“I still don’t know how we got away with it,” says Oscar winner Brad Pitt about how he, alongside producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joseph Kosinski, made “F1 The Movie,” which Pitt describes as “the most visceral driving experience that’s ever been put on film.”
And what they got away with was putting Pitt and his fellow actor Damson Idris into professional race cars and filming them at top speeds. “The forces in these cars – the high-speed corners – the physics of it all want to rip your head from your shoulders. It’s shocking what these cars can do – and it’s a high unlike any high I’ve ever experienced before. We just couldn’t capture it any other way.”
In “F1 The Movie,” Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, dubbed “the greatest that never was” and FORMULA 1’s most promising phenom of the 1990s until an accident on the track nearly ended his career. Thirty years later, he’s a nomadic racer-for-hire when he’s approached by his former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), owner of a struggling FORMULA 1 team that is on the verge of collapse. Ruben convinces Sonny to come back to FORMULA 1 for one last shot at saving the team and being the best in the world. He’ll drive alongside Joshua Pearce (Idris), the team’s hotshot rookie intent on setting his own pace. But as the engines roar, Sonny’s past catches up with him and he finds that in FORMULA 1, your teammate is your fiercest competition – and the road to redemption is not something you can travel alone.
Watch the trailer:
Pitt says that the magic of the movie is the way it will appeal equally to longtime fans of the sport and to anyone who’s never even heard of Formula 1. “Threading that needle was the biggest challenge, but I think we’ve done that – made it enlightening enough and understandable for newcomers without dumbing it down for ultra fans. It’s funny, it’s aggressive, it’s driving, and it’s surprisingly heartwarming. I love all these characters. I think this film is so damn entertaining on so many levels.”
Before Pitt and Idris learned to drive at nearly 200 miles per hour, and before the film production fully integrated itself into multiple global races comprising one of the biggest traveling sports in the world, “F1 The Movie” began when “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski approached legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer with the idea. “What Joe wanted was authenticity. He wanted to make the best racing movie ever made,” says Bruckheimer.
For Kosinski, the idea was sparked by two ideas that came together for him. The first was his fanship of “Drive to Survive,” the hugely successful F1 docuseries. “What really struck me about the first season was that it focused not on the most famous names and teams, but the teams at the back of the pack. That was a story that was very ripe for a film – underdogs who are struggling to get into the top ten, or even survive as a team,” he says.
The second idea involved a driver a little further up the field. “I happen to have the email of Lewis Hamilton,” he says. Hamilton, the seven-time world champion, a legendary figure who inspires on the track and off, had briefly considered taking a role in “Top Gun: Maverick.” “I sent an email to Lewis just saying, ‘I want to make a film in this world. I want it to be the most authentic racing film ever. Would you be interested in helping me to do that?’ And he said yes.”
That authenticity was what intrigued Hamilton. “From the beginning, Joe and Jerry talked about how important the authenticity is,” recalls Hamilton, “not only for the new fans that we’ll gain from this movie, but for old fans, like myself, who have grown up with it since we were walking. The focus has been to make sure that it is as authentic a racing movie has ever been.” With Hamilton’s yes, they were literally off to the races.
Feel the thrill of Formula 1 racing and watch “F1 The Movie,” now showing in cinemas.
