There's not many racing rivalries that top the one between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, and that infamous duel takes center stage in Netflix’s highly anticipated series, “Senna." The actors tasked with transforming into two of Formula 1’s most iconic figures — Gabriel Leone and Matt Mella, who are portraying Senna and Prost, respectively — certainly had some racing shoes (and also egos) to fill.
Mella (playing Prost) credited another Netflix title , “Drive to Survive,” with reigniting his passion for the sport. “I knew [Senna and Prost] was considered one of the great rivalries of sport, but I didn't know the ins and outs of it. So that was a whole new world to open up."
For Mella, playing the French, four-time world champion came with an unusual caveat: he had to leave his real-life F1 connections behind in order to take on the role. "I actually worked for McLaren in 2021 and 2022 and was supposed to work for them again last year, doing some hosting in French," Mella told Motorsport. "Obviously, last year, I had to call them and say, 'I'm sorry, I can't work for you guys, but I can't tell you why,' which they thought was a bit weird."
Leone (playing Senna) was born just one year before Senna’s tragic death in 1994, and didn’t grow up watching F1, but was still deeply moved by the opportunity to portray the Brazilian legend. He, like his co-star and on-camera rival, began watching "Drive to Survive" while shooting "Ferrari" in Italy. Leone shared, “When I got the news I would play Senna … it was just a huge honor, and definitely the biggest challenge of my career."
To understand the late motorsport legend's life off track, Leone turned to Senna's family members for help. "The best thing to come from our conversations was to learn more about Ayrton as a man, as a family member, a brother, an uncle. That's what I find interesting about our show — it's not only about one of the greatest racing drivers of all time but also about the man behind the driver," he said. Leone was also given unprecedented access to Senna’s personal archives. "Listening to his family was such a privilege. They shared with me some of Senna’s letters from the early years in Formula Ford, recordings of phone calls they had in the '80s. It was amazing,” he continued.
Learning and accurately portraying your character's real-life persona is one thing, turning into them with the look and sound on camera is another. "I was praying more than anything else for my hair to grow because I didn't want to wear a wig," Leone admitted with a laugh. Mella chimed in, "They did try to put a wig on him first, and you should have seen his face. They used extensions of Gabby's own hair, which he had cut for another job, and someone had kept the locks of [it]. And so you had extensions of your own hair, right?"
"Only for the first week," Leone clarified. "Then my hair got to the right spot. But the tricky thing to find was his voice. He had a way higher-pitched, more nasaly voice than mine. Of course, I knew how important it would be to get as close as possible to it because people remember his voice."
But the series allowed them to utilize their artistic freedom, which was often more important than their adherence to the imitation. "Our choice was between shooting great scenes and making a great show in the end, or trying to be as close as possible to them," Mella said. "To be concerned about that wouldn’t have allowed us to be as free and connected with the moment."
"There are quite a few arguments between us in the series. I think both of us came out of one of those arguments and we were like, 'Jesus, that just sounded like us screaming at each other.' And we were like, 'Okay, but no one knows what it sounded like when Senna and Prost were screaming at each other, so let’s just use enough of ourselves.'"
