When Lewis Hamilton’s F1 movie starring Brad Pitt was announced, the entire F1 community was elated. Shooting for the same began last year during the British GP, but the SAG strike in Hollywood derailed the project for a bit. Now that the strike is over and films are being shot again, Pitt will resume Hamilton’s Hollywood venture. Several venues and projects for the same have been revealed that will run simultaneously with the 2024 season.
According to Kym Illman, Silverstone will once again feature ‘large scale filming’ along with the Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps. Additionally, Pitt will also visit Abu Dhabi, Las Vegas, Japan, and Mexico along with his crew.
Last year, we saw Pitt and Damson Idris suit up as actual F1 race drivers at Silverstone. They even took part in the pre-race rituals, alongside the stars and had a fictional team follow them. This enabled them to get an authentic shot, with it being a real Grand Prix event. Pitt even drew a modified Formula 2 car around the circuit, for the cameras to get some real action.
Illman states that there will be 300-400 people on set, but not all the filming will be done on track. Instead, other locations near the track in the respective cities will be set up. The production crew will be desperate to speed things up. Because of the Hollywood strike, not much could be done in the second half of 2023. But now, they would want to ramp up the process and get the Lewis Hamilton-produced movie out as soon as possible.
Lewis Hamilton and Brad Pitt to take F1 to new heights
Not a lot is known about Lewis Hamilton’s F1 movie so far. Brad Pitt plays the role of Sonny Hayes, a veteran driver who comes out of retirement to help his young teammate. To make the movie even more appealing to the public, the crew decided to shoot during actual Grand Prix weekends.
F1 boss Stefano Domenicali is optimistic about the release of the film. He feels that Hamilton and Pitt’s venture will take F1 to new heights, after the growth they have seen over the last few years, thanks to the release of Drive to Survive on Netflix.
The public doesn’t know much about the story, but Domenicali does. And he told Motorsport that it is ‘sporty, good and real’. Whether it has a similar effect as Drive to Survive or not is to be seen, but we have to wait a while. The movie is scheduled to be released sometime in 2025.
