Making Senna (2024) Movie Script
1
[man 1 in Portuguese]
I kept looking at myself,
searching for Senna inside me.
Thus, the importance of this deep dive.
This search for the essence of Ayrton.
I'm lending my body, my emotions,
to tell his story.
It's very important
that we make a pact that,
during those six episodes,
I will be Ayrton.
[engine roaring]
[orchestral music plays]
[engine revving]
[commentator in English]
Da Silva, a world champion
[in Portuguese] Why is it that,
amongst so many extraordinary drivers,
F1 has only had one hero to date,
and that hero is Ayrton Senna?
[commentator] Go, Ayrton, go.
This series gives the audience
the opportunity to get to know
the man behind the myth.
Many race drivers refer to Ayrton
as an unrivalled race driver.
[in English] I knew more about Senna
than I did about Prost.
[in Portuguese] When we talk about
Ayrton Senna, we're talking about a force.
The guy filled this country with joy.
[all] Champion!
Suddenly, we saw ourselves
as a powerhouse,
as someone who could succeed.
There was a feeling of being Brazilian
when watching those victories.
It was impossible not to get goosebumps,
we still do even now.
This heroic force, his determination,
all that creates a character
that goes beyond
those who are simply Formula 1 fans,
motorsport fans, or Senna fans.
[in English] I refuse to walk away
from the fight.
[in Portuguese] One of
the biggest challenges we had
was telling an international story
without going to all those places.
We wanted to create a production strategy
to cover this variety of sets,
the variety of places around the world.
We are in Derry pretending it's England.
It's the first scene,
when they arrive in the United Kingdom.
[in English] Action!
[in Portuguese] The cars are
very important to portray an era.
So we dial back to 1981 and 1983,
and later today we'll redo this scene,
switching a few vehicles,
making some more modern,
to show the passage of time.
We had to come here
to portray this atmosphere,
the distance from family, friends,
the loneliness that he experienced here.
Wow, it's freezing!
Whose idea was this?
It's not that cold, I'm going for a swim.
She's lying down, and then sits up.
[Llian Souza] What if we lived closer
to my parents?
[Mella in English] There's always two sets
running at the same time, at least.
Last week someone said we were filming
three different countries at once.
[in Portuguese]
The project as a whole is impressive.
It's a big challenge.
It's war logistics.
I remember looking at the filming schedule
and I'd never seen anything like it.
I knew it'd be confusing to speak
three, four languages at the same time.
And it really was.
When I arrived at the set,
my impression was,
"Wow! It's a huge production!" You know?
We have a huge set here.
Huge. I've never been to a set
with so many people.
I think it was a good idea to shoot
most of the exterior scenes
in Argentina and Uruguay,
where we were able to replicate
places where he lived,
in and outside of the race tracks.
[Rezende] In terms of architecture,
we were able to shoot
many European scenes there.
We found these race tracks frozen in time.
And we turned those race tracks,
in a way, into our studio.
With a lot of visual effects work
in post-production,
we turned those places
into race tracks all over the world.
[Amorim in English] Action!
[Rezende in Portuguese]
So we made Suzuka, mola, Estoril.
English race tracks.
Six different countries
in the same race track.
It was crazy.
It takes a lot of engineering
to build the race tracks and the races
in a way that the viewers don't see
any of what I'm talking about.
That these are secrets
they will only find out later.
We had go-kart training
two, three times a week.
More than learning how to drive a go-kart,
it was to get used to the experience,
get familiar with this feeling
of being in the race, the tracks,
the car and everything involved.
The adrenaline,
the danger, fear,
accidents, spinning around.
[in English] We have amazing cars
that have been reproduced,
that people are gonna look
and wonder where we got these cars from
and how we were able to do
these amazing races with them.
[in Portuguese]
We built 22 replicas of the cars
that Senna used to drive.
His main rivals' cars,
from Formula Ford to Formula 1.
[in English] The exact McLaren
of Senna and Prost, it was insane
Like, the exact car, there.
I know they'd said,
"Oh, we're building these cars."
And I was like, "Yeah, cool."
And there's an actual Formula 1 car there.
[in Portuguese] It was very exciting,
because we were there
looking at the car Senna raced in.
[in English] Tulio Crespi and his family
did this phenomenal job
recreating these things,
and they performed so well.
