F1 - The Movie, Brad Pitt: "I'm a fan of this sport, it's like a religion for me"

"The greatest promise never fulfilled". This phrase not only anticipates a plot, the one that tells the adventures of the character of Sonny Hayes, played by Brad Pitt , but also the challenge undertaken by director Joseph Kosinski and his "pure" producers to give life to a film capable of reproducing in a "real" way all the speed, emotions and adrenaline of the world of Formula 1. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer , Joseph Kosinski , seven-time world champion of the top motor racing series Lewis Hamilton , Brad Pitt and Jeremy Kleiner , "F1 - The Movie" will arrive in Italian theaters on June 25 and then land on Apple TV + in streaming. A decidedly ambitious feature film; judging from what was declared during the online press conference live from Mexico City last week, the protagonists are sure they have hit the mark. The filming was carried out thanks to the collaboration with the FIA ​​and Liberty Media in various real locations, starting from Silverstone , during the 2023 British Grand Prix. Brad Pitt and Damson Idris took to the track in racing suits so much so that the atmosphere seemed more like a sporting event than a film set. This made it possible to fully immerse ourselves in the racing universe, allowing us to faithfully reconstruct the atmosphere that is unleashed during real Grand Prix races. "Joe had this plan - says Brad Pitt during the meeting - to integrate us into the racing season and really put us behind the wheel of single-seaters. It's a dream come true , for decades I've been trying to make a film about racing, whether it's about cars or motorbikes. I'm very grateful for the experience it gave us, getting into the cars, experiencing the ecosystem of the Formula 1 racing season in contact with the drivers, the teams, it was truly extraordinary".

A unique, unforgettable experience, lived by a great enthusiast, as the American actor emphasizes: "I'm a fan of this sport, it's like a religion for me. It's incredible what these guys can do . The precision, the timing, the resistance to G-forces, it's great. For us, trying this experience was fantastic, I'd like to try to explain what it feels like to experience G-forces, but it's impossible, it's great, I don't know how to define it. Making this film was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I'll never forget".

A challenge for the two main actors, Brad Pitt and Damson Idris , but as anticipated, above all for the film crew. "You can't recreate the energy, the sound, the crowd, that's why we had to shoot during the races. The collaboration was truly incredible, extraordinary", said the director who directed "Top Gun: Maverick" in 2022. A collaboration that made use, in addition to the invaluable help of the Ferrari driver, also of Mercedes which provided the two Formula 2 single-seaters specially modified to resemble real Formula 1 cars and of the Carlin Motorsport team which made available the facilities and experience of the F2 and F3 drivers. "Working with Lewis - explains Brad Pitt - was very important, he is a very intelligent person, he knows this world perfectly, he helped us develop the story, the script, he told us about his experiences. All this allowed us to put the film together". A challenge highlighted by the words of producer Jeremy Kleiner : "I owe a lot of respect to Joe and Jerry (Bruckheimer) who had the ambition to make it all real by creating a new technical system. Joe is an engineer and he created the design of a new camera and calculated the logistics down to the minute to be able to shoot on the track while preserving the cinematic intensity, the adrenaline. Incredible". To faithfully tell what happens during the races, director Joseph Kosinski obviously relied on technology: "To capture what happens in a single-seater we created a new camera system that was very light and very small. We took the system developed for Top Gun and miniaturized it, we made it as small as we could. Four cameras pointed at the faces of the two drivers and at the track, four mobile cameras, an innovation developed specifically for this film. Mercedes made all this a reality, these guys were able to drive the cars during a real race weekend between the test sessions and the qualifying sessions with the public watching, a presence that you feel when you watch the film. It's not just acting, Brad was really focused on keeping the car between the curbs". And here the American actor comes into play again: "The idea of ​​being in the car, dealing with the G-forces, the impact on the body, is something you can't fake. Joe (the director) said that this is the most immersive film that has ever been made about the world of racing. It involved me, Lewis, everyone. We started a special training to be able to drive like a real F1 driver, a training that lasted practically two years". "I drove somewhere in California - began Damson Idris , the actor who plays Brad Pitt's teammate to be "straightened" - on simulated circuits and with the guys on real tracks. I also downloaded the Formula 1 game. Then began intense training in Silverstone, Palm Springs, Houston, Texas, to learn how to drive a Formula 1".

And it is still the producer Jeremy Kleiner who underlines how this film, in addition to providing a technical authenticity to convey sensations, is first of all a story: "It is the human story that is the spirit of the film, the emotion". The soul told in the film is fundamental, all the characters have their own past and inserting all this into the great extravagance of the action, without losing the soul was difficult, this was a great team effort". A story of redemption. Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) is "the greatest promise ever realized". A talented Formula 1 driver in the 90s is forced to give up his career after an accident on the track. Thirty years later, Sonny is approached by his former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem ), owner of the fictional F1 team Apxgp, a team in difficulty and on the verge of bankruptcy. Ruben manages to convince Sonny to return to compete in the top series as a last hope to save the team and establish himself as the best driver in the world. Sonny will race alongside Joshua Pearce, played by Damson Idris, a young talent determined to dictate his own rules within the team. But the past always resurfaces and Sonny realizes that in Formula 1 Your teammate is your fiercest competition, and the road to redemption cannot be traveled alone.