For Sylvester Stallone. "Driven" began as a labor of love five years ago 'when he decided to explore the life and character of 'The men behind the visors" — the drivers. "Unlike other athletes, these drivers have the kind of occupations where you see them at breakfast and you hope you see them at dinner," Stallone says. "You don't run into a wall at 230 miles an hour playing golf."
While researching his story, Stallone attended Formula One (F- 1) and Championship Auto Racing Team (CART)/Indy races around the world. "For years I watched these guys in their helmets, race after race, and I never knew who they were, Stallone remembers. "I wanted to understand who was living inside the helmet. What's that man's life like? What are his fears?"
Stallone's extensive research led him to delve into another timeless theme in the film: racing as a metaphor for the struggle of the human race. "From the moment we're born, our life is a struggle of competition on every level," Stallone theorizes. "We compete for jobs, for money, for love. We race against each other, against ourselves, against time. From mice to turtles to jets to balloons, you name it. we race it. And I thought, 'If I could somehow tap into why we are so attracted to racing, we'd really touch on more than just the obvious in a racing movie.
So, why do drivers drive? Is the adrenaline rush really that addictive? And what does it take to make it as a world champion?
"After two, three, four laps around the track, you start to become one with the car and you tap into something primal," Stallone reveals. "The you can see why these drivers get addicted — racing takes you to a place subconsciously that normal everyday life never will."
"These guys are six inches from the wall, driving 200 miles an hour with a focus they have to sustain for at least two hours," says Pardue, who played football and baseball in college. "Just holding the wheel is physically straining enough. After an hour or so of driving against those g-forces, your forearms are so weak, you can barely hold them up. Your legs are tired from constantly working the clutch, the gas and the brake and there are blisters on your hands from holding the wheel. To top it off, you're sweating constantly. You lose a lot of water and are always fighting dehydration. And these drivers have to deal with something no other athlete deals with, which is the fear of death."
Cristian de la Fuente concurs. 'Two hours of being inside a car in race is really tough," admits the boxer, weight lifter, skier and tennis player. "You have to have a lot of upper body strength because you are under constant assault from g-forces hitting your head, neck and upper body. It's exhausting."
In addition to the physical toughness, the sport demands the mental tenacity and focus, which are the traits that define a world class driver from his competitors. "There are maybe 20 to 30 guys in the whole world who can really drive these cars." Stallone says. "People underestimate them, but these drivers are a breed unto themselves. They have developed a center, a zone from which they approach everything with a kind of stoic intensity, absorbing the fear and channeling it in a positive way."
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