Director Joseph Kosinski, actors Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Sarah Niles and producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Lewis Hamilton joined SAG Foundation national director and BAFTA board member Rochelle Rose for a post-screening panel discussion on “F1: The Movie.” The creatives reflected on the innovative, intense and rewarding process of making the summer blockbuster racing film, with Kosinski admitting, “Looking back, I think, ‘God, that was pretty reckless.’”
Kosinski was commenting specifically on the long and turbulent shoot days, many spent at actual F1 racing events with extreme stunts pulled off in-camera. “Normally, when you’re shooting a scene, you have hours or days to shoot it, but because we wanted to shoot this film live at the Grand Prix while the events are going on, we’d often only get a few minutes,” the director recalled. “So, there were times where I would tell Brad and Damson, ‘We’ll be lucky to get three takes at this,’ especially that opening scene at Silverstone. We actually shot three scenes back-to-back in about 15 minutes.”
Filming on real F1 racing courses with the actors actually driving the extreme vehicles at up to 180 miles per hour gave the film a profound sense of realism. Pitt and Idris were truly behind the wheel and Hamilton, a professional driver in addition to being a producer on the film, ensured that they knew what they were doing.
“Brad Pitt and Damson practiced for four months with Lewis overseeing part of it to make sure that they could drive these cars,” said Bruckheimer. “When you watch this movie and you see Brad and Damson in the car, they’re actually driving these cars. It’s not special effects. It’s the real deal. And they put their life on the line to make this movie as authentic as possible.”
Kosinski credits the cast’s commitment and Hamilton’s oversight to the film’s authenticity, but also notes that Apple Studios, the movie’s production company, developed new technology that allowed them to capture the races with unprecedented immersion. “That Apple put their faith in us to actually shoot a movie this way is pretty amazing. Luckily, we pulled it off,” he said.
Hamilton added, “What you’re seeing is and incredible evolution of technology with Apple and those new cameras that they designed to capture different angles. The footage we have from the cars are better than what you see when you watch Formula 1. I’m sure at some point, Formula 1 is going to see how we can get those cameras on our cars. But they’re pretty heavy, all the gear.”
The film is not just stunts and effects, though. Bruckheimer reiterated that “it’s the energy that they put into the script, because that creates the emotion and that’s what moves you. It’s the hours and days and months that Brad and Lewis and Joe spent time working with our writers to make this as good as it can be.”
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Pitt, who produced the film as well as starred in it, reflected that the team always aimed to capture the “moments of absolute pure bliss” that come with the high octane sport. “It really stemmed from that,” he said, “This idea of winning is one thing, but the purity of the sport, the feeling, that thing that fulfills you, that you don’t question, you don’t doubt, and you just are. That’s the kind of purity where you are the ultimate of presence.”
Warner Brothers released “F1” in theaters on June 27. It grossed over $628 million at the worldwide box office and will be available to stream on Apple TV on Dec. 12.
From Variety US