Latest news with #Sonny
Miami Herald
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Pitt stop: How Las Vegas helped bring ‘F1 The Movie' to life
LAS VEGAS - We've all had that week at work. There was a project due or an uptick in responsibilities. Maybe a couple of key people were out. You were pulled in a thousand directions and weren't sure how you'd get everything done. Focus on it. Really try to put yourself back inside those moments. Then throw Brad Pitt into the mix, along with everything that comes with a star of his magnitude, including a hundred-person film crew, and you'll have a sense of what it was like in November when F1 and "F1 The Movie" descended upon the Las Vegas Grand Prix. A whole new look at racing Few summer blockbusters have had the access that "F1" enjoyed. Heck, some documentaries don't get that close to their subjects. Journeyman driver Sonny Hayes (Pitt) lives in a van, wears mismatched socks and hasn't been on a Formula One track since crashing out of the circuit three decades ago. But when his old friend Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) is at risk of losing his struggling race team, Sonny signs on to drive for him and mentor promising rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). The movie follows the traveling circus that is Formula One to the last nine races of the 2024 season, starting with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The cast and crew were embedded throughout. "They were so giving and opened up all their doors," Pitt says of F1 in the film's production notes. "We were able to shoot on race weekends, shoot on podiums, shoot during the national anthem. We had our own garage. We even shot on our pit wall while the races were going on." After months of training, Pitt and Idris got behind the wheels of Formula Two cars designed by Mercedes-AMG that were similar to, yet roughly $14 million cheaper than, their Formula One counterparts. By utilizing the "white space" in each weekend's schedule - 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there - the actors drove on the actual tracks with fans in the stands. The Las Vegas Grand Prix made international headlines when Pitt's stunt double was filmed collapsing on the track in footage that didn't make the movie's final cut. What viewers will see is some of the most breathtaking racing footage ever captured, thanks to new camera technology that could be mounted on 15 positions on each car. The result is the kind of immersive, you-are-there view of racing that you'd expect to see somewhere like Sphere. 'Incredible placement' When Brian Gullbrants saw Wynn Las Vegas on the screen, he put his fists in the air and cheered. This was during the "F1" world premiere with the movie's stars, three-quarters of the current Formula One grid and several thousand other bigwigs at New York's Radio City Music Hall. "My wife looked at me and said, 'Putyourhandsdown,'" recalls Gullbrants, COO North America, Wynn Resorts. "I was so excited." Shortly after arriving in Las Vegas, Pitt's Sonny enters his Encore suite, walks over to the window and stares out at the neighboring Wynn. The scene, which Gullbrants calls "incredible placement in an unbelievable movie," was filmed the Tuesday before the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Director Joseph Kosinski ("Top Gun: Maverick") shot it on the floor where Pitt, the film's other top stars and producers stayed. "With the level of customers that we had and the celebrities that were here and the drivers that were here," Gullbrants says, "we already had all the security details in place. … It went very smoothly. You would never know we were shooting a major motion picture in our hotel while we had all of these people here." He's hopeful "F1 The Movie" will increase interest in the sport in those pockets of the world that haven't yet embraced it and that it ultimately will lead to still more fans coming to the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Gullbrants already had one wish fulfilled when he spotted the Wynn logo in Pitt's hands. Sonny, a somewhat reformed gambler, is rarely without a deck of cards, whether he's flinging them one by one across the room or blindly pulling one to stick in his pocket before a race. He and Idris' Joshua get to know each other during a poker game inside a supper club as they vie for control of the race team. (The club is implied to be Wynn's Delilah, but those scenes were filmed on a soundstage in London.) During the premiere, Gullbrants whispered to his wife how thrilled he was to see Pitt using the Wynn-branded cards he'd given the production, even though he was convinced no one else would notice. "After the movie," Gullbrants says, "five different people at the screening came up and said, 'Wow, it was really great that you got your cards in there, too.' " 