Brad Pitt will drive a real racecar alongside actual racers for his upcoming Formula One movie with “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski, the Kosinski said on Thursday.
The news emerged as part of the 2023 F1 Accelerate Summit, held Thursday in Miami, during a panel moderated by British television host Will Buxton. Alongside Kosinski, the panel also featured the film’s executive producer, Jerry Bruckheimer.
Buxton shared details from the panel on Twitter after it ended.
“Their F1 movie sounds incredible. They’re creating an 11th team and filming on track and on event from Silverstone to the end of the year,” Buxton said, referring to the racing circuit that’s home to the British Grand Prix.
“The car has been designed by Mercedes and is already testing,” he continued, adding that British racecar driver Lewis Hamilton is “in daily communication and is advising on storyline and script to ensure it’s the most accurate racing film ever made.”
Buxton, who’s known for his commentary on the Netflix series “Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” added that Kosinski is using John Frankenheimer’s 1966 film “Grand Prix,” which starred James Garner, as “his biggest touchstone.”
“Both he and Jerry are determined to make the most accurate, most impressive race movie anyone has ever seen. Oh. And Tom Cruise has already offered to do some extra driving if they need him,” Buxton quipped.
“They’ve spent 18 months taking what they learnt on ‘Top Gun” Maverick’ to develop the smallest moveable 6k camera ever designed to take the viewer into the cockpit. A cockpit in which their stars will actually drive. That’s right. Brad Pitt driving an F1 car from Silverstone onwards,” Buxton said.
The film from Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Plan B Entertainment and Apple Original Films, stars Pitt as a former driver who returns to the sport. “Snowfall” lead Damson Idris joined the film in April.
Though the film will end up on Apple TV+, prior to that it will also get a large scale theatrical release. “We’ve got an interesting distribution plan that includes a guaranteed worldwide large-format theatrical experience that then rolls into an exclusive streaming arrangement on Apple TV+,” Kosinski told TheWrap last year. “It’s a hybrid model which maybe is the way that streaming and theaters can coexist for the right stories.”
The project reteams Kosinski with Oscar-nominated “Top Gun: Maverick” writer Ehren Kruger.
