Apple set to win race for F1 movie project starring Brad Pitt

According to a report from Deadline, technology giant Apple is in exclusive negotiations for the F1-themed blockbuster, having beaten off rivals including Paramount, MGM, Sony, Universal, Disney, Netflix and Amazon in a bidding war. 

Two-time Academy Award winner Pitt is set to star in the as-yet-untitled film as a driver who comes out of retirement to mentor a young racer and attempt one final bid for on-track glory as the younger driver’s teammate. 

Deadline reports the movie package is valued in the region of $130-$140m before above-the-line compensation. 

Top Gun: Maverick and Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski is believed to be fronting the project. Top Gun producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who also co-produced the NASCAR action-drama Days of Thunder starring Tom Cruise, is said to be producing alongside Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment company. 

Lewis Hamilton has also been linked to the project. The seven-time F1 world champion has previously played cameo roles in the Cars franchise as well as Zoolander 2.

In an interview with ESPN in 2019, Hamilton admitted that he harbours ambitions of being involved in a Hollywood blockbuster, having revealed he had to turn down a role in the delayed Top Gun sequel due to his busy F1 schedule. 

"I don't know if I'm going to be good at acting," Hamilton said at the time. "I don't know if I am ever going to be good at movies, but I'll give it a try. You look at a lot of people that do it and they are not really good ... and I know how hard it is for any craft, because it's taken me years to master what I do.

"I know in anything, whatever it may be, to master a craft it takes so much time and effort. But because I have experienced it in Formula 1, I understand that and appreciate that. 

"So I know if I do movies, I have to put so much work in and have so much ground to cover. I don't know if I will ever have time for that because the fashion stuff is also going to take a lot of my time."

It would not be F1’s first foray onto the big screen. Ron Howard’s 2013 hit movie Rush told the story of the 1976 F1 season and legendary rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda, with Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl starring as Hunt and Lauda respectively.