Brad Pitt recently opened up about playing a retired Formula 1 racing driver seeking redemption in F1.
“Me myself, for [my character] Sonny, he’s a character who had an early existence in F1 and it didn’t pan out for him and he thinks he’s made his peace with that and has structured his life around that and has moved on,” Pitt, 61, said during a press conference on Tuesday, June 10, in Mexico City. “But as life does, those unanswered things seem to circle back around and we have to address them. And that’s the Sonny story as I see it, which I’m quite moved by.”
Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski’s latest action epic takes place in the fast and furious world of Formula One racing. Pitt’s world-weary character Sonny was forced off the track following a severe injury years ago, but is coaxed back into the driver’s seat to mentor rookie prodigy Joshua “Noah” Pearce (Snowfall’s Damson Idris).
Kosinski’s ambitious approach to filming F1 involved embedding his cast and crew with real racing teams during the 2023 Formula One season. Pitt subsequently explained in Mexico City that he was instantly interested in F1 when he heard that Kosinski was going to work closely with the sport.
“For me, it was just a no-brainer when [Kosinski] had this audacious plan to embed us in the racing season, to put us actually in the cars. It was just a dream come true,” Pitt said of starring in the sports drama.
Pitt continued, “I’ve been trying to do a racing film for literally decades. And whether it was on bikes or whether it was in cars, for whatever reason, it just didn’t pan out. I’m so grateful because the experience Joe gave us, putting us in the car, putting us in this ecosystem of the F1 racing season, with all the drivers, with the teams, was just an extraordinary experience.”
As a result of Kosinski’s immersive filmmaking approach, several of the world’s top Formula One drivers – including Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo and reigning World Driver’s Champion Max Verstappen – will appear in F1. (Hamilton serves as a producer on F1 in addition to appearing in the movie.)
Pitt and Idris are joined in F1’s star-studded international cast by Academy Award nominee Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin), The Crown star Tobias Menzies and Oscar winner Javier Bardem.
The project also reunites Kosinski with Top Gun: Maverick producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Bruckheimer said in 2023 that he was blown away by a Hollywood star of Pitt’s caliber agreeing to do all of his own driving for the blockbuster.
“He does it all himself. He’s an amazing athlete, the drivers are amazed at how good he is,” the producer, 81, told Entertainment Tonight at the time.
Bruckheimer added of F1, “It’s all about the drama and the characters. It’s a great character study, the characters, drivers, the people around them who run those teams, the managers of the teams.”
F1 arrives in theaters Friday, June 27.
