Brad Pitt’s new Formula 1 movie appeared to be on rocky ground after rumors emerged that dodgy sponsorship deals were about to render hundreds of hours of footage useless. However, Formula 1 now says all footage captured at events in the UK and Hungary remains “relevant” and the movie is still on track for its 2025 release.
Update (8 A.M. ET November 16th 2023): An earlier version of this story stated that footage captured at F1 races in Hungary and the UK was being scrapped as sponsors for the movie changed. However, Formula 1 has now confirmed that “all footage captured this year is relevant.”
Before the actors’ strike kicked off, the “Fight Club” actor had been hard at work shooting and producing the new Formula 1 movie, which has Lewis Hamilton on board as a producer to try and make it as realistic as possible. After being offered a garage space at Silverstone in the UK and the Hungaroring in Hungary for filming, the project’s footage is now under threat, according to a report from the Independent.
After resuming work on the movie following the SAG-AFTRA strike, it emerged that some of the “hours of footage, worth millions” could now be scrapped. However, following the worrying rumors that emerged, a Formula 1 spokesperson confirmed to Jalopnik that everything was still on track for the film’s 2025 release. In a statement, an F1 spokesperson said:
The movie is still on schedule for its original 2025 release timeframe.
All footage captured this year is relevant.
The movie will continue shooting at Grands Prix in 2024, with Brad and Damson driving actual cars on track for racing sequences.
The movie will ensure continuity with the 2023 F1 season in footage captured in 2024.
There are no changes to any movie sponsors, and all are committed for the duration of the project.
The production has been adapting its schedule before and during the SAG strike and has planned to shoot into 2024 for some time.
Product-placement deals and other forms of sponsorship are common across movie-making as it helps alleviate the cost of mega-budget films. Changes to such deals for films happen all the time and can usually be fixed without throwing out hours of footage.
In the past, changing deals have hit blockbusters like James Bond, which had a change in Bond’s phone provider once the movie was wrapped. As such, scenes that showed the super spy’s phone were edited to include a newer Nokia phone instead of the old model that had been used when the film was first shot.