[in Spanish] We had the possibility
of making a Formula Ford car,
then we concluded
we could make a Formula 2 car,
then a Formula 3 car,
then we could make a Formula 1 car.
The cars became the stars of the series.
The design was born
out of a great challenge,
which was being able to place the engines,
the bodies, the chassis
in a car that would transform
throughout the filming.
Several cars that transformed
into others over the years.
[man 2 in Portuguese] Besides
the replicas, we created digital cars,
so we adopted a method we called "naked."
We removed what we called the "bubble"
of the car and left just the chassis,
full of stickers so the post-production
would have references to track.
That way, it was possible
to use any car in any race.
The race scenes were shot with stuntmen,
because of the big risks, obviously.
It was very dangerous for us,
actors, with no experience
driving race cars, let alone F1 cars
with all that structure, wings.
[in Spanish] We shot a lot of scenes
in the rain,
with the Toleman, on a really wet track.
We were able to go
full throttle on the curves
and really experience something unique.
[in Portuguese] For those who know
the cars, the sounds,
they'll be pleasantly surprised
to see that we were careful
to make things really faithful
to how they were at the time.
We had to find those period cars
and record their sounds.
[engine revving]
[Gullane] Record the car rolling,
speeding, slowing down.
[in English] Right here in Patience,
he'll have to downshift another gear
and then start his longest straightaway.
[in Portuguese] And it's a very specific
technique, I had to microphone it,
so I took out the car frame, placed mics
in the cockpit, near the engine.
It's a very specific and complex process.
[loud clicking]
[engine revving]
[engine roaring]
- [in English] Oh, yeah.
- It's nice.
- It's clear. Super clear.
- Yeah.
Wow, that's amazing.
[engine roaring]
[in Portuguese]
What kind of lens are you using?
We decided to split it
into four different stages,
and in each one we decided to implement
a different cinematography style.
The Brazilian phase, the family,
the affection, the loving care,
conceptually speaking,
this requires warmer tones.
[Serra] When we go
to the lower categories,
this second phase is the English phase.
Unlike the Brazilian close camera,
we wanted shots that showed a bit
of his loneliness
in a world where he didn't belong.
Then we go to the F1 phase.
We wanted to use a light
that conveyed a certain hostility.
Everything shines, the cars shine,
all the teams had bright uniforms.
It's a very stimulating world,
everything is a bit artificial.
And the last phase, which is mola,
is when he went to Williams.
Everything turns blue and white.
And we decided to adopt that look,
a little bit more whitish, more icy.
As if the image was already
a little more ethereal.
The research really impressed me.
The historical, artistic,
and building research.
And the details.
This level of care to portrait
that era is impressive.
We had to reconstruct, through photos,
objects that no longer existed,
but that we knew had to be
in the pit wall,
inside the tents, in the boxes.
And everything is made from scratch.
The reconstruction was an immense job.
How do you define which period you're in?
Costume design, makeup and hair
are extremely important.
We had the 1970s, '80s and '90s
in several countries,
with a severe winter,
and from there we jump to Brazil,
which has tropical summer climate.
We made around 120 or 130 overalls.
We had to look for fireproof materials
to make, not only the overalls,
but also the shoes, the gloves,
helmets, everything was fireproof.
We were committed
to making everything identical,
everything exact.
[woman] They thought of every detail,
every accessory.
You see clothing references,
and everything is perfect
to the last detail.
There's the right birth mark.
Micro details, Martn was amazing.
Here she comes, look.
Our actress, our star. It's her, the wig.
There were 12 wigs handmade by Cris and I.
[Mella in English] I watched him prep.
I'd walk past the room and would see Cris
with this enormous magnifying glass,
doing, like, hair by hair.
[Tom in Portuguese]
The characterization team is impeccable.
I heard a lot,
"You're her spitting image!"
People would tell me,
"I'm getting goosebumps." [laughs]
[Trujillo] I studied Gabriel's face
along with Senna's face.
We put a prosthetic inside his nose
to make it longer without compromising
the quality of his breathing.
Senna's nose was larger, like this.
Mine is slimmer.
In the ear as well.
He had more detached ears.
We were picking up small things
we found we could use,
the little differences
from one year to the next,
because he works with the minor details.
[reporter] Winning in Monte Carlo
is a challenge.
