Not all of us can tolerate sitting through two hours of film in which a dog is given a human persona and voice—even if it is Kevin Costner in the recording booth. But what if the movie centers around motorsport—specifically IMSA—and one of the main characters drives a Turner Motorsport M4 GT4?
Do I have your attention now?
I am not a dog person, or even an animal person, and not much of a people person, either, so when I initially saw another movie trailer with a golden retriever in focus in front of a human, I just kept on scrolling—that is, until a few hours later, when I simply could not distance myself from the trailer for The Art Of Racing In The Rain, which was being posted incessantly by automotive-news-media outlets on my social-media feeds.
Still, it wasn’t until a colleague mentioned a potential story for this website that I made the decision to allot two minutes and fourteen seconds of my precious time to the trailer. You should consider sparing the time as well, because The Art Of Racing In The Rain might just be worthy of the BMW community’s attention.
Filmed at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in cooperation with IMSA, the trailer draws you in during the first few seconds with scenes of BMWs racing (in the rain) flashing on the screen. The cast includes Milo Ventimiglia as Denny Swift, the driver of the M4 GT4 wearing Turner livery, while the recognizable voice of Kevin Costner gives Enzo, the golden retriever, a human persona. Amanda Seyfried stars as Denny’s love interest and eventual wife, while Patrick Dempsey—yes, that Patrick Dempsey—is listed as a producer, and actually acquired the film rights based on the 2008 book of the same name by Garth Stein.
The studio behind the film adaptation of Marley & Me is also producing The Art Of Racing In The Rain, and BMW aficionados will approve of what appears to be a concours-condition E9 coupe that makes a cameo roughly 30 seconds into the trailer that you can check out above. The red Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa isn’t bad, either, although that one is likely a replica.
For a deep dive into Turner Motorsport’s involvement with the filming of the movie, and details about what it’s like to drive the M4 GT4 race car that appears on screen, check out the February 2019 issue of Roundel and look for the story Dating A Movie Star by David Haueter.
The Art Of Racing In The Rain is scheduled to be in theaters starting August 9.—Alex Tock
[Photo and trailer via 20th Century Fox.]
