Hollywood has produced a number of car-racing movies over
the years. There have been “Grand Prix,” “Le Mans,” “Days of Thunder,” and
“Ford v Ferrari.”
اضافة اعلان
The latest, as-yet-untitled picture from Apple Studios, Plan
B Entertainment and Jerry Bruckheimer Films is set in the world of Formula One.
It is about the fictional team APXGP and its two drivers, Sonny Hayes and
Joshua Pearce, played by Brad Pitt and Damson Idris.
Pitt plays “a guy who raced in the 90s, has a horrible
crash, kind of craps out, disappears and then races in other disciplines,” he
said in an interview with Sky Sports F1.
“His friend, played by Javier Bardem, is a team owner.
They’re the last-place team — 21, 22 on the grid — they’ve never scored a
point, have a young phenom played by Damson, and he brings me in as a kind of a
Hail Mary, and high jinks ensue.”
The movie’s director, Joseph Kosinski — whose films include
“Top Gun: Maverick,” “Tron: Legacy” and “Oblivion” — said he was a fan of
“Grand Prix” and “Le Mans.”
“They were captured at real races with real drivers, and
that’s certainly been an inspiration for me in conceiving this project that’s
been almost two years in the making,” he said. “I like doing ambitious
projects, and this one is probably the most ambitious I’ve ever taken on. Our
aim is to make one of the most authentic racing films ever.”
At the Silverstone circuit for the British Grand Prix and
the Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix, the first of numerous circuit
visits the film crew will make this year, APXGP occupied a garage in pit lane,
had its own pit wall timing stand and had a motor home in the paddock.
The team ran black-and-gold liveried cars on track during
the weekend. Kosinski’s team worked with Mercedes-AMG to convert Formula Two
cars into a Formula One replica that has 15 camera mounts.
Cameras positioned around the track will capture racing
footage at several Grands Prix during the season. And using techniques
developed in the filming of “Top Gun: Maverick,” the APXGP cars will look like
they are in a race.
“The movie should be as authentic as we can get it,” Pitt
said. “You’ll see the cameras mounted all over the car. The shots — you’ve
never seen speed, you’ve never seen G-forces like this. It’s really exciting.”
Lewis Hamilton, a Mercedes driver and seven-time Formula One
champion, is an executive producer working with Kosinski to help with
authenticity.
“I’ve spent time with Joe, trying to make sure we’ve got the
best camera positions,” Hamilton said. “The frame rate is different, so it’s
going to look fast, faster than it does on TV. You will have seen what Joe did
with the fighter jets in ‘Top Gun: Maverick,’ with the dogfights, which was pretty
epic. Bringing that technology and viewpoint into our world, it’s going to be
amazing.”
Hamilton is also impressed with Pitt’s driving skills. The
actor, 59, was trained for the role by driving karts and open-wheel cars before
progressing to Formula Two.
“We did do a day together at a track in LA, and for someone
who hadn’t raced, he’s definitely got a keen eye,” Hamilton said. “He loves
watching MotoGP” — Grand Prix motorcycle racing — “so he’s always been a racing
enthusiast, and you could see he has a knack for the racing lines. He was
definitely fully on it, which was good to see.”
At Silverstone, Pitt took part in the drivers’ briefing — a
prerace meeting with the race director of the FIA, the sport’s governing body —
to discuss issues from the previous event and anything of possible concern for
that weekend. George Russell, Hamilton’s teammate at Mercedes, said it was
“quite surreal” to have Pitt involved.
“It’s only when you get to be with those individuals —
whether it’s Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt or Roger Federer, whoever it is you’ve been
fortunate enough to meet — that you recognize they’re just normal human
beings,” Russell said. “He was joking around, having a good time and just being
one of the boys.”
Since Liberty Media Corp. took control of Formula One in
2017, the global presence of the sport has been transformed. Referring to the
“Drive to Survive” documentary series on Formula One, Hamilton said, “We’ve
already seen the great work and impact of the Netflix show, and I think this
movie will take it to new heights beyond that.”
Stefano Domenicali, CEO and president of Formula One, said
the opportunity for a film about the sport was “too good to turn down.”
“When we were approached about the possibility of this
movie,” he said, “I thought it would be another fantastic way for fans to see
what an amazing sport we have and to hopefully open it up to an even wider
audience than we have now.
“But we have been clear, and the Apple team fully agrees: it
needs to be authentic in order to show the real Formula One. So the fact the
scenes for the movie are being filmed during Grand Prix weekends adds drama and
authenticity.”
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of the FIA, said his
organization was doing all it could to help Kosinski and his team “achieve
something both they and the sport itself can be proud of.”
“We have been able to work together to provide unprecedented
access to live moments,” he said, “which I am sure has never been done before
at this level in a filming project.”
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