Auto industry engineer, inventor and executive John DeLorean’s story has always been the great white whale relentlessly pursued by film producers, but executing that story has remained elusive—until now
. “Framing John DeLorean” premiered in theatres earlier this year thanks to the perseverance of its producer Tamir Ardon, a passionate DeLorean owner and historian, along with the film’s directors Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce (“The Art of the Steal,” 2009). Profiling a larger than life pop icon is not for the faint of heart. Why this effort succeeded while others failed is because like DeLorean, all involved in this hybrid film had the courage to follow their gut and defy convention. They pushed the limits of documentary filmmaking and broke down the fourth wall, adding behind the scenes elements to embellish and advance the story.
Although compelling as a narrative, what makes “Framing John DeLorean” an artistic gem is its brilliant, multilayered, cinematic risk-taking. Never before seen video of the FBI sting operation that led to his arrest along with cutaways of vintage photos and newspaper clippings of the time, is paired with scenes of Alec Baldwin—both as DeLorean with the help of wigs, prosthetic make-up, etc. and as Alec, the actor—on an odyssey to breathe life into his portrayal of DeLorean, giving the audience a glimpse into the art of preparing for a role. This recreation of DeLorean’s life includes dramatic portrayals of his wife, Cristina Ferrare (Morena Baccarin), former partner Bill Collins (Josh Charles) and John Valestra (Dean Winters), the FBI agent who orchestrated the drug sting that led to DeLorean’s arrest.
DeLorean’s life unfolds before our eyes with exquisite attention to detail. The good—his days as the gifted and likeable engineer at General Motors who launched the muscle car era and went on to create his dream car; the bad—his fall from grace, accused of cocaine trafficking; and the ugly—personal failings that maimed his supermodel wife’s career and inflicted emotional scars on his children, Kathryn and Zach, whose comments are poignant and brutal, respectively.
It’s hard to imagine how the DeLorean story could be presented in a more thoughtful yet daring way. In the end, “Framing John DeLorean” is so much more than just the tale of the man who created the iconic car used in “Back to the Future” and was caught up in an FBI sting; its title is also the film’s mission statement: to richly capture and frame the essence of the man, warts and all. Mission accomplished. •
