Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer have reunited for a thrilling look at one of the world’s most prominent sports inF1 The Movie. The director and multiple-Oscar-winning producer previously teamed forthe long-awaitedTop Gun: Maverick, which became the best-performing film in Kosinski’s career, netting a near-perfect 96% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and grossing just shy of $1.5 billion at the box office. Kosinski and Bruckheimer began puttingF1together ahead ofTop Gun: Maverick’s release, memorably sparking a heated bidding war between multiple studios, with Apple and Warner Bros. winning the rights.
Based on a story by Kosinski andTop Gun: Maverickwriter Ehren Kruger,F1 The Moviecenters on Sonny Hayes, a veteran race-car driver who is offered the opportunity to redeem his Formula One career by becoming part of the APX Grand Prix team, which also leads to a clashing with the team’s young hot shot star, Joshua Pearce. Brad Pitt and Damson Idris lead the film’s cast alongside Javier Bardem, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies and Shea Whigham, among others. Having already had a special private screening at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival as well as its world premiere in mid-June,F1 The Moviehas garnered largely positive reviewsfrom critics thus far.
In anticipation of the film’s release,ScreenRantinterviewed Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer to discussF1 The Movie. The director and producer reflected on the three-year journey they took to convince the titular racing organization to let them make the film, as well as the challenges of filming its racing scenes practically and the lessons learned from seven-time World Drivers' Champion driver Lewis Hamilton. Kosinski also offered an exciting update onTop Gun 3’s development, while Bruckheimer confirmed the nextPirates of the Caribbeanmovie is gaining some momentum.
While Bruckheimer has a history of his own in the world of racing-based stories withthe Tom Cruise-ledDays of Thunder— which also has a legacy sequel in the works —F1 The Moviemarks Kosinski’s first foray into the genre. In reflecting on where his initial interest was sparked in the genre,the director explained that his “entry point was someone named Louis Hamilton”, the seven-time World Drivers' Champion driver who he “knew was a film lover” and was inspired to talk with him to “make a film in this world”.
This led to Hamilton inviting Kosinski to join him for the 2021 Austin Grand Prix, in whichtheF1directorgot to explore the Mercedes garage and “stood there while they put the car together in front of me”. As he watched the racer climb into the car and “rocket out of the garage onto the track”,he became even further enthralled with the idea of exploring the genre, knowing “from that moment” that “I have to tell a story in this world”.
For Bruckheimer, there were multiple reasons why he was keen to produceF1 The Movie, describing the overall experience as a “great journey”,even though it was one that took four years to complete. The producer revealed that the biggest initial hurdle the team faced, which also took three years of work on their part, was “working to get F1 to allow us in their world”, as well as “convincing all the teams that we weren’t going to make them the bad guys”.
We entered the sport in the best possible position to be in to succeed, and we wanted to make it real and realistic.
From there, the team found themselves given a lot of support in makingF1, with Mercedes having “built six different cars” that Kosinski “helped design”, andHamilton not only being a technical advisor on the project, but also being a producer. The journey then shifted to the team “traveling around the world for two years following these races”, an experience that Bruckheimer describes as being “amazing”, but still not the most important part of the film.
“While all that stuff is wonderful, it’s about the emotion,” Bruckheimer explained. “It’s what kept you in your seat. What put tears in your eyes, what made you laugh? That’s why we make movies. We have phenomenal sound, phenomenal cinematography, brilliant acting. But these characters, you fall in love with ‘em. And that’s what’s great about this movie.”
In doing a deep dive into the world of Formula One, one of the biggest surprises for Bruckheimer in learning about the sport wasthe “physical torture” the drivers go through. TheF1producer went on to detail how the racers “are going 220 miles an hour” and are “breaking down at 50 miles an hour”, which requires “enormous amounts of strength in your legs and your neck” to handle the G-force. “They’re hitting five Gs when they hit some of these corners, and the downforce that they’re feeling is unbelievable,” Bruckheimer remarked.
The other major surprise that Bruckheimer found in the movie’s production was the intricate design of the cars themselves,particularly the steering wheel, which is “so complicated”. “Tire pressure and everything is on the wheel, and they have to hit the brake biases on the steering wheel, and they’re going 200 miles an hour at the same time,” Bruckheimer described. “Plus, they’re taking a physical beating, and some of these races, it’s 100 degrees, so they’re sitting in those cars at a hundred. They lose 10 pounds in some of those races, they sweat so much.”
F1 The Movie’s Practical Shooting Was Just As Challenging As Top Gun: Maverick’s
“…A Whole ‘Nother Level.”
