Penelope Cruz read Enzo Ferrari's love letters to play his wife Laura in a new biopic.

The 49-year-old actress appears opposite Adam Driver in 'Ferrari' which tells the story of the sports car boss' rise to fame and she has revealed she gained a better understanding of Enzo's relationship with his wife Laura Ferrari by reading their private letters which were passed onto her by a doctor they both knew.

Speaking during a question-and-answer session at the New York Film Festival, Penelope explained: "[The doctor] shared with me a lot of love letters [between Enzo and Laura] — letters that were not published anywhere. I got to understand so much better who she was and what this relationship was about."

She added she felt a "big responsibility" to play Laura in the film.

The movie also stars Shailene Woodley as Enzo's mistress Lina Lardi, and the actress agreed that she wanted to create an accurate portrayal. Shailene said: "We were all so hyper-aware of that honour that you spoke of, and just wanting to make sure that the family members of these people when they watched this movie felt the essence of them."

The film is directed by Michael Mann, who has been friends with Enzo's son Piero Ferrari for more than two decades and the moviemaker revealed he had a lot of conversations with his pal about Enzo's family life.

Mann added: "There were all kinds of conversations. What was his mother like? Did his mother cook? That house in the countryside was the only place in which Enzo was in repose, in which he relaxed and became informal. He was never casual or informal anywhere else. His father never made coffee, he never shaved himself his entire life - he always went to the barber shop, and the barber shop we shoot is run by the son of Enzo’s barber. Nothing’s changed."

The actors were able to attend the film festival screening and Q A session because the movie has been given an exemption from the ongoing industrial action by the SAG-AFTRA actors union, whose members walked out in July as part of a dispute over pay, residuals and AI technology with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers [AMPTP].