Ahead of the release of his blockbuster new film F1: The Movie, Hollywood star Brad Pitt has looked back on the origins of his love for motor sport.
In an interview this week on the podcast Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, Pitt described racing as a lifelong passion that led him to spend a large chunk of his career pursuing a role in a movie about the sport.
“Threading needle” to make F1 film
“I had been trying to get a racing movie made for 20 years,” the two-time Oscar winner said. “In cars, in difference classes, in bikes, Isle of Man even. And for whatever reason, it just never came to fruition.”
Pitt added: “[Racing movies] are hard to do really well.
“When we talk about this one, the most difficult thing of it was threading this needle between a faction of fans that revere this sport as the greatest thing on this earth, and people who don’t understand how the sport works but are going to enjoy the movie.”
The 61-year-old told Armchair Expert that the experiences of his early life in Missouri played a major role in infecting him with the speed-freak bug.
“Driving in the rain, driving on ice…”
“There is that white trash side of the Ozarks, that component,” Pitt said. “Growing up getting on a mini-bike and being at the lake and in fast boats, and my dad would give it to us at 12 and we’d take the boat out on ourselves.
“And then driving too early and driving on dirt roads, driving in the rain, driving on the ice…”
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“Don’t know where I go from here”
In F1: The Movie, which he also co-produces, Pitt stars as Sonny Hayes, a veteran racing driver who is persuaded out of retirement to drive the final nine races of the Formula 1 season for the fictional APX Grand Prix team.
Speaking on Formula 1’s official media channel in December last year, the actor said the experience of making F1: The Movie has been “like nothing else”.
“I don’t know where I go from here,” he said. “I’ve got to do something nice and quiet. Drama or something. Because you can’t compete with just this experience.”
F1: The Movie – watch the official trailer:
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When does F1: The Movie premiere in the U.S.?
A film directed by Joseph Kosinski, F1: The Movie is to be released in U.S. movie theaters on Friday, June 27, 2025.
Alongside Pitt, the picture stars Damson Idris as Joshua Pearce, a British rookie driver who is Hayes’ APX team-mate. The movie’s cast also includes Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem and Tobias Menzies.
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