Yahoo Movies Brad Pitt’s Apple ‘F1’ Movie: Everything We Know So Far
While it’s a little early to start any engines, Brad Pitt’s Apple film F1 has a finish line in sight as well as other important details about the making of the movie that will interest viewers.
The film, made in partnership with Formula 1 and its 10 teams, will arrive in 2025 with real racing world experts behind the product as well as big-name movie makers.
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Read on for everything we know about Apple’s Brad Pitt F1 movie:
When does Apple’s Brad Pitt F1 movie come out?
The film, officially titled F1 as of July 5, will roll into theaters on June 27, 2025.
What is Brad Pitt’s F1 Apple film about?
Pitt plays a former driver who returns to Formula 1 racing alongside his teammate (Damson Idris) at the fictional team APXGP on the grid.
Who is in Brad Pitt’s Apple F1 film?
Aside from Pitt and Idris, the film also stars Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin, Better Call Saul), Javier Bardem (Skyfall, No Country For Old Men), Tobias Menzies (Manhunt, Outlander), Sarah Niles (Ted Lasso, I May Destroy You), Kim Bodnia (Pusher, The Bridge) and Samson Kayo (The Bubble, Our Flag Means Death).
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Professional drivers who will also star include Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz and others who play themselves as a result of the embedded filming at real-life racetracks while competitions take place.
How realistic is Apple’s Brad Pitt F1 film?
Pitt and Idris will actually drive the cars, according to director Joseph Kosinski. He and producer Jerry Bruckheimer sat down with Deadline for an exclusive Q+A ahead of the British Grand Prix. They filmed at the iconic Silverstone racetrack in the actual British Grand Prix. Other tracks featured will include Daytona, Hungary, Spa (Belgium), Monza (Italy), Zandvoort (Netherlands), Japan, Las Vegas, Abu Dhabi and Mexico City.
Seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton is also producing the film through his Apollo Dawn Films banner while he still races professionally.
“He’s the first person I contacted three years ago. I knew for us to make it as authentic as possible, someone on the team who lives it day-in and day-out would be invaluable,” Kosinski told Deadline. “Lewis has been an incredible partner; he jumps on Zooms with me between races to go through the script, line by line, turn by turn, you know, tire compound by tire compound, to make sure that we are getting all the details right. Beyond that, on a creative and story level, he also has input.”
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Kosinski also shared that embedding into the racetracks to capture specific scenes while races are happening adds intensity to creating and completing the scenes. One scene at Silverstone had a 9-minute window to nail.
What kind of cars and cameras are used in Brad Pitt’s Apple F1 film?
Pitt and Damson were trained for almost three months before getting in the movie-making vehicles. They started in Formula 3 cars before moving up to Formula 2 cars.
Working with Mercedes and Toto Wolff, team CEO, Co-Owner and Team Principal, the film’s team constructed modified Formula 2 cars with 15 camera mounts built into them to shoot films.
“They all complain that racing movies aren’t fast enough because usually when they build these cars, they’re movie cars. You know, they look right, but they aren’t real race cars,” Kosinski said. “At one of our first meetings, Toto said: ‘You should build this off a Formula 2 car, but make it look like a Formula 1 car,’ so it’s a Formula 2 chassis and engine. We worked closely with Mercedes and their design team and aerodynamicists to develop a custom body that resembles the latest generation Formula 1 car. They’re built specifically for this movie.
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Kosinski also described the technology and equipment used to capture footage as “the next generation from what we did on Top Gun.”
“We have bespoke cameras for this that are very small and light so that they don’t impede the performance of the car too much and that’s key because you don’t want to have a race car and then put 200 pounds of gear on it. Our camera mounts were designed with Mercedes as well. The cameras are specially designed by Sony,” he said. “The big innovation is that we’re now able to control the movement of the cameras on the cars. We’re not locked into these kinds of fixed positions we had on Top Gun. Now we have real-time control of panning and focusing them while shooting through a very extensive RF network that we’ve built around the tracks.”
How did the Brad Pitt F1 film come together? Who is making the Apple film?
Kosinski directs from Ehren Kruger’s script and produces alongside Bruckheimer. Bruckheimer said that Hamilton galvanized the film’s development.
“From Lewis, we got to Mercedes, from Mercedes, we got the car; if you approach it the right way it’s not as difficult as you think,” Bruckheimer told Deadline. “Then we went to Stefano [Domenicali, Formula One Group CEO], we went to [FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem], we went to the Principals of every team. We’ve met with all the drivers to tell them what we were doing. We met with just about everybody in Formula 1.”
How much did the Brad Pitt Apple F1 film cost?
Kosinski and Bruckheimer shot down the reports that the film’s budget would cash in at $300 million. Both said that the estimate was too high.
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