Official Michael Schumacher film release postponed

2019 F1 season

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The release of an officially-licensed film on the life of Michael Schumacher has been postponed.

The documentary, titled simply “Schumacher”, was due to debut this year, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of his first world championship victory and his 50th birthday, which was in January. However the film’s producers confirm to RaceFans it has been delayed.

“The cinema release of Schumacher has been postponed,” said a statement from B/14 Film. “The direction and production would like to allow even more time for the completion of the film due to the very extensive material. The new starting date will be announced in due course.”

The film will include new interviews with Schumacher’s family and friends as well as previously unreleased footage.

“Schumacher” has been directed by German filmmakers Michael Wech and Hanns-Bruno Kammertöns, whose previous works include “Boris Becker – Der Spieler”, about the multiple tennis champion.

The seven-times champion, whose F1 career spanned over two decades from 1991 to 2012, remains the most successful driver in the history of Formula 1. However he suffered brain injuries in a skiing crash in France almost six years ago, and little is known of his current condition. The documentary is understood not to go into details of the crash and his life after it.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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31 comments on “Official Michael Schumacher film release postponed”

  1. Hope the real reason is new updates to Schumachers condition.

    1. That would not be good news.

      1. Or it could be great if he want’s to be at the premiere

        1. Would love to see that !

  2. Soooo looking forward to this!

  3. Will it be about detailing how he won 5 straight championships with mediocre driver performance? Plus cheat-winning another

    1. Well done, @mzso. Well done.

    2. I adored Schumacher more because of it.

      I think it’s worth remembering that Ferrari had a barren spell and him and his motley crew made that dream happen.

      Cmon you can’t say winning it the pits wasn’t genius.

    3. Say what you like, but on his day, which was 99% of the time for Schumacher, his performances were up there on a Senna level. One of the few drivers, like Senna, Prost, Clark maybe Lauda, that could win in a less than top car.

      1. Yes, and let’s not forget alonso between these.

  4. Must be a challenge as a film maker to skim over all the cheating and present him in a good light.

    A nice human off the track and wish him well but y’know..

    1. I don’t get it. I am really sad that was all you had to say. Sometimes its best to keep our thoughts to ourselves.

      One of the most important instincts we have in life is the will to survive – no matter what. That’s how our brain reacts without our consciousness. Schumacher’s psyche was all about this, and while it made him look brutal at some occasions, it also made him really successful.

      Otherwise look at all the **** around the world and you will see that everyone is cheating in life. Governments, taxi drivers, children at school, and apparently racing drivers do it too.

      1. First I think it’s important to call out Schumacher’s behaviour because it had big consequences for many people. To say everyone cheat’s is a big sweeping statement. They don’t. Hill, Villeneuve, Hakkinen, Hamilton that followed him didn’t.

        Second it is important to use the correct language, ‘cheating’ instead of ‘pushing the limits’ or ‘doing whatever it takes’.

        Third, we don’t want to see the person at the top of the sport display this behaviour, as it permeated down the lower formulas and created a bad president for the rest of the motorsport community.

        1. What about senna ?

  5. What does “officially-licensed” mean? Does that mean the family has influence or maybe even control of the final edit over the film? If so, i’m not sure it’s going to be as good as people hope…

  6. Maybe he died? So now they need a new ending? We don’t know if he is dead or alive because of his family’s weird secrecy., I bet if Schumacher was conscious enough to communucate he would tell his fans his state.

    1. Does it matter? It’s a documentary about his life. A celebration of his life’s work.

    2. I also think he must have died, his family should break the silence. He had millions of fans worldwide and we would all like to know – is he living or dead?

  7. Official? So something like the Senna movie where they changed history and glossed over the negative aspects of his career and life. I am guessing they will totally leave out the bit about using traction control.

    1. In that case I can’t wait for that Jenson Button movie.

    2. @darryn The mentioned film about Boris Becker would further indicate a glowing fanpic leaving out all controversies. Don’t expect them to be critical, you’d likely be disappointed.

    3. Maybe you should start looking for prove for traction control on that Benetton car as no software for TC was ever found, only for launch control.

      1. Senna telling Prost about it was good enough for me. Senna died trying to keep up with an illegal car.
        Even Williams team members said they had to work extra hard to try and ‘catch’ Benetton.

        1. Because Senna is known for not seeing any conspiracy against him… Senna also said that having pole position on one side of the track in Japan was unfair, even though it had been there for the previous seasons as well and crashed Prost out of the race for it.

          Off course Williams had to work extra hard. They had the fastest engine, but the handling of the car was really bad. It’s the reason Senna spun out in Brazil, the reason they hasted updates to San Marino (of wich one might have failed and caused Senna’s death).

          I rather believe the official documents of the FIA stating that no code for traction control was found. The only “proof” you can bring is the fact that Senna heard something. Not so long ago, people said the noise could be the fact Schumacher used brake and throttle at the same time as he was one of the pioneers to use left foot braking.

          I’m not saying the Benetton was completely legal, but Schumacher was just an equal driver to Senna in terms of speed, as he was in 92 and 93. Senna might have been better in raw qualifying pace, but was trumped bij Schumacher in race pace.

  8. “Authorized” biographies generally have as their main selling point the fact that the subject of the biography is cooperating and providing insights that some other authors might not have access to. In this case, it is unlikely that Michael is providing that, so I would naturally expect it to gloss over a number of things. A good film about Schumacher’s racing career would not need to be authorized to be both fair, accurate and comprehensive.

  9. I can’t wait to see this movie. I followed Michael when he moved to Ferrari in ’96 after watching him win the title in ’94 & ’95. And I am still a faithful member of the Tifosi. I didn’t really support any driver or team before that.
    I was deeply saddened by the news of his accident. I understand that his family would like privacy but it would be nice for the fans to have an update from them now and again on Michael’s condition, even if there is no change.
    Keep fighting Michael.

  10. A film showing that he was a flawed and troubled genius would be far more interesting.

    Stabbed Jordan in the back.
    Benetton were out and out cheats. Illegal software. Illegal planks. Illegal fuel rigs.
    Ferrari illegal software. Special tires. FIA assistance.
    Schumacher was such a professional, he also committed or tried to commit ‘professional fouls’ like they do in Hockey and Soccer. Hill, Villeneuve, Alesi, Montoya, Wurz, Heidfeld were all victims of the ‘Schumacher slam’.
    Childish mind games shouldn’t have been needed against Senna’s number 2.
    Parking up on circuit to cheat his competitors out of a chance to qualify. Childish professional cheat.

    Spooky that the money he earnt from cheating, whilst surviving taking huge risks on the edge, ended up paying for his care from a Skiing accident :(

    1. Forgot to add. He was apparently Skiing where he shouldn’t have been :(

      1. He was out of bounds while attempting to help another skier…

        1. I heard that from the German media but it doesn’t make sense. Originally headlines were saying he Skied off piste and there were signs. It sounds like an excuse.
          There’s a rocky area between the two pistes where other Skiers had clearly been going through for an extra challenge.
          This is deep snow, a child would have been thrown off their skis right on the edge.
          It’s possible he was already skiing off piste then was distracted by the child on the piste and changed direction.

          https://imgur.com/uvegw18

          1. Did you ever ski in your life? That’s NOT a hard off piste part of the slope. Even as a kid, I could do (and did) slopes like that off piste. He probably just missed a rock and fell unlucky. It happens. The fact that there are many other tracks, just means it was an easy pass.

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