'The glamour of Las Vegas' Throughout most of "F1 The Movie," Sonny is presented as something of a cowboy, a lone wolf in a sport that requires teamwork. By the time the action moves to Las Vegas, he's ready to let down his guard, reveal some things about his past and prove he's more than just a beautiful agent of chaos. Such an important scene demands an exceptional location, which is where The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas came in. "They were looking for a room that really captured the glamour of Las Vegas," says Allyson Wadman, associate director of public relations for MGM Resorts International. "Something that was edgy, luxurious and kind of in the middle of all the energy on the Las Vegas Strip." The production found that in a Cosmopolitan suite that has a wraparound balcony overlooking the Fountains of Bellagio and a large section of the Las Vegas Grand Prix course. The thing about such a perfect location, though, is that it's already a hot commodity among high rollers during race week. "We try to be really flexible," Wadman says, "especially when it's a really great opportunity to showcase our property and the city itself." Planning for that shoot began in early 2023, before the strikes by the acting and writing guilds pushed principal photography back a year. When it finally came time to film on that Tuesday night in November, there was more than enough pressure and distraction to go around. "You think about all of the street closures, the grandstands, all of the hundreds of thousands of people," Wadman says. "Operationally, that is already a lot going on for all of the resorts on the Strip." The "F1" team removed light fixtures, rearranged the furniture and applied dark paint over the balcony's white ceiling. "Those small little details of the suite, we were having meetings on meetings," Wadman says. Planning took "countless hours" over the course of several months. 'That world-class scene' Jason Strauss was watching Tiësto perform inside Omnia when the music stopped and the 1,500 or so clubgoers started milling about. Then it happened again. And again. For hours. Three days before the Dutch DJ would play there again while the Las Vegas Grand Prix roared by, the nightclub at Caesars Palace served as a movie set filled with extras. (The club was used again by Rosé for that "Messy" video.) It wasn't the typical Omnia experience, even aside from the stops and starts. The production added its own lights to the club's rigging, making the space brighter than ever. Footage shot in the 12 hours starting at 3 p.m. that Wednesday has been used in the movie's trailers and promotional videos. "It didn't really feel that sexy watching it," says Strauss, co-CEO of Tao Group Hospitality, which owns and operates the club. "But then seeing it in the trailer, it looked (expletive) sexy." Tao Group's parent company, Mohari Hospitality, has long-standing ties to Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time Formula One world champion who's one of the movie's key producers. Tiësto was selected after being on both the production's shortlist of DJs and the Tao Group roster. "This is a major thing for our group," Strauss says, "but it's also a (big) thing for Vegas." The only time you really see Sonny and Joshua out on the town, taking in life away from the track, is when they're in Las Vegas. After that poker game, set the night before the race, Joshua heads to Omnia to unwind. "For them to say, when it comes to nightlife, Vegas has to embody that world-class scene, and of all the nightclubs in Vegas, they chose Omnia," Strauss says, calling it "just a great accolade." Tao Group is developing Omnia outposts around the world, and Strauss sees being tied so closely to Formula One as a huge stamp of approval. Especially when "F1 The Movie" shows Joshua, a hot young driver who can do anything he wants, hanging out there. "Guess what? That's what it is in real life," Strauss says with a confident laugh. "That's why it's going to resonate. It's very authentic." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
News18
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News18
F1 Movie Review: Brad Pitt Delivers A Podium Finish In Joseph Kosinski's Compelling Drama
