Amazon Prime’s ‘Drive The Pretenders’ Release Date, Trailer, Cast, and Plot
‘Drive The Pretenders’ arrives worldwide on Prime Video on October 28, and the film is positioned as the platform’s next big young adult romance. It is a German language film inspired by the hit novel ‘Drive’ by Tamara Lush. The combination of a racing backdrop and a fake engagement gives it a clear hook for viewers who follow Prime Video’s growing slate of European originals.
Amazon has leaned on the success of ‘Maxton Hall’ and ‘Culpa Mia’ and wants to build on that momentum, and this adaptation fits that strategy. For readers trying to decide whether ‘Drive The Pretenders’ deserves a spot on their watchlist, here is what has been confirmed about the release, the trailer, the cast and the story.
Drive The Pretenders Release Date and Where to Watch
The film will be available exclusively on Prime Video worldwide from October 28. That worldwide rollout includes Germany, where the film was produced. The date was first revealed when Prime Video presented its upcoming programming in Berlin, and it has held steady since.
Prime Video is included with an Amazon Prime membership, which costs $14.99 monthly or $139 annually in the United States. Pricing in other regions varies, so viewers outside the United States should check their local Amazon website.
Amazon has not published a runtime, an age rating or a German title alongside the announcement. A listing on TV Insider, however, gives the running time as one hour and 40 minutes, though that figure has not been confirmed by the studio in the sources reviewed.
Drive The Pretenders Trailer and First Look
An early teaser reported at the start of October showed a young race car mechanic trying to prove herself in a world dominated by men. The fuller promotion followed soon after. Amazon published the official trailer on October 19, giving audiences their clearest look at the film’s tone.
The trailer introduces Sarah Jenkins and Dante Annunziata and suggests that the line between performance and reality grows thinner as the story moves along. The footage balances the pace of the track with the more personal tension between the leads, which is the same mix the marketing has stressed from the beginning.
Promotional coverage has described the film as a story built on fake dating and enemies to lovers romance. That framing places it firmly within a genre that streaming audiences have already shown they enjoy.
Drive The Pretenders Cast and Crew
Lisa-Marie Koroll plays mechanic Sarah Jenkins while Amin Baahmed plays racing star Dante Annunziata. Koroll is known for her work in the ‘Bibi & Tina’ films, which gives the production a recognizable face for German audiences. According to his management, this is the first leading role for Baahmed.
The supporting cast includes Gustav Schmidt, Mišel Matičević, Lucie Heinze, Frederic Linkemann, Inka Friedrich, Jeanette Hain, Philippe Brenninkmeyer, Steven Gätjen, Pati Valpati and Leslie Malton. Several of those names are established in German film and television, which suggests the production wanted experienced support around its two leads.
Sergej Moya directed the film, and Chris Silber and Malina Nwabuonwor co-wrote the screenplay. It is produced by Bavaria Fiction in collaboration with Amazon MGM Studios Germany for Prime Video. Bavaria Fiction has described it as the first Wattpad adaptation conceived in Germany for the global market.
Filming took place in Prague and surrounding areas, at racing circuits in Brno, Most and Hockenheim, in Frankfurt, and along the Amalfi Coast. That spread of locations should give the film a more polished and international look than its romance label might suggest.
Drive The Pretenders Plot and Source Novel
The story follows a young race car mechanic who pretends to be engaged to the most scandalous racing star on the scene, officially for his reputation but secretly for her own chance behind the wheel. Soon the lie threatens to destroy everything, including what has long since become more than just a game.
Sarah works in the world of motorsport and dreams of driving herself, while Dante is a former Formula 1 star whose career was knocked off course by the death of his sister. His management hires Sarah to play his fiancée in order to repair his battered image. What begins as a practical arrangement turns into real feelings.
The film is based on a Wattpad novel of the same name that was later published as a book by author Tamara Lush. Lush has since expanded the story into a trilogy with ‘Crash’ and ‘Burn’, which leaves open the possibility of further adaptations if this first film finds an audience.
Prime Video is clearly betting that a racing setting and a fake engagement can carry a romance across borders, and the early marketing suggests the film knows exactly what it wants to be. Whether Sarah and Dante’s arrangement feels earned or merely convenient may decide how it lands, so do you think the fake engagement in ‘Drive The Pretenders’ will hold up once the racing starts to matter as much as the romance?
