In the new โF1โ movie, the race cars reach real-life speeds of 180 mph. But whoโs behind the wheel?
The filmโs producer, Oscar-winning producer Jerry Bruckheimer, tells TODAY.com โF1โ stars Brad Pitt and Damson Idris were authentically racing.
โDamson Idris, whoโs a rising young star, had to drive in these cars and train for three months, just like Brad (Pitt) did,โ Bruckheimer says. โBut the brutality of what you go through in these cars that are going 180 miles an hour โ they have to break down to 50. Theyโre taking 5 Gs in the corners. It is brutal.โ
When recalling the experience of racing at such high speeds, Idris explains to TODAY.com the difficulty of the โintricate turnings and just the Gs that youโre hitting, and just the way the car sticks as youโre turning.โ
โI canโt explain it. You have to be in it to feel it, you know? But the brilliance of this movie is, through watching it, you feel like youโre in a car,โ he says of the action flick, which premiered June 27 in IMAX.
Driving on Real-Life Racetracks During Real-Life Races
As part of maintaining the authenticity of Formula One in the film, shooting occurred on actual racetracks around the world โ sometimes during real-time F1 races.
Bruckheimer explains that F1 races are held at 22 different tracks globally, and the movie shot at nine of them since the plot follows the drivers during the last nine races of the season.
In order to shoot during the competitions, Bruckheimer says the film crew โhad track time at every race.โ
โIn other words, we get three (to) five minutes in between qualifying or in between practice,โ he shares.
โWhat was exciting for our actors is, first of all, theyโre driving these cars at high speeds in front of 140,000 people and 10 million people, 100 million people,โ Bruckheimer continues, adding that the actors were required to drive and break at high speeds while โremembering your lines at the same time.โ
Bruckheimer compares the takes during real races to โlive theater.โ
Kerry Condon, who plays Kate McKenna in the movie, tells TODAY.com she was ready for the fast-paced filming when she agreed to take on the role.
โJoe (Kosinski) told me, when I got the job, โThereโs going to be a live aspect, so youโre not going to get a lot of takes. And also, with that, thereโs not going to be makeup checks all the time. Once youโre on that pit wall, weโre done. Thereโs no bathroom breaks,โโ she recalls, adding, โSo I loved that, personally.โ
As for Idris, who plays F1 driver Joshua Pearce in the movie, he jokes about the high-stakes takes, โI just said, โIf anything goes wrong, Iโm going to pretend itโs Brad thatโs driving.โโ
With a slightly more serious tone, he then describes the filming process as โexhilaratingโ while crediting the โF1โ creative team for making them feel โoverpreparedโ going into the quick takes.
โOf course, naturally, things could go wrong. We had one of the most famous human beings on the planet or universe in our movie,โ Idris says, referring to Pitt. โSo weโd be doing scenes on the track and people (were) running up with selfies. So that was always an added pressure.โ
โBut that pressure, we reveled in it,โ he adds.
Javier Bardem, who plays Ruben Cervantes, points out Idris and Pitt likely felt more pressure filming during the live races in front of hundreds of thousands of people. But he says the crewโs โworkโ wasnโt lost on him.
โBeing part of the scenes with the driver, and being part of what it means to be a team, and the whole structure of what it takes to put those drivers on the track, itโs so much work,โ Bardem tells TODAY.com. โAnd itโs very admirable to see the effort that it takes for so many people to make that car ready to go that speed.โ