Up until today, no Brazilian
has ever won here in Monaco.
Ayrton Senna starts far behind
Monaco was, without a doubt,
the biggest cinematography,
production and artistic challenge.
We built the main Monaco straightaway
from scratch in Uruguay.
It was a monstrous task.
[engine roaring]
Even to the naked eye,
with no visual effects,
without picking the camera angle,
we used to arrive at the set
and we were in Monaco in 1984, 1988
It was an extraordinary recreation task
in an enormous scale.
We had 1,100 square meters
of black fabric,
the largest cover ever made
in Latin America.
[in English] I've done
rain machines before,
but this was on a different scale,
because it was, like,
30 meters of blistering rain.
[engines roaring]
[in Portuguese]
It's almost science fiction,
because the cars don't exist anymore,
the race tracks don't exist anymore.
[in English] They're making
Formula 1 tracks from over 30 years ago.
And they're doing it
off what they've seen on the TV.
It's a monster job.
[in Portuguese] We made images
from every race track.
And that generated a 3D map.
With all these elements,
we sat down with all departments,
and began to say like,
"This curve will work for Tamburello."
This one here is Senna's S."
[Zilli] The use of chroma key
is recurrent in the series.
For instance, in all race circuits,
the art department would put
chroma key in strategic places
to later switch or extend.
For example, the famous building in mola.
They made a big backdrop
to place there
when filming in that corner.
We used an LED panel,
with a game technology called "Unreal".
[Amorim] Action.
[Siqueira] We had to go
through the Monaco tunnel
to understand the reflections,
all was important.
Because that's what Vicente wanted,
this light moving, the set reacting.
Is this the virtual image?
Or is it this one?
I don't know anymore? Great.
[engine revving]
And we'll be able to show, in our story,
close-up shots of the hands and feet,
the change of gear,
the steering wheel, the look on his face.
So we have the drivers' eyes,
that we are filming now
in this LED studio.
And it's a very restrained interpretation.
When you have
the intention of an overtaking,
the moment you're living,
the beat you need to convey,
the actor needs to know
what moment of the race he's in
so he can convey that emotion in his eyes.
Embracing the fiction allows you to build
an intimate connection with the character.
A narrative can't convey all views
we have about someone,
but it can build
a true and consistent vision.
Gabriel incorporated the character
very early on.
After we already had the final text,
we would sometimes have to redo scenes
because of the actor's feedback.
Gabriel, for example,
would raise some questions.
- Catching his intention.
- I understand.
With a cast of more than 250 characters,
Gabriel would pull everyone up.
His energy never went down.
All credit goes to him,
for his balance, concentration,
dedication, you know?
Actors from many places around the world
looked at him and said,
"Wow, he's really passionate,"
he surrenders himself,
and that's inspiring."
Characters that have this degree
of identification with the public,
we need to get close to that Senna energy,
to that Prost energy, to that Xuxa energy.
We don't have to try to be identical.
Isn't he cute?
[Tom] I wanted to get to Xuxa
since her very beginning.
Physical preparation,
vocal, I studied her a lot.
Merry Christmas. Happy 89.
Happy 90.
[Tom] I surrendered myself,
body and soul.
It's the first time that I play
someone who's still living.
So every time I see
the references and photos,
I get excited as well,
seeing each detail changing.
- Bye. See you tomorrow.
- [Senna] See you, Dri.
[in English] I play Laura Harrison,
she's a journalist,
and she follows Senna's career
from the very beginning.
She's a fictional character.
And she's sort of our eyes
into his emotions
throughout the different stages
of his life.
[in Portuguese] Through her eyes,
we see Senna's evolution.
And their relationship mirrors
Senna's relationship with the press.
I don't feel like giving an interview now.
Not all reporters
are assholes like that guy.
[triumphant music plays]
Our heart is on the line, my friend!
In order to create this character,
I saw everything from Galvo.
I fell asleep and dreamed about him.
I only thought about him.
This is not an imitation.
I'm not an imitator.
I'm an actor that interprets a character.
Look at the fake belly.
In my interpretation of Galvo,
I decided to go for a natural belly.
He talks using a lot of gestures.
He has this melodic way of talking,
besides all the energy and emotion, right?
Ayrton! Ayrton! Ayrton Senna from Brazil!
To be remembered by every Brazilian!
