script that had been merged from two separate screenplays by Troy Kennedy Martin (The Italian Job) and David Rayfield (Out of Africa).

Earlier this year, however, Robert DeNiro also revealed that he would be playing Enzo Ferrari in a separate upcoming biopic. That one is supposedly being produced by Gianni Bozzacchi, celebrity photographer turned movie producer, and Clint Eastwood was rumoured as a possibility to direct. Either way, now that Bale is on board, Mann might have the momentum to get his movie made first. Are you interested in Michael Mann’s Enzo Ferrari biopic?