“F1” movie director: Tom Cruise “would have scared us more” than Brad Pitt

Director Joseph Kosinski has claimed that Tom Cruise would have “scared them a little bit more” than Brad Pitt if he had a role in the upcoming F1 movie, as he “always pushes to the limit.”

Kosinski’s long-standing relationship with Cruise led many to link the American actor to the upcoming Formula 1 film. Their collaboration began in 2013 with science fiction thriller, Oblivion, and the pair worked together again on Top Gun: Maverick, released in 2022 as the sequel to the 1986 hit movie. 

On top of Kosinski’s history with Cruise, the Hollywood icon has also previously worked with Jerry Bruckheimer, who is the producer of F1. Bruckheimer worked with Cruise on both Top Gun films as well as Days of Thunder in 1990. 

Despite the history with the actor, Academy Award-winning actor Brad Pitt took the lead role of Sonny Hayes in F1, who Lewis Hamilton, serving as an executive producer in the film, branded as a “racer at heart.”

“The most interesting thing about Brad is that he’s already a bit of a racer at heart,” Hamilton told GQ.

Speaking in the same interview with GQ, Kosinski discussed how the film would have been different if Cruise had portrayed Hayes. He explained:

“Tom always pushes it to the limit, but at the same time is super capable and very skilled. They both have the natural talent for driving. But yeah, I could see Tom maybe scaring us a little bit more.”

Graham Kelly, the movie’s action-vehicle supervisor, added with a smile: “We’d have had a crash. Tom pushes it to the limit. I mean really to the limit. That terrifies me.

“I mean, I’ve done loads of Mission: Impossibles with Tom and it’s the most stressful experience for someone like me building cars for him, doing stunts with him. Whereas Brad listens and he knows his abilities, and I think he’d be the first to say, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to do that.’ ”

F1 is set to be released internationally on 25 June, and on 27 June in the United States and Canada.

Watch the F1 trailer