It sounds a touch cynical, but not all producer credits carry the same amount of weight. The industry has a hefty history of what are called "vanity credits," which is when a person gets their name on a film despite having very little or possibly nothing to do with the production. It sometimes happens in an effort to adding clout to a project – but in the case of the new 2025 movie F1, that is definitely not an accurate description of the role played by champion driver Lewis Hamilton. More than his presence simply "legitimizing" the Formula 1-centric title, he had a very hands-on role behind the scenes.
CinemaBlend's own Jeff McCobb gained some great insight into Hamilton's presence in the making of F1 when he took part in the film's press day earlier this month. Jerry Bruckheimer spoke to how the world-renowned athlete lent his expertise work in extremely specific ways not just when the film was being finished but when the script was still in development. Said Bruckheimer,
Lewis Hamilton was a seven time world champion, was our partner and a producer with me on the movie. So he put so much time into the making of the movie, the screenplay. We spent hours till late at night going through every moment of the script to make sure it was authentic for the racing. I mean, authentic, like Lewis would say, ‘In turn three at Silverstone. You're in second gear. You'd be in third gear.’ I mean, because he hears the sound. So we had to change the sounds to make it to where it was really accurate. So it's just it's that kind of thing.
Obviously the demographic that is going to be the most psyched for F1 are the people who love Formula 1 racing, and those people are going to be hyper-aware when something isn't right. That apparently goes as far as the sound of a gear shift in a very specific race, and Lewis Hamilton proved to be an invaluable resource.
Beyond the script, Hamilton also provided his professional perspective in getting F1's stars ready to look like experts behind the wheel. There's an argument to be made that Lewis Hamilton has the influence in status in his sport that Brad Pitt has in Hollywood – and those two forces came together in the making of director Joseph Kosinski's film in a cool way. According to Bruckheimer, the former got to see the latter train prior to the start of production, and he was impressed by what he saw:
I think they're both so respected in what they do. And the fact that Brad took three months off and Damson [Idris]y took three months off just to figure out how to drive these cars. And Lewis, we took Lewis out there with him for the first time, and Lewis came up to us and said, ‘Look, Brad's a really gifted athlete’ and you have to be an amazing athlete. Your hand-eye coordination has to be off the charts.
Joseph Kosinski has previously said that the making of F1 simply wouldn't have worked if Brad Pitt couldn't do what he can do in the driver's seat of a Formula 1 car... but he was given solace by the ability that Lewis Hamilton recognized.
In a separate interview, Joseph Kosinski also spoke about the legend statuses of both Lewis Hamilton and Brad Pitt, noting that their talents are different but they stem from the same place: they both have a great amount of passion for what they do. Said the director,
They're both icons. And when you work with both of them, you see why: they love what they do. They both work really hard and wanted to get it right. So, to have both of them as producers for this film was incredible.
Starring Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Javier Bardem, and Kerry Condon, F1 is rolling into theaters this weekend – and as I write in my CinemaBlend review of the new release, it's most definitely an experience made for the big screen. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more stories in the coming days from our interviews with filmmakers and stars.
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