Last Updated: F1 Movie Review And Rating: Brad Pitt returns to the big screen as a veteran driver chasing redemption in F1, Joseph Kosinski's thrilling dive into the world of Formula 1. F1 Movie Review: In F1 movie, director Joseph Kosinski, best known for Top Gun: Maverick, takes the blistering speed and spectacle of Formula 1 and channels it into a film that's equal parts thrilling sports drama and human story of resilience. Anchored by a charismatic Brad Pitt, the movie offers a fascinating, if sometimes exaggerated, dive into the high-stakes world of motorsport. Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, once Formula 1's brightest star in the 1990s, whose career derailed after a devastating crash. Decades later, Sonny is pulled back into the paddock when the owner of APXGP, a struggling team, convinces him to race again and mentor the team's fiery rookie, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). What follows is a tale of redemption, risk, and the stubborn pursuit of proving oneself on and off the track. The film's authenticity is one of its standout strengths. Kosinski shoots at actual Formula 1 Grands Prix, seamlessly weaving real-life race footage with dramatised sequences. Cameos from current F1 stars, including Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, and Charles Leclerc add a thrilling dose of realism. Seeing familiar faces like F1 journalist Will Buxton conducting interviews makes the film feel almost like a behind-the-scenes documentary at times. Technically, the film tries to balance spectacle with insider detail. While the on-track sequences are exhilarating, some liberties are undeniably taken. Overtakes appear a bit too easy, dramatic pitstops feel staged (reminiscent of Ferrari's sometimes chaotic real-life strategy mishaps), and a major plot twist where Sonny deliberately crashes to trigger a safety car, thus helping his teammate pit, would be grounds for a lifetime ban in the real sport. Yet these flourishes serve the film's larger narrative purpose: showcasing Sonny not merely as a fallen star chasing his glory days, but as a selfless team player willing to sacrifice for the greater good. Brad Pitt is nothing short of magnetic. At 61, he carries himself with the swagger, focus, and quiet vulnerability of a real F1 driver. In racing gear, Pitt genuinely looks the part; his wiry frame and steely expressions mirror the intense professionalism seen in drivers like Max Verstappen or Fernando Alonso. There's even a sharp edge to Sonny's personality, reminiscent of Verstappen's no-nonsense media persona or the grizzled determination of Alonso, the grid's current elder statesman. Yet Pitt also reveals Sonny's inner fractures. The trauma from his earlier crash haunts him, surfacing in moments of panic and introspection. Whether it's arguing for soft tyres during a heated pitstop despite knowing they'll degrade quickly or grappling with the guilt of urging Joshua into risky moves, Pitt's performance feels deeply authentic. It's one of his most physically and emotionally committed roles in recent years. Kerry Condon is a quiet powerhouse as Kate, the team's technical director and the film's other compelling arc. A woman navigating the harshly male-dominated world of F1 engineering, Kate faces condescension from colleagues, ex-bosses, and even her ex-husband. Her bond with Sonny is one of the film's highlights. Two middle-aged professionals fighting to prove that time hasn't stolen their talent or relevance. Their scenes feel intimate and true, capturing the tenderness and unspoken solidarity between two people scarred by past failures but unwilling to give up. Condon's presence is significant because no woman has ever held the role of F1 technical director in real life, making her character a quietly radical inclusion. Javier Bardem brings both humour and exasperation as APXGP's embattled team owner, delivering scenes that are quirky yet emotionally grounded. Meanwhile, Damson Idris is perfectly cast as Joshua, the brash young driver intoxicated by fame and fast living. Joshua's transformation from arrogant rookie to a team player after a horrific crash at Monza provides one of the film's most affecting arcs. The Monza sequence is a turning point. In a nail-biting race, Sonny pushes Joshua to overtake Verstappen on slick tyres. The gamble ends in disaster as Joshua crashes violently, his hands burned, echoing Sonny's own tragic past. Hans Zimmer's pulse-pounding score adds to the adrenaline, swelling during high-speed chases and easing into tenderness during more intimate moments. A track by Blackpink's Rosé, unexpectedly woven into the soundtrack, gives a perfect insight into Sonny and Kate's dynamic. Kosinski's direction is sleek and kinetic, even if some scenes veer into over-the-top territory. Wheel-to-wheel battles occasionally feel too clean, and pit stops play out with theatrical flourish rather than gritty realism. Yet the film's heart is in the right place. It's a love letter to the sport's drama, danger and relentless pursuit of excellence. Whether it's as good as Top Gun: Maverick is up for debate but as one of the first truly immersive feature films centred on Formula 1, it's an earnest, exhilarating ride. Verdict: F1 races ahead as a thrilling ode to speed, sacrifice and second chances, powered by Brad Pitt's stellar performance and Kosinski's immersive vision. For F1 fans and newcomers alike, it's a cinematic podium finish.