It's cool to walk around the set
and see Alain Prost,
Ron Dennis, Nigel Mansell,
Gerhard Berger,
it's like travelling in time.
[commentator] The impossible is
nothing new for the Brazilian driver,
here he comes looking for a gap
Prost and Senna had this rivalry,
and their scenes, arguments and fights,
we went into the rehearsal room and
and things got heated.
Staring at each other here,
they kept saying to each other
[in English] "Get out of my way."
Don't touch me!
[in Portuguese] There was this rivalry,
heated moments, fights.
But, at the same time,
there were other layers too.
So Matt, Vicente, Julia and I understood
that was Senna and Prost's relationship.
[in English] I know he's the antagonist
and I know what we need to do,
story arc-wise.
But if we can get the audience to just go,
"Uh, I think I kind of like him." Or,
"I hate him, I like him, I don't know."
The "I don't know" is the sweet spot
I'd love to reach if we can.
[in Portuguese] Those are anthological
and moving moments
that people already know.
And then there's the way
we're telling the stories
to bring things from Ayrton's life,
situations, things that he experienced
that people don't know about.
It's a unique opportunity.
I play Lilian, his first wife.
They were very young
and had this hunger for the world.
They were a fun couple,
they had fun together.
We have the opportunity
to show a human side,
his personal life,
a little bit of his inner life.
These are things
that we can only access through fiction.
Beco, that was his nickname,
was very close to his mom
from a very young age.
I think they had a similar personality.
They had this camaraderie, you know?
A very strong connection.
It's a father's trajectory
looking at a hero's destiny.
- [commentator] In the curve, unbelievable!
- Yeah, Beco!
Yeah! Yeah!
Bianca confided in me these audios,
recordings of phone calls
between Ayrton and his family,
his dad, his mom, his brother,
shortly after he went to England.
[Milton da Silva] Beco! Hey, Beco!
- [Senna] Take care of yourself.
- [da Silva] Bye!
[Senna] Bye!
To have access to something so intimate
like a phone call,
listening to his voice
in such an everyday situation,
so
normal, it was very moving to me.
- [da Silva] Take care, son.
- Take care, Dad.
[Scodelario in English] I was emotional
when I heard about joining this project.
It's filled with love and passion
and dedication
that I think is very special in Brazil
and from Brazilians.
[in Portuguese]
It's a project led by Brazil,
but with international DNA.
[in English] Brazilians will go crazy.
Um, but I think, globally,
a lot of people will really enjoy it.
[in Portuguese] I've always liked Senna.
I've met him, I've worked in F1.
I'm getting emotional. Shit.
This project has this tone.
That we are capable, we can do it.
For me, it was my Formula 1.
It'll be incredible to have
a new generation getting to know Senna.
I'm absolutely sure
that this series will Oof!
I can hardly speak. It's so moving.
This series will move the whole world.
I saw it a lot, in the set,
the crew felt very privileged
to be able to tell this story.
[man 3] I felt I had to be
part of this, that it was my chance.
I wanted this very much.
I dreamed about it
I sent a million e-mails
and they called me.
Everybody involved, the extras,
everybody is very passionate, you know?
[in Spanish] I met Ayrton in 1979,
at the South American Championship
in San Juan.
Working in a project like Senna
is inexplicable,
especially because I own
the go-karts that belonged to Ayrton.
Oh, I'm happy! I'm happy!
[laughs]
[Perez in Portuguese] I had to pay tribute
to him, for love of Ayrton.
His image, "saint" Ayrton Senna.
I'm very moved.
Now it's in the can,
going out to the world.
Our idol deserved
this well-earned tribute to him,
and I'm very happy.
Our script has this scene,
a boy in the funeral procession
watches the truck driving by
and he's crying.
I lived that.
I was one of those boys at the barrier
watching the truck going by,
and I cried so much.
And it's even more special knowing
that the firetruck was the same one,
the very truck that carried his body.
Who could have said that, 30 years later,
I would be doing this scene?
FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS
SENNA
I had never talked about
a personal hero of mine.
[applause]
I have the feeling
I've been preparing my whole life
to direct a series about Senna.
[Leone] I knew, from the beginning,
this would be
the greatest honor in my career,
and it is the greatest honor
I've ever had as an actor,
to bring Ayrton Senna to life.
