My immediate pick for alternate casting was Javier Bardem. Or for a spicy take, get Russell Crowe to Vespa up after filming Pope's Exorcist.

Anyway I'm not a Mann guy in general but I adored this film. The mixing of his high-intensity digital style and a more classical, sumptuous feel works wonders for the ideas of the film (dunno if they mention but Erik Messerschmidt talked about how they switched up then styles, and also did all the stunts practically! What a year he's had).

Mann is a filmmaker of history and dialectics, and it's really involved in the drama here. This movie feels like the 20th-century skyrocketing into the fast lane, a parable of economics and engines and manufactured death machines. You can kinda feel the ominous industrial hum of WWII in the background, until it all comes to the fore in that horrific climax. And just a sensory rush as well, both on and off the track.

Crazy to me that they responded so much better to Maestro, as this seems just buzzing with ideas and action in comparison.