Willow Springs, California - 2025

The compositional structure and mood of this tableaux reminds me of the album covers of British rock bands in the 1980s. Everyone is acting all serious and tough but in reality, they are having a complete blast in the spring sunshine.

The assembled cast took my directive well. I simply told them that motor racing was a competitive bad ass business and there was no room for jocularity when speed and precision were required to transcend and when one mistake could be life threatening. It pays to be serious and look serious.

We certainly had an A list of props that late afternoon in Willow Springs, California. For starters we had the unmodernised track that featured in some of the sets from Ford v Ferrari and then in the Ferrari hot seat, we had managed to source a driver who looks the spitting image of Christian Bale’s character in the movie. We then threw in two top models from LA as Ferrari pit girls and then, of course, a stunning vintage Ferrari from the 1950s. Some college kids from USC and appropriately dressed friends from West Hollywood then added flavour to the background narrative.

We had optionality on our side and I like that. It’s never easy working right into the light, but it’s my preferred approach; it just adds a little extra drama and conveys space better.

I want to thank Sam Byrne and his team at CrossHarbor Capital for believing in our creative processing and making this project possible.