The trailer for Apple Films & Warner Bros.’ “F1” hit today, and it seems to offer not only high-octane action and visceral thrills but bruising dramas within. Like “Top Gun: Maverick,” which seamlessly blended buzzing supersonic aerial intensity with heart, soul, romance and meaningful character dynamics, “F1,” about the dangerous, high-stakes world of Formula One auto racing, director Joseph Kosinski seems like he’s applied the same flying and drama principles to his Brad Pitt-starring racing movie
READ MORE: ‘F1’ Trailer: Brad Pitt Feels The Need For Speed In Joseph Kosinski’s High-Octane Racing Drama
The film centers on a racing legend, Sonny Hayes (Pitt), who is coaxed out of retirement to lead a struggling Formula 1 team—and mentor a young hotshot driver—while chasing one more chance at redemption.
As stated, Kosinski seems to innately understand that without great story, drama and character, action is just empty fury; the two have to go hand in hand with one another.
“It always starts with a great script and a great story. I knew that no matter how accurate or exciting the racing is, it doesn’t mean anything if you’re not telling a story supported with great characters,” Kosinski said in a recent “F1” event that revealed the trailer early to select journalists.
For the movie, given some of the overall similarities, Kosinski paired with many of the same ‘Top Gun’ collaborators, including producer “Jerry Bruckheimer” and the movie’s writer.
“It all starts with the script, and we worked with Ehren Krueger, who also worked on ‘Top Gun Maverick.’ He wrote an incredible script for us to start with,” the director said. “And then the most important thing a director does beyond developing the script is casting. Casting is everything. And the group of actors that we pulled together for this film is pretty incredible. Javier Bardem and Brad together, their friendship, which is an old one- three decades old, really is the core of this story and this film, and just seeing them together on screen is really special.”
“This story has everything, he continued. “It has the tension you would expect in a movie like this with all the action, but at the same time, there’s real heart here, especially in the story of Sonny Hayes and the redemption journey he’s on. There’s humor in there, there’s some romance, there’s a little bit of everything that you need to tell a fully fleshed-out rich story like this.”
As the trailer reveals, one of the reasons Pitt’s character washed out was a gambling addiction, and the film seems to be littered with not only personal dramas but the kind of internecine tension that makes teamwork harder to pull off. During Covid, Kosinski said he got hooked on watching Netflix’s racing reality series “Drive to Survive,” which led him to understand many internal challenges on top of the outside pressures to win.
“I found that it’s an incredibly unique sport in that your teammate is also your, in many ways, your greatest competition,” he explained. “And for me, that makes for a great drama. I also loved how the first season of the show focused on the last-place teams, the underdogs, rather than the Ferrari, the Mercedes, the Red Bull, the teams that you see at the front of the pack. And I thought that there was an interesting story to be told about an underdog team trying not to win the championship but just trying to win one race against these titans of the sport.”
And it’s more than just the rivalries between Pitt and his cocky protégé played by Damson Idris. “There’s some healthy tension there on every team, and it makes for a great relationship between the [all the characters],” Kosinski said while describing some of the other characters in the film. “Kerry Conden; she’s incredible. She plays the team technical director, so she’s the person in charge of designing the car and the engineers and the drivers.”
“I’m really excited for people to see Damson Iris going toe to toe with Brad Pitt on a big screen and a big story,” he continued. So yeah, we have an incredible cast of supporting actors; a great ensemble.”
The film also co-stars Academy Award-winner Javier Bardem, who has a long-standing relationship with Brad Pitt. “Javier Bardem and Brad together, their friendship, which is an old one- three decades old,” he explained. “And really [their relationship] is the core of this story and this film; just seeing them together on screen is really special.”
The cast also includes Tobias Menzies, Kim Bodnia, and Shea Whigham, with appearances by real-life Formula One drivers like Lewis Hamilton (a producer on the films), George Russell, Max Verstappen and many more. And as for all the high-velocity driving in the movie? That’s really Brad Pitt, Damson Idris and actors pulling off those high-speed moves.
“Brad and Damson are both driving in this film and getting them into these race cars required months, literally months of training,” he explained, noting the main challenge of the film. “Did Brad know how to drive right? Because if Brad can’t drive, this whole film wasn’t going to work. What Lewis Hamilton was very happy to discover was that Brad had a lot of natural ability right from the start. I don’t know where he got that or if he was born with it, and he rides motorcycles, which I think has something to do with it. Still, he’s just a very talented, naturally gifted driver, which for Lewis, after that first meeting, gave him a lot of confidence that we might have a shot at pulling this off.”
“F1” arrives in theaters and IMAX on June 27 via Apple Original Films and Warner Bros. Watch the exciting new trailer below.
