Kerry Condon and Jerry Bruckheimer on making “most authentic racing movie ever”

After months spent following the Formula 1 circus around the world, the new F1 movie is coming to theatres this summer. When it finally hits the big screen, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and actor Kerry Condon say moviegoers will be treated to the “most authentic racing movie ever made.” 

The film, which stars Brad Pitt and Damson Idris as racers for the APX GP F1 team, was produced by Bruckheimer and features Condon as race director for the fictitious team. In order to get as close to F1 as possible, the production integrated itself with the paddock and Condon even met with F1 insiders to prepare for her role.

“I spoke to strategists Ruth Buscombe and Bernie Collins, and they kind of helped me baby step it,” she told Motorsport.com during the Miami Grand Prix weekend.  

“Because ultimately there’s so much to learn. I mean, I couldn’t, unless I went to college, I couldn’t really learn everything, and so they helped me.

“So, if we’d have seen in the wind tunnel, they explained what the wind tunnel was, and I read a book, Adrian Newey wrote a book, How to build a car, which I quite enjoyed actually.”

Buscombe and Collins weren’t the only F1 experts to offer their assistance to the production crew, as seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was also brought on as a producer for the new film.

In this role, he advised the production team on different aspects of the racing and the way it could be captured on film. This extended to race weekends, where Bruckheimer says he was “always available” to the team. 

“His advice was so particular,” Bruckheimer explained. “As an example, he was talking about one of the racetracks and he watched the race that we shot and he said when you’re going to Turn 4, you’re not in second gear, you’re in third gear.  

“So, we had to change the sound, so it sounded like he was in 3rd gear. I mean, it’s that precise how authentic this movie is. “

This approach to Formula 1 makes the new film the “most authentic racing movie ever made,” Bruckheimer added.

Filming alongside F1

Of course, this open approach to filming over an F1 weekend did come with its challenges, and while most of the problems crewed faced could be controlled and navigated with the help of F1 and the teams, there was one extra factor that they had no control over: the fans.  

Each sequence shot on a race weekend was in front of thousands of F1 fans, who were all clamouring to get a sneak peek at what the hotly-anticipated new movie would entail, and this opened the production up to all kinds of spoilers. 

“There’s always a challenge, because you have thousands of people that are around,” Bruckheimer added.  

“But even if you’ve seen little bits, you can’t predict how it’s gonna happen.”

Photos from Miami GP – Sprint