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE SENNA FAMILY
[man 1 in Portuguese]
I kept looking at myself,
searching for Senna inside me.
Thus, the importance of this deep dive.
This search for the essence of Ayrton.
I'm lending my body, my emotions,
to tell his story.
It's very important
that we make a pact that,
during those six episodes,
I will be Ayrton.
[engine roaring]
[orchestral music plays]
[engine revving]
[commentator in English]
Da Silva, a world champion
[in Portuguese] Why is it that,
amongst so many extraordinary drivers,
F1 has only had one hero to date,
and that hero is Ayrton Senna?
[commentator] Go, Ayrton, go.
This series gives the audience
the opportunity to get to know
the man behind the myth.
Many race drivers refer to Ayrton
as an unrivalled race driver.
[in English] I knew more about Senna
than I did about Prost.
[in Portuguese] When we talk about
Ayrton Senna, we're talking about a force.
The guy filled this country with joy.
[all] Champion!
Suddenly, we saw ourselves
as a powerhouse,
as someone who could succeed.
There was a feeling of being Brazilian
when watching those victories.
It was impossible not to get goosebumps,
we still do even now.
This heroic force, his determination,
all that creates a character
that goes beyond
those who are simply Formula 1 fans,
motorsport fans, or Senna fans.
[in English] I refuse to walk away
from the fight.
[in Portuguese] One of
the biggest challenges we had
was telling an international story
without going to all those places.
We wanted to create a production strategy
to cover this variety of sets,
the variety of places around the world.
We are in Derry pretending it's England.
It's the first scene,
when they arrive in the United Kingdom.
[in English] Action!
[in Portuguese] The cars are
very important to portray an era.
So we dial back to 1981 and 1983,
and later today we'll redo this scene,
switching a few vehicles,
making some more modern,
to show the passage of time.
We had to come here
to portray this atmosphere,
the distance from family, friends,
the loneliness that he experienced here.
Wow, it's freezing!
Whose idea was this?
It's not that cold, I'm going for a swim.
She's lying down, and then sits up.
[Llian Souza] What if we lived closer
to my parents?
[Mella in English] There's always two sets
running at the same time, at least.
Last week someone said we were filming
three different countries at once.
[in Portuguese]
The project as a whole is impressive.
It's a big challenge.
It's war logistics.
I remember looking at the filming schedule
and I'd never seen anything like it.
I knew it'd be confusing to speak
three, four languages at the same time.
And it really was.
When I arrived at the set,
my impression was,
"Wow! It's a huge production!" You know?
We have a huge set here.
Huge. I've never been to a set
with so many people.
I think it was a good idea to shoot
most of the exterior scenes
in Argentina and Uruguay,
where we were able to replicate
places where he lived,
in and outside of the race tracks.
[Rezende] In terms of architecture,
we were able to shoot
many European scenes there.
We found these race tracks frozen in time.
And we turned those race tracks,
in a way, into our studio.
With a lot of visual effects work
in post-production,
we turned those places
into race tracks all over the world.
[Amorim in English] Action!
[Rezende in Portuguese]
So we made Suzuka, mola, Estoril.
English race tracks.
Six different countries
in the same race track.
It was crazy.
It takes a lot of engineering
to build the race tracks and the races
in a way that the viewers don't see
any of what I'm talking about.
That these are secrets
they will only find out later.
We had go-kart training
two, three times a week.
More than learning how to drive a go-kart,
it was to get used to the experience,
get familiar with this feeling
of being in the race, the tracks,
the car and everything involved.
The adrenaline,
the danger, fear,
accidents, spinning around.
[in English] We have amazing cars
that have been reproduced,
that people are gonna look
and wonder where we got these cars from
and how we were able to do
these amazing races with them.
[in Portuguese]
We built 22 replicas of the cars
that Senna used to drive.
His main rivals' cars,
from Formula Ford to Formula 1.
[in English] The exact McLaren
of Senna and Prost, it was insane
Like, the exact car, there.
I know they'd said,
"Oh, we're building these cars."
And I was like, "Yeah, cool."
And there's an actual Formula 1 car there.
[in Portuguese] It was very exciting,
because we were there
looking at the car Senna raced in.
[in English] Tulio Crespi and his family
did this phenomenal job
recreating these things,
and they performed so well.
