Brad Pitt will be taking the wheel of a real racing car for a forthcoming Formula One film.
During a panel at the F1 Accelerate Summit in Miami, director Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) and producer Jerry Bruckheimer shared details of the Apple Studios movie, which Formula One legend Lewis Hamilton is also producing.
Kosinksi and Bruckheimer are “creating an 11th team filming on track and on event from Silverstone to the end of the year”, said moderator Will Buxton, according to Variety.
Pitt will drive on-track in a modified F2 or F3 car at the Silverstone event on 9 July, when the circuit is due to be empty between sessions, with no other cars on track. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has previously admitted this will be an “invasive” project.
Some of the movie’s footage will be shot with “the smallest moveable 6k camera ever designed to take the viewer into the cockpit”, Buxton said.
The race car featuring in the film was designed by Mercedes, and Hamilton is “advising on storyline and script to ensure it’s the most accurate racing film ever made”.
In the movie, Pitt plays a driver who comes out of retirement to help a new racer compete against the heavyweights in the sport. It co-stars Damson Idris (Swarm) and is written by Top Gun: Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger.
The news that Pitt will drive at the Grand Prix has been met with some amusement on social media. Rookie driver Colton Herta, who was denied a super-license last year because he didn’t have enough points, posted on Twitter: “Brad Pitt got a super license before me. Tough.”
