Damson Idris’ character may butt heads (and cars) with Brad Pitt’s Formula One veteran in F1: The Movie, but in real life the movie star proved to be a meaningful mentor for the Snowfall alum.
“Brad is just such an amazing, giving, humble human being, and he constantly wants you to win,” Idris, 33, who plays prodigious racing rookie Joshua Pearce in the pulse-pounding action flick, told Us Weekly exclusively. “The best thing I got from Brad is like the movie, which is so funny: Forget about the noise and focus on the race.”
Idris continued: “Anytime you have ups and downs in life, like clouds, they too shall pass. I think that’s the greatest piece of advice I got from Brad is to just focus on the goal: telling great stories and being a part of great movies.”
In the movie, Joshua receives similar guidance from his mother (Sarah Niles), who reminds him, “Remember what your father used to say, ‘Put your head down and drive,’” when he begins to let outside noise from social media, sponsorships and Pitt’s Sonny Hayes distract him.
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Pitt, 61, enters the picture as Hayes, a former F1 driver living out of a van and racing cars in other disciplines after a near-fatal accident forced him into early retirement. He’s approached by former teammate and Apex Grand Prix team owner Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) to get back into the game to mentor Joshua, which proves more challenging than expected.
From the team behind Top Gun: Maverick, F1 (out Friday, June 27) puts Idris and Pitt in the driver’s seat, doing their own racing under the guidance of producer and real-life Formula One star Lewis Hamilton. While Idris says hitting speeds up to 180 MPH was “the scariest thing in the world,” it produced a pulse-pounding, can’t-miss action flick.
Keep scrolling for more from Idris:
Damson Idris attends the European Premiere of F1 Tim P. Whitby/Getty ImagesUs: Did you have any apprehensions about doing your own driving in this movie?
Idris: It’s funny because I kind of drove fast cars before. I had Porsches and GT Turbos and my brother had an R8, so when I showed up on set I was like, ’This is going to be a breeze.’ But it wasn’t. It was the scariest thing in the world, and if it weren’t for all the amazing training and our stunt coordinators, like Luciano Bacheta and Craig Dolby, there’s no way me and Brad would’ve been able to pull off what we pulled off in the movie.
Your character does force and reaction time training to optimize his responses behind the wheel. Was that similar to your own preparation?
Yeah, that’s exactly what I did. I wanted to get into the mindset of an F1 driver, so I tried to live a life as similar to theirs as possible. I lost a bunch of weight because they’re all incredibly skinny. I’m six-foot-two, and some of them are, like, two-foot-one, so I really had to lose weight in order to feel how they feel.
But really, hanging around with Brad and all the guys in the garages was the best way to learn the mindset of a Formula One driver. These guys walk the walk and talk the talk, and by the end of it, everything was seamless.
Lewis Hamilton, in addition to appearing in the film, played a big producing role as well. Did you get a lot of advice from him on getting into the F1 mindset?
Lewis was really pivotal because he helped us a lot with the script. He called B.S. on a lot of the sequences, specifically the racing sequences, and he was really helpful for [director] Joe [Kosinski] when it came to editing [and] the authenticity of the movie.
With me specifically, he’d always encourage me and cheer me on and he was really proud of what me and Brad were pulling off.
Damson Idris in F1 Scott Garfield/Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett CollectionJoshua’s mom is a big part of his story line, providing comic relief while also expressing worry about her son. Did you experience any of that worry from your own parents?
Oh yeah. My mom would call me every day to make sure that I didn’t die. But I relate to it too because when I first started acting, I traveled to a completely different country, going from London to L.A., so there was that worry as well that her baby boy was good. So I related to that for Joshua too.
Was there any competition between you and Brad in real life? Who’s actually faster?
We were both so fast, honestly. We both drove up to 180 miles per hour. I’m going to say, because he rides bikes, he’s just really good. He’s, like, an adrenaline junkie.
But when we both got out of the car, we were both so sad because we put so much into it and we saw the progress over all the months of training. But I would love to get behind a wheel one day with him and see who’s really quicker.
He recently called you a “charming motherf***er” in British GQ. What did you text him when you saw that?
It’s funny, I didn’t text him anything, but when I saw him he gave me a big hug because we wrapped in December and we both went off to do movies. So, coming back, he gave me a huge hug and he just let me know how proud he was of me and how excited he is for this movie to come out and for everyone to see it.
He says, as he puts it, “We chose the best guy.” That meant so much to me.
Damson Idris and Brad Pitt in F1 Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett CollectionYou guys filmed with real-life crowds at F1 races. How did that feel? Was it a lot of added pressure? Did it help the authenticity?
All of the above. Especially added pressure. So many things could have gone wrong and thank God they never did. But to go from race to race and see the world of Formula One, including the fans, slowly but surely embrace our film and understand that we were trying to respect their world and make the most authentic racing movie of all time was just a sight to see.
I have to tip my hat to Apple [Studios] and Jerry [Bruckheimer] and Joe and all the creatives because without their guidance and leadership, we never would’ve been able to pull off what we did.
Did you ever think to yourself at any point, this movie’s not going to get made?
During the actors’ strike, I went back to L.A. and we had a little break, and we were all, of course, fighting for a good cause. So in my head I was like, “Oh yeah, that little movie I’m doing.”
But no, everyone always reassured me and let me know that movies like this — there’s a reason we all get into this business. These are the type of movies, the feel-good movies that are nostalgic and that remind us of a time when moviegoing was just so important to life. I personally feel like that’s coming back.
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If there was a camera installed in your own car like in F1, what would it capture? Are you singing along to music? Road raging?
Oh man, yeah. It would capture me singing high notes to probably Beyoncé or something. You’d definitely catch me slippin’.
A big question of the film is when Sonny says, ‘It’s not about the money,’ he’s asked, ‘What is it about?’ What do you think it’s about at the end of the day?
What I think it is about for Sonny is that high and that flying feeling he feels when he’s going around the track. For me personally, it’s about making the people who have ever supported me proud.
Do you ever feel that flow state or flying feeling when you’re acting?
I mean, come June 27 when this movie comes out, that’s going to be my flow state.
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