This sounds absolutely incredible.
Between his work in the Mission: Impossible franchise and Top Gun: Maverick, the stories of Tom Cruise performing his own stunts have become the stuff of Hollywood legend.
That said, Brad Pitt looks like he will be giving Cruise a run for his money with his upcoming Formula One racing movie. Helmed by Top Gun: Maverick’s director Joseph Kosinski and also written by one of that sequel’s scribes Ehren Kruger, the Bullet Train actor will star in the film “as a driver who comes out of retirement to compete alongside a rookie driver against the titans of the sport”.
First announced to be in the works in June 2022, more details have been revealed about the currently untitled project courtesy of a panel at the F1 Accelerate Summit in Miami this week with Kosinski and one of the movie’s producers Jerry Bruckheimer. This includes the news that Pitt for the blockbuster will actually drive a race car on real race weekends, beginning with the British Grand Prix in July on the Silverstone track.
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
— Will Buxton (@wbuxtonofficial) May 4, 2023
In a series of Tweets, the panel’s moderator Will Buxton reported that Bruckheimer and Kosinski are “creating an 11th team and filming on track and on event from Silverstone to the end of the year”. He then added:
“They’ve spent 18 months taking what they learned 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.”
That said, Variety has since confirmed that while Pitt will be doing his own driving on race tracks, he will not be racing against other drivers. The outlet also states that the vehicle the A-lister is set to drive will in fact “most likely be a modified version of a junior F2 or F3 car”.
1996’s sports drama Grand Prix is said to be a main inspiration on the Brad Pitt racing movie
The Apple Studios movie is being produced by seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton, with Buxton stating that the British racecar driver has been “in daily communication and is advising on storyline and script to ensure it’s the most accurate racing film ever made.
According to the panel moderator, Kosinski’s main inspiration on the upcoming blockbuster is the classic ’60s sports drama Grand Prix. Buxton also reports that the director’s former star Tom Cruise has “already offered to do some extra driving if they need him.”
Meanwhile, Deadline has stated that Irish actress and recent Oscar-nominee Kerry Condon has joined the cast of the racing picture. As well as Pitt, Black Mirror will also appear in the film.
The movie does not have a release date as of yet.
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