Promoting Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on April 3, Tom Cruise got a little sidetracked.
“Brad’s [Pitt] got a new movie, with Jerry Bruckheimer, Joe Kosinski. I can’t wait to see that … It’ll be awesome,” the 61-year-old action icon said of the Kosinski-directed, Bruckheimer-produced sports drama, in which Brad stars as a former Formula 1 driver.
“It’s great to see Brad driving,” Tom continued.
“He’s a very good driver. Believe me, I’ve raced against him. When we were doing Interview with the Vampire, we’d go and race go-karts. We’d literally finish and go drive go-karts all night.”
In F1, Brad’s skills behind the wheel are on full display, with production filming at 14 Formula 1 Grand Prix events around the world.
“Watching Brad drive around at speeds over 180 miles an hour [290km/hr] was really impressive to see because it’s not something you can just learn overnight,” said seven-time world champ Lewis Hamilton – a producer on the film – at a virtual press conference in March.
“The dedication and the focus that Brad put into this process has been amazing to witness.”
For director Joe Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick), the buck stopped with Brad’s prowess behind the wheel.
“If Brad can’t drive, this whole film wasn’t going to work, and what Lewis was very happy to discover was that, you know, Brad had a lot of just natural ability,” he said at the March event.
“When you see Brad driving, that’s not acting. He’s really concentrating on keeping that car on the track and out of the wall during all those scenes, so that’s something that you just can’t fake.”
Formula One events are always celebrity magnets – particularly since the success of the Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive – but fans were buzzed to see Brad and his F1 co-star Damson Idris cruising among the 20 real drivers at Silverstone Circuit racetrack at the British F1 Grand Prix in July 2023.
On the day, Brad told Sky Sports he plays a fictional driver named Sonny Hayes, a veteran who left the sport after a crash and is brought back to a struggling team “as a kind of Hail Mary,” he said.
Driving a modified car mounted with cameras, he continued, “I’m a little giddy right now, I’ve got to say. It’s great to be here. Having such a laugh, time of my life.”
He had one caveat: “I want to say, for all the armchair experts out there. You’ve got to give us a little breathing room if you see any spin-outs or something that looks like a stall – it’s by design.”
It turned out that it was the Hollywood writers’ strike and an actors’ strike that stalled the project – for over a year.
“We have this amazing weekend. Everything goes like clockwork. Everything’s sublime. Everyone’s on a high adrenaline rush. We pull this thing off! I drove in front of 80,000 people in the stands on that day. I didn’t cock up the car, didn’t put it in the wall, didn’t beach it, everything was good!” Brad reflected in a May interview with GQ.
“And then the strike happens … I was gutted.”
A year later, Brad was back at Silverstone, filming scenes for the movie on July 4, 2004, before attending the British Grand Prix on July 7 in a pastel Burberry jacket and bucket hat, hand in hand and colour co-ordinated with his jewellery executive girlfriend, Ines de Ramon, 32, who wore a Jardin Des Orangers pastel blue dress.
The picture perfect outing coincided with the release of F1’s first trailer.
“No, dude, it’s not that calculated,” Brad told GQ when asked if the loved-up photo-op was part-promotional.
“No, life just evolves. Relationships evolve.”
Brad has been linked to Ines since November 2022, when the pair were snapped together at a Bono concert.
Ines, who is divorced from The Vampire Diaries actor Paul Wesley, reportedly moved into Brad’s LA home in 2024.
It is Brad’s first relationship since his divorce from Angelina Jolie, which was finalised in December 2024 after a bitter eight-year legal battle over ownership of their $251 million French winery, Château Miraval, and the custody of their children – Maddox, 23, Pax 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 19, Knox, 16 and Vivienne, 16.
“I don’t think it was that major of a thing,” Brad told GQ when asked if inking his divorce came as a relief. “Just something coming to fruition. Legally.”
Recently, Brad’s been busy shooting Heart of the Beast on the South Island of New Zealand.
He’s playing a former Special Forces soldier fighting for survival after a plane crash in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness.
Since returning home from the New Zealand shoot, he’s been spending time with Ines before gearing up for F1 promotional duties.
“They are still doing great. She’s perfect for him. She’s very supportive and excited about his career,” a source told People magazine.
“There’s no pressure between them. She gives him space when he needs it but is always there when it counts.”
Another source told US Weekly that Ines has been his ride-or-die since his split.
“Ines helped Brad move forward and think about the divorce in a new light,” said the insider.
Professionally, Brad says F1 has jump started his love of acting.
“Man, I’ve been doing this for a while and was wondering: ‘Do I have more stories to tell? Do I have anything to add to this? Is there still any excitement I can find from this?’” he told GQ.
This film, he concluded, “just reinvigorated the whole thing again for me”.
As for Brad’s co-star Damson, he was jazzed to be along for the ride.
“Brad is just an amazing character, has such a kind spirit,” he shared. “He taught me about humility no matter how huge you get. And as an artist, he’s one of our finest. He was a great leader.”
F1 will be released in Australian cinemas on June 26, 2025.