Extra.ie
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
FILM REVIEW OF THE WEEK: F1
Brad Pitt has spent recent years trying to coast through a reputational rebuild; despite serious allegations of violence during his marriage to Angelina Jolie, and the striking fact that all six of his children have reportedly cut contact with him, public scrutiny around his behaviour has remained curiously muted. F1 , his latest star vehicle, appears designed to reinforce his status as a heroic, magnetic figure – an aging icon with wisdom to impart, charisma undiminished, and a past blurred enough to avoid discomfort. It is a film about legacy and second chances, one that insists on emotional payoff while asking little of its lead actor in terms of depth or vulnerability. Directed by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun:Maverick , Oblivion) and written by Ehren Kruger, F1 follows Sonny Hayes (Pitt), a retired Formula One driver coaxed back into the paddock to help revive a flailing team. Once a star at the peak of the sport, Sonny now exists on the margins, floating between minor consulting jobs, card games, and mythologised anecdotes, until hes approached by Ruben (Javier Bardem), a theatrical and effusive team owner who believes Sonny is the key to saving his underperforming crew. The offer comes with a condition: Sonny must mentor a rising talent, the young and impatient Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), who meets him with open hostility and an eye-roll of a nickname – grandpa' – before gradually, inevitably, softening into admiration. Brad Pitt plays Sonny with the same blend of charm, detachment, and enigmatic cool that has defined much of his late-career screen persona; his performance is polished, familiar, and watchable, but curiously vacant. While the script gestures toward a past shaped by trauma -a near-fatal crash, implied personal losses- it resists exploring those events with any specificity or weight. There are moments that seem poised for emotional revelation, scenes that should crack open the surface calm to reveal something messier or more human, yet instead we get a deflective smirk or a clipped line of dialogue, as though the very idea of vulnerability might scuff the carefully preserved myth of the character. Rather than inhabit Sonnys emotional world, Pitt appears content to suggest it, relying on charisma and cinematic shorthand in place of actual transformation. Damson Idris, in contrast, brings texture and tension to his role, despite being underserved by the scripts formulaic arc. As Pearce, he captures the prickliness and insecurity of a young athlete navigating the pressures of fame, talent, and institutional suspicion; his frustration with Sonny, while predictable in narrative terms, feels rooted in something real, and when his character begins to evolve, it carries more emotional credibility than the film seems to anticipate. Idris finds in Pearce a sense of internal life that pushes against the films slick surfaces, hinting at the stakes and stress that elite sport demands, especially for a young Black driver constantly reminded of how replaceable he is. The most compelling presence in the film, however, is our own Kerry Condon, whose performance as Kate McKenna, the teams technical director, brings a necessary sense of grounding and emotional clarity. Condon plays Kate with quiet intensity, a sharp intelligence, and a weariness that never tips into cliche; she is utterly convincing as someone who has spent years holding a team together under enormous pressure, and she resists sentimentalising the role, instead conveying strength through focus, stillness, and precision. Her real Thurles accent cuts through the film's Americanised tone with refreshing honesty, and her interactions with Pitt are some of the few scenes where the characters actually seem to be listening to each other, rather than just exchanging narrative signposts. Condon gives the film an anchor it sorely needs; her presence reminds us that real professionalism, unlike myth-making, is often quiet, procedural, and unglamorous. Javier Bardem, as Ruben, brings a burst of theatricality to the film, infusing the role with flamboyant energy and a sense of chaotic optimism; however, the character is largely functional, existing to propel Sonny back into the spotlight without ever challenging him in any meaningful way. The supporting cast (Tobias Menzies, Kim Bodnia, Sarah Niles) hover around the margins, delivering competent performances with minimal material, their characters flattened into symbols of management pressure, team loyalty, or comic relief. Kosinski, known for his sharp visual style and technical fluency, demonstrates his ability to orchestrate large-scale spectacle. The racing sequences are visually striking, shot on real Formula One circuits with a clarity and precision that lend authenticity to the speed and stakes of each lap. The sound design is immersive, Zimmers score pulses with urgency, and the choreography of each race sequence displays a deep understanding of the sports rhythms and visual grammar. These scenes are the films strongest, offering brief moments of sensory engagement that feel kinetic and fully realised. Yet despite the spectacle, the emotional impact of the racing never quite lands; the races feel beautifully staged but narratively empty, high-stakes only in theory. The films emotional terrain remains strangely flat, with no real sense of risk, internal conflict, or moral ambiguity. Formula One itself is credited as a collaborator and co-producer, and its fingerprints are all over the films pristine surfaces; this isnt a gritty expos or a character study shaped by risk, but a controlled and flattering promotional package, designed as much to protect the sports image as to tell a compelling story. Sonnys comeback is treated as inherently noble, his past simplified into a hazy backstory that is referenced but never interrogated. The script avoids exploring power dynamics, institutional politics, or even the more brutal realities of the sport; instead, it offers a smooth, reassuring vision of mentorship and