Claudio Miranda, the cinematographer behind this summer’s F1: The Movie, who also worked on 2022 mega-hit Top Gun: Maverick (14th in the list of highest-grossing movies of all-time) thinks hard for several seconds. “Planes are louder.”
The parallels between the two speed-obsessed blockbusters are pretty clear. Firstly the plot: a brilliant, but washed up old-timer, played by a 20th century movie icon, is brought in to mentor a talented rookie for one last job. Then there’s the team behind them; producer, director, writer, cinematographer and editor are just some of the mainstays on both productions, bringing the same philosophy of visceral action without the digital tricks.
So which was harder to pull off? Having heard first-hand from some of F1: The Movie’s key players, the technical challenges this film presented might just put it in a category of its own.
When director, Joseph Kosinski, approached Hollywood heavy-hitter, Jerry Bruckheimer, with the idea (an idea influenced as much by Drive to Survive than F1 itself), his vision was to make the most realistic driving film ever put on film. This would be the mantra for every department but most critically, the actors. Which meant more than teaching Brad Pitt how to hold a steering wheel. “In order to (achieve that authenticity),” says Bruckheimer, “you have to put your actors into the cars. It's exciting, and it's dangerous, but it’s the only way to make the movie.”
Kosinski happened to have the details for seven-time F1 World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, from when he was considering a cameo in Top Gun: Maverick. “I sent an email to Lewis just saying, ‘I want to make a film in this world. I want it to be the most authentic racing film ever. Would you be interested in helping me to do that?’” says Kosinski. “And he said yes.”
Unsurprisingly, Lewis took this consultancy role as seriously as his day job. From mentoring the actors on how to drive in pre-production, all the way through to sitting in the edit suite in post. “Lewis would come in and sing what the gears should sound like,” says editor Stephen Mirrione.
With Brad Pitt already on board (helpfully, a man with a predilection for fast machines), a key piece of casting would be who would play Joshua Pearce, the team’s raw, self-assured rookie. After several auditions, Joe and Jerry needed to see if Londoner, Damson Idris, had the driving props required. “Being a smart, brilliant guy, Damson did loads of training and practice and did really well,” says casting director Lucy Bevan. “It’s a huge role going toe to toe with Brad and you need to find a young actor who’s able to take that on.” Initially, one thing about Idris didn’t ring true though. “When Lewis came to set,” Idris recalls, “he saw Joshua and he said to Joe: ‘Man, I think Joshua’s too cool! He’s supposed to be like a nerd.’ ”
To deliver on the film’s brief, cinematographer Claudio Miranda didn’t want to make another “sad version” of a racing film where cameras are put on trailers instead of real cars. One problem though. The tiny cameras he wanted to mount in various parts of the cockpit didn’t actually exist. On planes, the weight didn’t matter, on race cars it was everything. Sony helped develop what they came to call ‘Carmen’ – cameras that were small enough to locate in 15 camera positions on the car, could spin and rotate, were controllable across a large racetrack and could be broadcast in an IMAX theatre. “We’re able to put cameras in places the broadcast can’t. We’re shooting with film-quality cameras that give you a different perspective and experience from what you’re used to seeing on TV,” says Kosinski.
It took the actors months and months to gradually take on the technical and physical requirements of driving consistently fast – as high as 200mph in some accounts. By the end of shooting, Pitt was only 5 seconds or so off the fastest Formula Two times. The other reason, though, was to avoid so-called ‘helmet acting’. With cameras in the car on the actors faces, micro-expressions go a long way to serving the overall sense of reality. “The drivers eyes don’t lie,” says production designer, Ben Munro. “Fake driving looks fake. This isn’t fake.”
When Formula One came on board as an official partner and co-collaborator, it was access all areas for the production team. Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, suggested using adapted Formula 2 cars (nearly as fast and more robust), made to look like Formula One cars, which Wolff’s team helped develop. Real drivers, team principals and backroom staff became references for the film’s characters. The production team became part of the Formula One travelling roadshow, able to film over multiple race weekends, including lining up the fictional black and gold APXGP cars on the grid at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone without anyone really noticing.
When you’re a huge film production that’s also gatecrashing a real race weekend, you don’t have time to mess around, or get in the way. “The preparation involved was enormous,” says editor Stephen Morrione. Often the cast and crew had one take to get what they needed before setting up another shot or clearing off completely. “There’s a live aspect to it,” says actor Kerry Condon, who plays the team’s technical director. “You aren’t getting 20 takes. You have to nail it. I found it really fun.” These small windows included several pivotal scenes in the film that might otherwise have taken a day. “I challenge anyone to be able to tell which ones,” says Munro.
The brief for the art department was different than usual. Instead of creating a universe, they had to fit in to one that already existed. “We talked about how to make authenticity super cool,” says Munro. The detail in the team garage, for example, went down to having the right tools in the right drawers, and real graphs and graphics on the monitors. “To me, if no one comments on the production design, that means we’ve succeeded.” Except they did. “When Lewis visited the set, he said, ‘this is better than my f***ing garage.”
