The upcoming F1 film strives to capture one of the fastest and most exciting sports in the world. It’s not easy to capture the kind of speed and intensity that defines Formula One racing, but if there’s anyone who is up to the task, it’s Joseph Kosinski, who directed the smash hit sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
Today, Apple Original Films and Warner Bros. Pictures released a new pulse-pounding trailer for F1, which stars Brad Pitt, Damson Idris and Javier Bardem. The film will be released on June 27th in the United States and June 25th internationally.
In advance of the trailer’s release, I had the opportunity to hear Kosinski speak about the film as part of a trailer release press conference. The event kicked off with a special pre-recorded message from seven-time F1 champion and the only Black driver in F1 history, Lewis Hamilton, who is a producer on the film.
“Joe [Kosinski], Jerry [Bruckheimer], Brad [Pitt], the cast and the whole filmmaking team put an incredible amount of effort to deliver a genuine Formula One racing experience, unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before on screen,” Hamilton said in the recording. “As you may have heard, the film was shot during the F1 races over the course of a season, and with Joe at the helm, audiences around the globe are going to feel like they’re on the track and in the driver’s seat.”
The true challenge in making a proper F1 film is that it must live up to the comparison to the actual sport which is actively racing throughout the year. In fact, when the F1 film releases in June, the sport itself will actively be in the middle of its 75th season. In order to match the sport it’s based on, Pitt and Idris were required to learn actual F1 driving.
“Watching Brad drive around speeds over 180 miles an hour was really impressive to see, because it’s not something you can just learn overnight. And the dedication and the focus that Brad put into this process has been amazing to witness,” Hamilton added in his message. “This film has got it all. Brad Pitt, speed, thrills, an epic underdog story, drama, humor, and a little bit of romance.”
Photo by Scott Garfield Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures / Apple Original Films
Kosinski elaborated on Hamilton’s praise of Pitt and Idris’ drive training and ability to learn the sport. Most F1 drivers start karting at a very young age and invest countless hours to the sport, often moving from their home countries as children to the UK to pursue their racing dreams. Of course, Pitt and Idris didn’t have that kind of time.
“Brad and Damson are both driving in this film, and in order to get them into these race cars, it required months, literally months of training. But the first day was really fun. It was me, Brad and Lewis Hamilton at the track together, all of us jumping in cars and driving each other around in sports cars, which was one of those things, I’ll never forget having Lewis Hamilton as your driving instructor,” Kosinski said. “But what we learned, and what Lewis was really interested, was seeing, did Brad know how to drive right? Because if Brad can’t drive, this whole film wasn’t going to work. And what Lewis was very happy to discover was that Brad had a lot of just natural ability right from the start.”
While many audiences who will watch F1 will of course be those who are already fans of the sport and are interested to see it adapted into a feature film, there will undoubtedly be people who do not watch the sport. Kosinski emphasized that the film will not require any pre-existing knowledge of Formula One racing. Similar to the hugely popular Netflix series, Drive to Survive, this film will focus on the human stories behind the sport.
“This is a movie about friendship, teamwork, sacrifice, redemption. The story I think is universal. It just happens to be set in this incredibly exciting world of Formula One,” Kosinski said. “And if you are a Formula One fan, I think you’re going to like this movie. If you don’t know anything about Formula One, I think you’re going to like this movie, and you might come out wanting to watch some races or maybe even go to a race. So yeah, you don’t need to know anything going in. We’ll teach you everything you need to enjoy this story.”
Check out the epic new trailer below.
About F1:
From Apple Original Films and the filmmakers from Top Gun: Maverick comes the high-octane, action-packed feature film F1®, starring Brad Pitt and directed by Joseph Kosinski. The film is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Kosinski, famed Formula 1® driver Lewis Hamilton, Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner and Chad Oman.
Dubbed “the greatest that never was,” Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) was FORMULA 1’s most promising phenom of the 1990s until an accident on the track nearly ended his career. Thirty years later, he’s a nomadic racer-for-hire when he’s approached by his former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), owner of a struggling FORMULA 1 team that is on the verge of collapse. Ruben convinces Sonny to come back to FORMULA 1 for one last shot at saving the team and being the best in the world. He’ll drive alongside Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), the team’s hotshot rookie intent on setting his own pace. But as the engines roar, Sonny’s past catches up with him and he finds that in FORMULA 1, your teammate is your fiercest competition—and the road to redemption is not something you can travel alone.
F1® also stars Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Kim Bodnia, and Javier Bardem, and has been shot during actual Grand Prix weekends as the team competes against the titans of the sport.
Kosinski directs from a screenplay by Ehren Kruger. The film is executive produced by Daniel Lupi. Collaborating with Kosinski behind the scenes are his creative team, including director of photography Claudio Miranda, production designers Mark Tildesley and Ben Munro, editor Stephen Mirrione, costume designer Julian Day, casting director Lucy Bevan and composer Hans Zimmer.
Apple Original Films Presents a Monolith Pictures / Jerry Bruckheimer / Plan B Entertainment / Dawn Apollo Films Production, A Film by Joseph Kosinski, F1®.
Ron is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of POC Culture. He is a big believer in the power and impact of pop culture and the importance of representation in media.
