In the 1970s, John DeLorean became one of the few business executives famous enough to grace the pages of celebrity magazines. A flashy figure at General Motors _ he helped usher in the muscle-car era with the Pontiac GTO _ DeLorean stunned the auto world by launching his own DeLorean Motor Company and creating the car of his dreams: A stainless-steel coupe with distinctive gull-wing doors. An even bigger stunner came in 1982, when DeLorean was arrested for cocaine trafficking in what looked like a desperate attempt to pump money into his failing company.
The title of "Framing John DeLorean" refers both to the federal authorities' dubious sting operation against him, and to the filmmakers' attempt to paint a picture of an enigmatic subject. In this blend of documentary and fiction, Alec Baldwin stars as the visionary automaker who succumbed to the excesses of his era.
Since DeLorean's spectacular fall, numerous producers have tried and failed to bring his story to the screen. Directors Sheena M. Joyce and Don Argott ("The Art of the Steal") are among the very few to bring a film to fruition. What exactly their film is, though, remains a question.
