After decades of acclaim, Brad Pitt finally has his blockbuster – and Abu Dhabi helped make it happen

Success of F1 The Movie marks career milestone for actor – and he wants Tom Cruise in sequel

F1 The Movie is poised to become the first true blockbuster of Brad Pitt's decorated career. Photo: Apple Original Films / Warner Bros Pictures

There’s one kind of victory that’s always eluded Brad Pitt. And most people have likely never even noticed. Nearly 40 years into his career, the American actor and producer has left an indelible mark on both film and pop culture at large – with two Academy Awards to his name. But unlike his megastar peers, he’s never made a true crowd-pleasing blockbuster. That is, until F1 The Movie.

After earning $144 million globally in its opening weekend and boasting stellar reviews from critics and audiences alike, the film is poised to be one of the summer’s biggest hits. For Pitt, that would mean he’s finally vanquished his white whale.

“I had always wanted to make a populist film – something that just gets better every time you see it. Something that brings people together. And I still didn't understand that this could be that one,” Pitt tells The National.

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'You’ve got to get chills at the end'

“The greatest pleasure – the thing that puts a smile on my face – is seeing families, from kids to grandparents, big groups of friends all going together and taking photos in front of the poster or the car. It’s a rarity for film to reach that level of reaction, especially in this day and time. I think the value of entertainment can sometimes be greater than the piece itself. And I think that's happening here,” says Pitt.

But to take a truly transcendent blockbuster – one that audiences will return to again and again – there’s one moment that matters above all else.

“For these movies to work, you’ve got to get those chills at the end,” Pitt explains. “And you don’t know if you’ve got it until you put it all together. Then, you’re sitting in the dark and it all comes down to – do the hairs start standing up on the back of your neck or not? And for us, we found that moment in Abu Dhabi.”

Brad Pitt spent months in Abu Dhabi during the production and filming process of F1 The Movie. Chris Whiteoak / The National

The moment comes in the thrilling final sequence. Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, an ageing racing driver called back to the sport he once walked away from at the behest of his old teammate turned Formula One team owner, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem). If Ruben's team can’t win a race by the end of the season, he will lose everything. And, just as it has in real life, it all comes down to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – the final race of the year.

In many ways, F1 The Movie follows a standard underdog sports formula. But a good formula isn’t enough to excite the masses. They have to see something they’ve never seen before. And for months in the planning stages, Pitt and director Joseph Kosinski were racking their brains trying to come up with what that could be – until their producing partner Lewis Hamilton, the co-record holder for most F1 driver’s championships in history, unlocked it for them.

“That last lap came from a conversation from Lewis Hamilton early on, where he describes this sublime feeling he sometimes gets, this spiritual feeling,” says Pitt.

“And Joe developed a camera – this kind of floating camera on the front of the car. And it’s an angle we haven’t seen. He saves that one for the end to punctuate the spiritual feeling of it all.”

‘Filming in Abu Dhabi was unbelievable’

To pull it off, Pitt and company spent a total of 29 days shooting in the UAE capital, and even more in planning – both in the spring of 2024, and again for five weeks towards the end of the year, with key sequences filmed during the actual Grand Prix.

“It was unbelievable,” says Pitt. “It was just unprecedented, the access that we were given, the kindness, the support. We couldn’t have had a more celebratory end.”

The actor points to the Abu Dhabi Film Commission as well as the Department of Culture and Tourism – “I was really impressed with [DCT chairman] Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak” – as integral in making it happen.

“After nearly three years of filming off and on, the doors were open to us in Abu Dhabi. I can’t say enough about everything that Abu Dhabi lends to this film. It really left an indelible mark on all of us. I haven’t been able to thank them enough,” says Pitt.

F1 The Movie's finale was shot in part during the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. AP

“The Yas Marina Circuit became like our own backyard. We were so spoilt by that track – it’s one of the favourite tracks of the season among the drivers for a reason. It’s so photogenic. I’m sure it’s by design that it’s the last track on the circuit because the race starts in daylight, goes through dusk, and then ends at night. You see it in the film. It’s an incredible summation – a highlight of where the film was going, too,” he continues.

“And it’s the most fun track to drive. It’s so fun, honestly. I miss it now. Shooting this specific track at night, with the cutting-edge design, all made it something absolutely sensational that we couldn't even have planned for.”

While he wasn't filming, Pitt was particularly taken with the city itself, especially Louvre Abu Dhabi.

“There’s a unique language happening there – it speaks to our collective unconscious. It speaks to all that brings us together,” says Pitt.

“I'm really impressed with the country in the sense of how thoughtful the design and growth have been – the thought that's been put into its development. It hasn’t been rushed; it’s a unique place on its own. As an outsider who has now spent a few months there, I look forward to getting back. And I can't wait to see the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum Abu Dhabi when it’s finished.”

Pitt says he 'still misses' driving on the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. AP

The project means so much to Pitt not only because it’s the blockbuster he’d always been waiting for, but also because, in the years he spent making it, he wove so much of himself into it.

“You know, we are who we are. I don’t take a lot of time to look back and analyse. But in trying to find this story with Joe and writer Ehren Kruger, studying the teams, the drivers and the principals – trying this on and that on – I think all our personalities got intertwined into it,” he says.

Pitt ‘would love to’ do a sequel with Tom Cruise

Variety reports that an F1 sequel is in the works, and Pitt confirms to The National that he’s interested in returning – on one condition.

“I would want to drive again, selfishly speaking,” Pitt says, but because the film ends with his character out of Formula One, he’s not sure how that would be possible. “F1 is still the focus. It needs to be on Joshua Pierce – Damson Idris’s character – and the rest of the team fighting for a championship. Where does Sonny fit in? I’m not sure. Sonny’s probably out on the Bonneville Salt Flats, setting speed records or something like that. So I’m not sure beyond that, just yet.

“Right now, I’m just pleased as punch that something like this can bring people together. That’s the power of this kind of cinema.”

Pitt says he is also interested in his former collaborator Tom Cruise joining the project – perhaps even as a dual-sequel with Cruise’s 1990 Tony Scott-directed racing film Days of Thunder. But he knows that, for Cruise to join, he would have to be driving too. It’s a sticking point that stopped a previous project the two had tried to develop – Ford v Ferrari – from coming to fruition. Both Pitt and Cruise walked away from the film, which ended up starring Christian Bale as driver Ken Miles and Matt Damon as automotive designer Carroll Shelby in 2019.

Pitt and Tom Cruise at the European premiere of F1 The Movie. Getty Images

“Tom and I, for a while there, were on Ford v Ferrari with Joe [to direct],” says Pitt. “This was about 10 years before the guys who actually made it – and made it a great movie.

“What it came down to is that we both wanted to drive, and he wanted to play Shelby, and I wanted to play Ken Miles. And when Tom realised that Carroll Shelby would not be driving much in the movie, it didn’t come through.

“So I’m not sure how that’s going to work [in a potential F1 The Movie sequel], but we’ll give it a go. I’d love to,” says Pitt.

For now, Pitt isn’t thinking too hard about the next race. First, he’ll take a victory lap.

“We were all a bit white-knuckled to see if it was going to come through. We are delightfully surprised that everything that we had aimed for, and then some, came to fruition.”

F1 The Movie is now in cinemas