New York welcomed the F1 movie to Times Square last night for the premiere of the highly awaited production. Lead actor Brad Pitt attended alongside the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Damson Idris, and Kerry Condon. Revealing more details from behind the scenes, the American actor detailed the hardest parts of creating such a hit.
“The teams and the drivers, everyone opened their doors for us and [they] are a big part of this movie,” Pitt said on stage at the event. “[They] let us in in a way that I would never have expected. [It was] just an experience I will never forget.”
The production crew, led by director Joseph Kosinski, attended real race weekends, allowing the fictional APXGP team to fully embed itself into the action. While you’d expect this to be the most challenging part of the creation process, Pitt insisted it was instead the forming the story itself.
“The hardest thing was to develop a story,” he admitted. “The sport is so revered and there’s so many people that are quite knowledgeable about it, and then there’s so many people who haven’t seen it yet.
George Russell, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem film a scene for the F1 movie on the podium
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
“And to try to thread this needle where we’re not dumbing it down to those in the know, but it’s an invitation and explanation for those who have not been around this sport before, was really the most difficult thing of it all, and I think we did a pretty damn good job.”
Reviews have already poured out as the film nears its release date, all incredibly positive. Drivers have waxed lyrical about the film, and as you’d expect, Lewis Hamilton is incredibly proud of his work as he kept the film within the realm of realism.
“He was involved in all the technical details with fascinating advice,” Kosinski said on the driver. “In Hungary, for instance, if Brad’s going to let someone pass during a blue flag and he wants it to be as tight as possible, he’s only going to do that at turn six. That kind of detail, I couldn’t have gotten from anywhere else.”