[in Spanish] We had the possibility
of making a Formula Ford car,
then we concluded
we could make a Formula 2 car,
then a Formula 3 car,
then we could make a Formula 1 car.
The cars became the stars of the series.
The design was born
out of a great challenge,
which was being able to place the engines,
the bodies, the chassis
in a car that would transform
throughout the filming.
Several cars that transformed
into others over the years.
[man 2 in Portuguese] Besides
the replicas, we created digital cars,
so we adopted a method we called "naked."
We removed what we called the "bubble"
of the car and left just the chassis,
full of stickers so the post-production
would have references to track.
That way, it was possible
to use any car in any race.
The race scenes were shot with stuntmen,
because of the big risks, obviously.
It was very dangerous for us,
actors, with no experience
driving race cars, let alone F1 cars
with all that structure, wings.
[in Spanish] We shot a lot of scenes
in the rain,
with the Toleman, on a really wet track.
We were able to go
full throttle on the curves
and really experience something unique.
[in Portuguese] For those who know
the cars, the sounds,
they'll be pleasantly surprised
to see that we were careful
to make things really faithful
to how they were at the time.
We had to find those period cars
and record their sounds.
[engine revving]
[Gullane] Record the car rolling,
speeding, slowing down.
[in English] Right here in Patience,
he'll have to downshift another gear
and then start his longest straightaway.
[in Portuguese] And it's a very specific
technique, I had to microphone it,
so I took out the car frame, placed mics
in the cockpit, near the engine.
It's a very specific and complex process.
[loud clicking]
[engine revving]
[engine roaring]
- [in English] Oh, yeah.
- It's nice.
- It's clear. Super clear.
- Yeah.
Wow, that's amazing.
[engine roaring]
[in Portuguese]
What kind of lens are you using?
We decided to split it
into four different stages,
and in each one we decided to implement
a different cinematography style.
The Brazilian phase, the family,
the affection, the loving care,
conceptually speaking,
this requires warmer tones.
[Serra] When we go
to the lower categories,
this second phase is the English phase.
Unlike the Brazilian close camera,
we wanted shots that showed a bit
of his loneliness
in a world where he didn't belong.
Then we go to the F1 phase.
We wanted to use a light
that conveyed a certain hostility.
Everything shines, the cars shine,
all the teams had bright uniforms.
It's a very stimulating world,
everything is a bit artificial.
And the last phase, which is mola,
is when he went to Williams.
Everything turns blue and white.
And we decided to adopt that look,
a little bit more whitish, more icy.
As if the image was already
a little more ethereal.
The research really impressed me.
The historical, artistic,
and building research.
And the details.
This level of care to portrait
that era is impressive.
We had to reconstruct, through photos,
objects that no longer existed,
but that we knew had to be
in the pit wall,
inside the tents, in the boxes.
And everything is made from scratch.
The reconstruction was an immense job.
How do you define which period you're in?
Costume design, makeup and hair
are extremely important.
We had the 1970s, '80s and '90s
in several countries,
with a severe winter,
and from there we jump to Brazil,
which has tropical summer climate.
We made around 120 or 130 overalls.
We had to look for fireproof materials
to make, not only the overalls,
but also the shoes, the gloves,
helmets, everything was fireproof.
We were committed
to making everything identical,
everything exact.
[woman] They thought of every detail,
every accessory.
You see clothing references,
and everything is perfect
to the last detail.
There's the right birth mark.
Micro details, Martn was amazing.
Here she comes, look.
Our actress, our star. It's her, the wig.
There were 12 wigs handmade by Cris and I.
[Mella in English] I watched him prep.
I'd walk past the room and would see Cris
with this enormous magnifying glass,
doing, like, hair by hair.
[Tom in Portuguese]
The characterization team is impeccable.
I heard a lot,
"You're her spitting image!"
People would tell me,
"I'm getting goosebumps." [laughs]
[Trujillo] I studied Gabriel's face
along with Senna's face.
We put a prosthetic inside his nose
to make it longer without compromising
the quality of his breathing.
Senna's nose was larger, like this.
Mine is slimmer.
In the ear as well.
He had more detached ears.
We were picking up small things
we found we could use,
the little differences
from one year to the next,
because he works with the minor details.
[reporter] Winning in Monte Carlo
is a challenge.
