Filming for an as-yet-untitled movie based on Formula 1 will begin in earnest from the 2023 Silverstone Grand Prix. In addition, the film’s lead, Brad Pitt, is scheduled to drive during the weekend. The movie, which is being made for Apple Studios, will be directed by Joseph Kosinski of Top Gun: Maverick and is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. In addition, seven-time F1 world champion, Sir Lewis Hamilton, is assisting with production.
F1 journalist Will Buxton shed more light on the filming plans on Twitter, describing the cast and crew as creating an “11th team.” Of course, Pitt and his co-stars won’t be driving on a hot track with other racers. Instead, filming will occur between sessions and continue at other F1 weekends until the end of the year.
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Buxton also revealed that the film team had created the “smallest moveable 6k camera ever designed to take the viewer into the cockpit.” The car Brad Pitt will be driving won’t strictly be a Formula 1 car, but rather, a modified Formula 2 car that Hamilton’s Mercedes team will adapt. Hamilton, meanwhile, is assisting with the film’s script.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali had previously been quoted as saying that the film production would be “quite invasive.” Addressing an investor Q&A in April via Sports Illustrated, Domenicali said, “It’s something that we need to control, in a way, but it will be another way of showing that Formula 1 never stops.”
The film’s premise is that Pitt plays an experienced Formula 1 driver lured out of retirement to compete alongside a rookie. Damson Idris, who starred in the FX series Snowfall, will co-star alongside Pitt, as will Oscar nominee Kerry Condon, who Deadline reports will play a Technical Director in the new film.
