Hollywood star Brad Pitt will be driving a modified F2 car at the 2023 British Grand Prix for the filming of the new Lewis Hamilton backed F1-themed film. The movie is being directed by Joseph Kosinski of Top Gun: Maverick fame. The project, which is rumored to have the working title Apex, will be starring Brad Pitt as Sonny Hayes and the British-Nigerian actor Damson Idris as Joshua Peirce.
The plot of the film follows the typical sports film trope of the seasoned veteran returning back on the track, one final time to mentor his young rookie teammate.
The filming is to take place over the F1 weekend with the shooting to be scheduled between various sessions of the British GP and the support races, such as F2 & F3. Brad Pitt or a stunt driver will be driving a modified F2 car made to resemble current F1 machinery. The filming is reported to continue at other races of the F1 calendar till the end of this year's F1 season.
A garage has been set up for the film crew to ease production and to capture footage that feels authentic and representative to the real-life counterpart. The pit garage will also help with capturing pitstops and paddock drama.
Lewis Hamilton stated that he might have a small cameo in the film in an interview with Sky Sports F1. The 7-time World Champion’s production company, Dawn Apollo Films, is one of the backers of this highly ambitious project along with Apple Studio, the media production arm of tech giant Apple. This can possibly mean that the film may exclusively release on the streaming platform Apple TV+.
With the production of the film just beginning, it is stated to release around 2024 to early 2025, if everything proceeds as per schedule.