Up until today, no Brazilian
has ever won here in Monaco.
Ayrton Senna starts far behind
Monaco was, without a doubt,
the biggest cinematography,
production and artistic challenge.
We built the main Monaco straightaway
from scratch in Uruguay.
It was a monstrous task.
[engine roaring]
Even to the naked eye,
with no visual effects,
without picking the camera angle,
we used to arrive at the set
and we were in Monaco in 1984, 1988
It was an extraordinary recreation task
in an enormous scale.
We had 1,100 square meters
of black fabric,
the largest cover ever made
in Latin America.
[in English] I've done
rain machines before,
but this was on a different scale,
because it was, like,
30 meters of blistering rain.
[engines roaring]
[in Portuguese]
It's almost science fiction,
because the cars don't exist anymore,
the race tracks don't exist anymore.
[in English] They're making
Formula 1 tracks from over 30 years ago.
And they're doing it
off what they've seen on the TV.
It's a monster job.
[in Portuguese] We made images
from every race track.
And that generated a 3D map.
With all these elements,
we sat down with all departments,
and began to say like,
"This curve will work for Tamburello."
This one here is Senna's S."
[Zilli] The use of chroma key
is recurrent in the series.
For instance, in all race circuits,
the art department would put
chroma key in strategic places
to later switch or extend.
For example, the famous building in mola.
They made a big backdrop
to place there
when filming in that corner.
We used an LED panel,
with a game technology called "Unreal".
[Amorim] Action.
[Siqueira] We had to go
through the Monaco tunnel
to understand the reflections,
all was important.
Because that's what Vicente wanted,
this light moving, the set reacting.
Is this the virtual image?
Or is it this one?
I don't know anymore? Great.
[engine revving]
And we'll be able to show, in our story,
close-up shots of the hands and feet,
the change of gear,
the steering wheel, the look on his face.
So we have the drivers' eyes,
that we are filming now
in this LED studio.
And it's a very restrained interpretation.
When you have
the intention of an overtaking,
the moment you're living,
the beat you need to convey,
the actor needs to know
what moment of the race he's in
so he can convey that emotion in his eyes.
Embracing the fiction allows you to build
an intimate connection with the character.
A narrative can't convey all views
we have about someone,
but it can build
a true and consistent vision.
Gabriel incorporated the character
very early on.
After we already had the final text,
we would sometimes have to redo scenes
because of the actor's feedback.
Gabriel, for example,
would raise some questions.
- Catching his intention.
- I understand.
With a cast of more than 250 characters,
Gabriel would pull everyone up.
His energy never went down.
All credit goes to him,
for his balance, concentration,
dedication, you know?
Actors from many places around the world
looked at him and said,
"Wow, he's really passionate,"
he surrenders himself,
and that's inspiring."
Characters that have this degree
of identification with the public,
we need to get close to that Senna energy,
to that Prost energy, to that Xuxa energy.
We don't have to try to be identical.
Isn't he cute?
[Tom] I wanted to get to Xuxa
since her very beginning.
Physical preparation,
vocal, I studied her a lot.
Merry Christmas. Happy 89.
Happy 90.
[Tom] I surrendered myself,
body and soul.
It's the first time that I play
someone who's still living.
So every time I see
the references and photos,
I get excited as well,
seeing each detail changing.
- Bye. See you tomorrow.
- [Senna] See you, Dri.
[in English] I play Laura Harrison,
she's a journalist,
and she follows Senna's career
from the very beginning.
She's a fictional character.
And she's sort of our eyes
into his emotions
throughout the different stages
of his life.
[in Portuguese] Through her eyes,
we see Senna's evolution.
And their relationship mirrors
Senna's relationship with the press.
I don't feel like giving an interview now.
Not all reporters
are assholes like that guy.
[triumphant music plays]
Our heart is on the line, my friend!
In order to create this character,
I saw everything from Galvo.
I fell asleep and dreamed about him.
I only thought about him.
This is not an imitation.
I'm not an imitator.
I'm an actor that interprets a character.
Look at the fake belly.
In my interpretation of Galvo,
I decided to go for a natural belly.
He talks using a lot of gestures.
He has this melodic way of talking,
besides all the energy and emotion, right?
Ayrton! Ayrton! Ayrton Senna from Brazil!
To be remembered by every Brazilian!
