????《亡命駕駛》（Drive）是一部關于好萊塢特技車手的電影，由瑞恩?高斯林主演。這部電影在上映之前便被炒得沸沸揚揚，這讓我產生了一個念頭：從《警網鐵金剛》（Bullitt）到《速度與激情》（The Fast and Furious），關于汽車的電影比比皆是，但為什么關于汽車公司的電影卻少之又少？

????畢竟，汽車行業風險重重，世人矚目，這個行業里的人肯定像他們制造的產品一樣“賣點多多”。這個行業充斥著沖突與和解的戲碼，這些素材肯定能演繹出動人心弦的故事。而汽車之城底特律則歷經興衰，無疑為電影拍攝提供了絕佳的背景。（克林特?伊斯特伍德主演的《老爺車》（Gran Torino）就是最有利的證據。）

????好萊塢曾經嘗試將汽車行業搬上熒幕，最初的想法是拍攝現實主義題材，可最終卻都成了浮云。1978年，阿瑟?黑利的小說《汽車城》（Wheels）被改編成電視劇，由羅克?赫德森出任主角，飾演聯邦汽車公司（National Motors）一位冷酷的高管。他一門心思想要推出“雷鷹”型汽車，但最終卻成為自身罪惡的犧牲品——一部非常無聊的電視劇。在根據哈羅德?羅賓斯色情味十足的小說改編的電影《貝絲》（The Betsy）中，男主角勞倫斯?奧利弗（偏偏選中了他）飾演一家汽車巨頭的創始人，劇中老態龍鐘的男主人公在退休后想要造一輛安全、節能的汽車。

????結局我們自然都知道。然而，30年過去了，好萊塢的電影人還在不斷嘗試。

????其實制片人缺乏的是可信的人物和真實的對白。而現在，底特律資深新聞記者比爾?維拉斯克的新書《汽車往事》（Once upon a Car）的橫空出世則滿足了這兩個條件。維拉斯克對汽車行業知根知底，幾乎跟書中的主要角色都有交情。他在小說中精心刻畫了人物的性格，并通過真實轉述人物的對話來表現各種沖突。這是第一本關于汽車行業的紀實作品，讀起來簡直就像是在看劇本。

????這本書的樣書已經在底特律引起了轟動。維拉斯克在書中引述了汽車公司高管們如何挖苦競爭對手，以及如何在背后互相攻擊。換句話說，在他的書中，他們都是活生生的人，只不過，根據《汽車新聞》（Automotive News）的報道：“底特律汽車業三巨頭長期以來一直遵守一條不成文的行為準則——避免類似的惡意詆毀。因此，它們才能在同一個城市和平共處長達數十年之久?！?/p>

????總的來說，這本書的內容并不陌生：通用汽車公司（GM）陷入破產，就像一頭傷痕累累卻不自知的雄象；鬧騰不停的克萊斯勒兩易其主，先是與戴姆勒奔馳公司（Daimler-Benz）合并，后又被賣給了私人資本運營商瑟伯勒斯（Cerberus），這種無力的易主舉措使克萊斯勒舉步維艱；而福特公司（Ford）經歷了數年混亂不堪的管理，最終選擇了一名航空業前高管作為公司領導人，以期自救。

????在書中，我們可以看到許多生動的角色。如果將本書拍成電影，通用公司CEO里克?瓦格納可以由湯姆?威爾金森飾演。里克?瓦格納身材魁梧，心地善良，他清楚公司出現了嚴重的問題，但和善的性格決定了他不會采取冷酷的手段，而要想使公司免于倒閉，卻必須冷酷無情。

????而他的副手鮑勃?魯茨高瞻遠矚，性格執拗，致力于打造更優秀的汽車，但有時也會為了自己的利益和個人的聲譽轉變立場。肖恩?康納利絕對是飾演這個角色的不二人選。

????The advance buzz around Drive, the movie about a Hollywood stunt driver played by Ryan Gosling, got me to thinking: We have lots of movies featuring cars, from Bullitt to The Fast and Furious, but where are the movies about car companies?

????After all, the people in this high-stakes, high-profile business should be as interesting as the products they build. Opportunities are plentiful for the conflict and resolution that make for a compelling story. The city of Detroit, with its colorful boom-and-bust history, makes a compelling backdrop. (For proof, see Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino.)

????When Hollywood has tried capturing the auto industry on film, it aimed at realistic drama but wound up with suds. In 1978, Arthur Hailey's Wheels starred Rock Hudson as a ruthless top executive of National Motors who lets nothing get in the way of launching the Hawk but falls victim to his own demons. Very daytime TV. In The Betsy, based on a steamy Harold Robbins novel, the aging founder of an auto giant, played by (of all people) Laurence Olivier, comes out of retirement to develop a safe, fuel-efficient car.

????We know how that turned out. 30 years later, they are still trying.

????What filmmakers have lacked is believable characters and realistic dialogue. Until now, that is, thanks to a new book, Once upon a Car, by veteran Detroit newspaperman Bill Vlasic. Vlasic knows the industry in and out and enjoys near-universal access to its key figures. He recounts a tale filled with shrewd insights into their characters and conflicts told through verbatim accounts of their conversations. It's the first nonfiction auto book that reads like a screenplay.

????Advance copies have already created a stir in Detroit. Vlasic quotes executives trash-talking the competition and dissing each other behind their backs. In other words, he portrays them as behaving like actual human beings, except that, according to Automotive News, "The Detroit 3 have coexisted for decades in the same city by observing an unwritten code of conduct that shuns such badmouthing."

????In broad outline, the story is a familiar one: GM (GM, Fortune 500) stumbles into bankruptcy like a wounded but not particularly self-aware bull elephant; feisty Chrysler falters under the feckless ownership of, first, Daimler-Benz and then Cerberus; and Ford (F, Fortune 500), after years of chaotic management, finds salvation in the form of a former aerospace executive.

????There are plenty of meaty roles here. In the movie version, GM CEO Rick Wagoner would be played by Tom Wilkinson. He's a big, well-intentioned man who knows he is surrounded by dysfunction but is too gentlemanly to resort to the ruthless tactics that are needed to save his company from collapse.

????His highly-visible lieutenant, Bob Lutz, is type-casting for Sean Connery: crusty and driven to build better cars, yet occasionally sidetracked by his own interests and the maintenance of his image.