Love the Beast is a documentary about one particular muscle car. Movie star Eric Bana’s own Ford Falcon GT Coupe. As a kid growing up in the Australia, in the decade of the muscle cars, Eric Bana was surrounded by big cars with big engines. After Ford Falcon Coupes took one-two victory at Barthurst in 1977 and starred the Mad Max movie, he was sure that one day he would have one of his own. Finally, at the age of fifteen Eric convinced his dad to let him to buy a Falcon Coupe. It wasn’t exactly like the one he had dreamed about. It needed a lot of work, but with the help from his friends, they turned the rust bucket into a beast. If they weren’t driving with it, they were working on it. The Coupe was like their campfire. An excuse to come together. There was always something to do.
The Coupe was turned into a race car for the first time when Eric and his friend Andrew took part in the five days endurance race, Targa Tasmania in 1996. Since then, Eric has driven a lot of races with different kinds of cars. In 2005 Eric decided to rebuild the Coupe for the last time. A total ground-up restoration to make it an ultimate version of the Beast. With the full race specification, the car got 600 horsepower under its hood. After ten years since the first appearance at the race, Eric planned to race the Coupe at the Targa Tasmania for the second and last time.
But what comes after this. Can he give up the car that he has owned since he was fifteen. The car that has been a part of his life for 25 years. In the documentary he also meets Phil McGraw, Jay Leno and Jeremy Clarkson to discuss about how one can create a relationship with a car and. How car can become a bigger part of life than just piece of metal. As one usually finishes one car project, he moves on to next one. But Eric and his friends have always worked on the same car, over and over again. This car was the thing that gathered friends together back then, and still does after all these years.
