Lewis Hamilton said the F1 film he’s producing that will star Brad Pitt has entered the casting phase, but he added they’ve still not finalised a script.
Hamilton gave the update ahead at the launch of Mercedes‘ 2023 car, the W14, after it was previously confirmed the movie will be shooting at grand prix in the second half for the season.
Described as the racing equivalent to Top Gun: Maverick, Hamilton gave the latest update of the film that will be directed by Joseph Kasinski and counts Maverick producer Jerry Bruckheimer amongst the crew.
“We’re going through a process right now of selecting the character that will be alongside brad, which is exciting,” Hamilton told selected media, including Total-Motorsport.com.
“They send in the video, we have recordings of them doing certain scenes and we go through it in the office with Jerry, Joe and Brad and we’ve been watching them and giving our inputs and what we think.”
The film’s backed by Apple Studios, and will focus on Brad Pitt‘s character of a retired racer returning to F1 alongside a rookie to fight for the championship.
The timing of the raceday filming indicates the Las Vegas Grand Prix may be a focal point of the film, and Pitt was at the 2022 United States Grand Prix speaking to teams about the project.
“We’ve still got the script, we’ve gone through quite a few different iterations of it,” added Hamilton. “We’re still waiting for a new rewrite and that’s the whole process. I was doing that throughout Christmas and I’m excited to get the next script.
“I was talking to brad last night about the characters that we have coming.”
Hamilton stresses diverse cast
One of the celebrated aspects of Top Gun: Maverick was the diverse cast that contributed to the success of the film and Hamilton reiterated the importance of replicating that on this project.
“My job and I think responsibility is to make sure it is diverse,” Hamilton said. “In terms of like having diversity and representation, I want it to be as Formula 1 should be in the future or should be now, but will be in the future.
“So I want to see female mechanics, we would love to see a female driver. We haven’t got to that point just yet, but why not.”
