Filming for Brad Pitt’s upcoming film surrounding Formula 1 has been halted due to severe strikes in Hollywood.
Pitt’s F1 film is among the productions that have been stopped temporarily while the strikes take place with actors also prevented from doing promotional campaigns in the meantime. That saw a red carpet event for Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer‘ cancelled.
According to NBC News, roughly 160,000 screen performers under the SAG-AFTRA, the labour union of actors in Hollywood, have joined screenwriters who were put on the picket line in May, already slowing production in the movie capital of the world.
“All filming is shut down for now,” according to a source close to the production. “Brad had really enjoyed himself,” the source told NBC News, “but he is definitely a very loyal member of the union.”
The F1 drama set for Apple TV is as yet untitled but does have ‘Top Gun: Maverick‘ director Joseph Kosinski on board as well as Pitt as the main protagonist.
British GP cameo
Pitt and the rest of the film’s crew were at the British Grand Prix as the “11th team” and even lined up at the back of the grid before the race. Throughout the weekend, Pitt drove a modified Formula 2 car around Silverstone for filming shots in front of a sold-out crowd.
The movie set even had its own garage in the pitlane alongside the F1 teams with a combination of mechanics from Rodin Carlin’s F2 stable and actors as the pit crew.
Right now, there is no release date for the film with a lot of filming still to be completed both at the track and elsewhere. These strikes and the subsequent halting of recording will not help the production hit whatever target it may have been setting for itself but Pitt remains committed to the project as well as the union of strikers.
Where is the next F1 2023 race?
With the F1 circus finished at Silverstone, we move on to the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix which will be held at the Hungaroring, Budapest over the weekend of July 21-23.