redemption that resists complexity at every turn. It gestures toward struggle but refuses to inhabit it, framing transformation as something that happens through platitudes and montages rather than through real reckoning. F1 is not a failure, nor is it a breakthrough. It is a glossy, competently assembled film with moments of charm and flashes of emotional intelligence, particularly in the supporting performances; yet it is also a film that plays it safe, that chooses myth over humanity, and image over inquiry. Pitt remains a magnetic presence, but without anything to push against, he becomes a symbol of resilience rather than a character living through it. Condon and Idris do what they can to bring texture and tension and at times they succeed, but they are working against a script that too often mistakes suggestion for substance. For fans of the sport, or admirers of Kosinskis visual style, F1 may offer moments of satisfaction. But for anyone seeking a story that earns its emotional arc, it may feel more like a simulation than a race. In cinemas now. Watch the trailer below:
Indian Express
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
F1 movie review: Film leaves you wanting more Formula 1, and more Brad Pitt
If Formula 1 cars are a beautiful mesh of man and machine, Brad Pitt is as close to perfection in flesh and bones. Put one in the other, and you have a film that whirs by briskly – almost making you forget there is nothing much under the hood. Pitt's character Sonny Hayes is one of those natural born racers who cares little about money and trophies, after having had his brush with rash adventure in his callow youth, that ended in a near-fatal crash. The long recovery, a stint with gambling, a rash of failed relationships, to this new state of Zen, including living happily out of a van, must have cost Sonny some blood, sweat and tears. However, F1, made with the blessing of Formula 1 organisers and the producer tag of Lewis Hamilton, is not interested in the dark side at all – even the underside, when corners are cut on safety in a car in pursuit of speed. So just when Sonny is beatifically pondering what back-of-beyond race he can participate in next – the kind advertised on flyers distributed at laundromats – in walks old friend Ruben (Bardem). He is now an F1 team owner and he offers Sonny a shot at being world champion, 30 years after he messed it up. Read more – Bullet Train movie review: Brad Pitt's charm offensive in a lacklustre film Sonny, for all his cool detachment, is easily persuaded to slide back into the hot seat. What follows are a series of excitable and exciting races, where we go from the start to the finish in a strictly straight line, with no surprise turns. There is a rookie talent, Joshua Pearce (Idris), who is just the kind of hothead who could do with Sonny's guiding hand at the wheel. There is the team's technical director – the first-ever woman at the job – Kate (Condon), who is just waiting for a man like Sonny to walk into her life. And there is the dedicated team, just primed for Sonny to morph them into a winning unit. Except for Joshua, no one even pushes back at this Johnny Come Lately's brusque takeover. Pitt has perfected looking and playing a superstar who is getting older but not really ageing, and F1 is as much in awe of him as we are. So at every turn we are reminded about how Sonny does things differently than Joshua, including jogging instead of gymming, flicking cards instead of doing media, studying races instead of social media profiles, and wearing mismatched socks instead of being groomed to perfection. By the time he goes ahead and tells Joshua to 'Get off your phone… It's all noise', the message has been well and truly drilled home. Also read – Top Gun Maverick review: Tom Cruise starrer aces the skies, burns the roads But come on, we are talking of Pitt here, and races that are meant to stop your heart and dare you to blink your eyes. The director-writer team of Kosinski and Ehren Kruger, also behind 2022's top-billed Top Gun: Maverick, know this part well. The races are expensive and expansive edge-of-the seat stuff, all about wind drag, cold and warm tires, corners and speeding, hedging and betting, and strategy, strategy, strategy. The breathless commentary ensures even the uninitiated can follow what's happening over endless laps. You will come away wanting more of Formula 1 and, yes, more of Pitt. Given his pensive drive into the sunset, your wait may be just a Pitt stop away.
Edmonton Journal
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Edmonton Journal
F1: The Movie mixes ho-hum character development with some fist-pumping race action
Article content If you're starting to sense some by-the-book character development, you're not far off. We've seen this kind of macho matchup before, and Sonny's burgeoning romance with the team's female head technician (Kerry Condon) isn't so much a question of will-they-won't-they but they-will-but-when. Though given that the movie runs a staggering two hours and 36 minutes from bumper to bumper, that still provides some tension. Still, if the attractive human characters do little to surprise us, the car races are a mix of astonishment and beauty, and they hold up well on the biggest of big screens, including Imax. (If you want to see this at all, watch it in theatres and not on AppleTV, which has the streaming rights down the road.) Cinematographer Claudio Miranda (another Top Gun: Maverick veteran) starts things off with a bang, as racing cars appear to be driving through exploding fireworks. And he keeps things moving with shots from inside the cramped cars as well as from cameras perched on the vehicles' edges (and sometimes swinging wildly through 90 degrees) and all around the track. Even pit stops, which are timed in tenths of a second, add to the frantic pace of the race scenes, though whether they conform to reality I'll leave to more track-savvy specialists. For this non-racing-fan critic, the title is a perfect match for the film. Yes it's formulaic. But it's fast enough to finish strong regardless. F1: The Movie opens June 27 in theatres.