It's cool to walk around the set
and see Alain Prost,
Ron Dennis, Nigel Mansell,
Gerhard Berger,
it's like travelling in time.
[commentator] The impossible is
nothing new for the Brazilian driver,
here he comes looking for a gap
Prost and Senna had this rivalry,
and their scenes, arguments and fights,
we went into the rehearsal room and
and things got heated.
Staring at each other here,
they kept saying to each other
[in English] "Get out of my way."
Don't touch me!
[in Portuguese] There was this rivalry,
heated moments, fights.
But, at the same time,
there were other layers too.
So Matt, Vicente, Julia and I understood
that was Senna and Prost's relationship.
[in English] I know he's the antagonist
and I know what we need to do,
story arc-wise.
But if we can get the audience to just go,
"Uh, I think I kind of like him." Or,
"I hate him, I like him, I don't know."
The "I don't know" is the sweet spot
I'd love to reach if we can.
[in Portuguese] Those are anthological
and moving moments
that people already know.
And then there's the way
we're telling the stories
to bring things from Ayrton's life,
situations, things that he experienced
that people don't know about.
It's a unique opportunity.
I play Lilian, his first wife.
They were very young
and had this hunger for the world.
They were a fun couple,
they had fun together.
We have the opportunity
to show a human side,
his personal life,
a little bit of his inner life.
These are things
that we can only access through fiction.
Beco, that was his nickname,
was very close to his mom
from a very young age.
I think they had a similar personality.
They had this camaraderie, you know?
A very strong connection.
It's a father's trajectory
looking at a hero's destiny.
- [commentator] In the curve, unbelievable!
- Yeah, Beco!
Yeah! Yeah!
Bianca confided in me these audios,
recordings of phone calls
between Ayrton and his family,
his dad, his mom, his brother,
shortly after he went to England.
[Milton da Silva] Beco! Hey, Beco!
- [Senna] Take care of yourself.
- [da Silva] Bye!
[Senna] Bye!
To have access to something so intimate
like a phone call,
listening to his voice
in such an everyday situation,
so
normal, it was very moving to me.
- [da Silva] Take care, son.
- Take care, Dad.
[Scodelario in English] I was emotional
when I heard about joining this project.
It's filled with love and passion
and dedication
that I think is very special in Brazil
and from Brazilians.
[in Portuguese]
It's a project led by Brazil,
but with international DNA.
[in English] Brazilians will go crazy.
Um, but I think, globally,
a lot of people will really enjoy it.
[in Portuguese] I've always liked Senna.
I've met him, I've worked in F1.
I'm getting emotional. Shit.
This project has this tone.
That we are capable, we can do it.
For me, it was my Formula 1.
It'll be incredible to have
a new generation getting to know Senna.
I'm absolutely sure
that this series will Oof!
I can hardly speak. It's so moving.
This series will move the whole world.
I saw it a lot, in the set,
the crew felt very privileged
to be able to tell this story.
[man 3] I felt I had to be
part of this, that it was my chance.
I wanted this very much.
I dreamed about it
I sent a million e-mails
and they called me.
Everybody involved, the extras,
everybody is very passionate, you know?
[in Spanish] I met Ayrton in 1979,
at the South American Championship
in San Juan.
Working in a project like Senna
is inexplicable,
especially because I own
the go-karts that belonged to Ayrton.
Oh, I'm happy! I'm happy!
[laughs]
[Perez in Portuguese] I had to pay tribute
to him, for love of Ayrton.
His image, "saint" Ayrton Senna.
I'm very moved.
Now it's in the can,
going out to the world.
Our idol deserved
this well-earned tribute to him,
and I'm very happy.
Our script has this scene,
a boy in the funeral procession
watches the truck driving by
and he's crying.
I lived that.
I was one of those boys at the barrier
watching the truck going by,
and I cried so much.
And it's even more special knowing
that the firetruck was the same one,
the very truck that carried his body.
Who could have said that, 30 years later,
I would be doing this scene?
FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS
SENNA
I had never talked about
a personal hero of mine.
[applause]
I have the feeling
I've been preparing my whole life
to direct a series about Senna.
[Leone] I knew, from the beginning,
this would be
the greatest honor in my career,
and it is the greatest honor
I've ever had as an actor,
to bring Ayrton Senna to life.
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE SENNA FAMILY