Racing superstar Lewis Hamilton is putting in time as a film producer to ensure the upcoming big-budget F1 film represents the sport that he loves.
Details are pretty scarce on the upcoming Formula 1 movie that will be financed by Apple. We do know a few things, though. Brad Pitt is set to star, with Top Gun: Maverick‘s Joseph Kosinski in place to direct. What’s more, producing legend Jerry Bruckheimer is also said to be on board, as well as racing icon Lewis Hamilton. Paramount, MGM, Sony, Universal, Netflix and Amazon were all said to be interested in the project, but Apple was the first to snag the movie with the apparent caveat that the film will be getting a theatrical release.
Exciting it might be but none of that is new news: but we do have a few new tidbits to share with you. In terms of filming dates, Bruckheimer recently announced that the shoot will take place throughout Formula 1’s upcoming season, meaning that scenes for the project will be filmed during the upcoming 2023 F1 World Championships, scheduled to take place between March 5 and November 26.
Lewis Hamilton, the F1 icon, has also been chatting a little about the project, talking about his desire as a producer and advisor, to push representation in the film. Hamilton revealed that at the moment, the producers are looking at audition tapes to find Pitt’s co-star, presumably the younger driver that he mentors.
Talking about the process, the F1 ace says:“We’re going through a process right now of selecting the character that will be alongside Brad, which is exciting … Basically that’s the process of watching [the auditions]. We have recordings of them doing certain scenes, and we got through it. I’ve sat in the office with Jerry and Joe and Brad, and we’ve been watching them and kind of given our inputs and what we think”.
Hamilton also is keen to push positive representation in the film, stating: “I want to make the movie, in terms of like having diversity and representation, I want it to be as Formula 1 should be in the future – or should be now, but will be in the future. I want to see female mechanics. We would love to see a female driver. We haven’t gotten to that point just yet. But why not? Right now, we’ve still got the script. We’ve gone through quite a few different iterations of it. We’re still waiting for a new rewrite, and that’s the whole process”.
So there you go. Given that the film is set to shoot in the next few months, we might even see it at some point in 2024. Fingers crossed.