Though he may be new to the racing genre, Kosinski has plenty of experience with large-scale filmmaking, with his feature directorial debut having beenthe visual effects-heavyTron: Legacy,whileOblivion,Only the BraveandTop Gun: Maverickwould invite more practical approaches to his direction. With the latter film, in particular, doing as much practically with its flight sequences as possible, Kosinski sought to “apply that knowledge to racing”,which also led to the realization “you can’t throw 150 pounds of camera gear onto a race car like you could into an F-18”.
There was a year and a half of preparation, and R&D, to kind of figure out how to pull it off.
Not deterred, the director and his team recognized they “had to get much, much smaller” and “much, much lighter with their equipment”, particularly ashe “wanted Brad and Damson to be driving the car for real”. That, in turn, also led to “a lot of training for them”, praising his stars as being “really gifted drivers”, but acknowledging that “an open-wheel race car is a whole ‘nother level”.
With all of this in mind, Kosinski expresses there were “so many difficult” shots to pull off in the film, withone of the more notable being utilizing the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, “a track that only exists for three nights out of the year”. TheF1director was able to work with the organization to get Pitt and Idris on the track as “the only two non-drivers to actually get to drive that track”, being given “a 15-minute slot” in the “middle of the night” to pull off the scene, making it a “high pressure” one for Kosinski.
“It was cold, the tires were cold, it was slippery,” Kosinski described. “That track has no runoff, so the walls are right there. And I knew if I didn’t get my scene in that 15-minute slot, I was never going to get it. So, that kind of pressure to get the scene, and then get the scene that we did, as you saw in the film, that was high pressure for sure.”
As for how they filmed the rest of the movie’s main race sequences, Kosinski explained that they filmed “in between the practice qualifying” laps, which made the shorter time frame on the Las Vegas track all the more intense. Between now having explored F-18s and Formula One,the director admits he “can’t think of a sport” he wants to tackle next, feeling “it’s going to be hard to find something that’s going to beat"F1 The Movie, as it was “an incredible journey”.
The Movie’s Superstitions Are Partly Based On Reality
“…We Didn’t Make Anything Up.”
One of the more intriguing lessons theF1team learned during the movie’s development was that real racers have different superstitions that they bring with them into the races, which was subsequently incorporated into the film. Bruckheimer reveals that some of the ones seen in the film “are absolutely” real, with the creative team not having “made anything up”,while even pulling a couple in the film from the real drivers they spoke to throughout production.
We heard from one driver that another had two mismatched socks, because he took two different pairs of socks, and that was the first race he ever won, so he never changed his socks from that point on. He always had mismatched socks, so we used that for Sonny.
Top Gun 3 Is Now In The Writing Stages
Kosinski Praises The Idea As Being “So Ambitious”
ThoughMaverickwas one of the biggest hits of the past few years,development ofTop Gun 3has been more of a slower process for Kosinski, Kruger and Christopher McQuarrie, as they’ve consistently expressed a desire to live up to the success of the 2022 film, while also wanting to continue Cruise’s titular character. However, when asked for an update on the film,Kosinski confirmed “Ehren Kruger is writing the script as we speak"as he promised it’s based on “a big idea that I spent almost a year developing” with research at “the Navy and Lockheed”.
“Ehren’s into it now, so we’ll see how it comes along,” Kosinski cautioned. “It was about coming up with an idea that, again, is about finding a new challenge, opening up the idea, something that you just can’t let go. And I think the idea is so ambitious, that’s what’s exciting to me.”
Pirates Of The Caribbean’s Return Is Also Finally Gaining Some Traction
Another Of Bruckheimer’s Properties, However, Isn’t Quite As Lucky
While Bruckheimer has a number of iconic franchises to his name, one of the biggest, whose future continues to be a point of discussion, isthat ofPirates of the Caribbean, with the latter installments’ lackluster box office returns and controversies surrounding Johnny Depp raising doubts about its return. However, while the producer has remained adamant about working with Disney to make it happen,he’s more confident than ever as he confirmed “we’re working on a screenplay” during our conversation.
The producer does denote that “hopefully we’ll get it right, and then we’ll make it”, indicating that there’s still no official greenlight from the studio. When asked how it will tie into the previous movies, Bruckheimer teases that it will be a mix of new and returning elements, describing it as “a new take” on the franchise,while also revealing “we’ll have some [original actors] back”. He stopped short of saying who, chuckling as he said “you’ll have to guess” which fan-favorite stars will be back.
Situated among his blockbuster fare are a number of smaller movies with cult followings, one of which is that of the dramedyCoyote Ugly, in which such stars as Piper Perabo and Tyra Banks have previously indicated a sequel won’t get produced, despite their openness to it. When asked about his own interest in producing a follow-up,Bruckheimer called it a “good idea” and revealed they have “been trying to do it for television” for some time, but admits it “hasn’t quite happened yet”.
Stay tuned for our otherF1 The Movieinterview with Damson Idris, Kerry Condon and Javier Bardem!
