Brad Pitt would be open to reteaming with friend and fellow industry heavyweight Tom Cruise — but he’s got one stipulation in mind.
The two movie stars, who appeared onscreen together for 1994’s Interview with the Vampire, used to race go-karts together after filming, Pitt told E! News, adding that it was “so sweet” of the Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning star to praise the upcoming Joseph Kosinski-helmed F1.
When asked what it would take to collaborate again, Pitt responded, “Well, I’m not gonna hang my ass off airplanes and sh– like that, so when he does something again that’s on the ground.”
The two-time Oscar winner’s sentiments come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Cruise’s penchant for death-defying stunts. Kosinski, who directed Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick most recently, noted the difference in the two performers’ approach to the art of stunts in a May F1 feature with GQ.
“Tom always pushes it to the limit, but at the same time is super capable and very skilled,” he said. “They both have the natural talent for driving. But yeah, I could see Tom maybe scaring us a little bit more.”
Meanwhile, the movie’s action-vehicle supervisor, Graham Kelly, added, “We’d have had a crash. Tom pushes it to the limit. I mean really to the limit. That terrifies me. I mean, I’ve done loads of Mission: Impossibles with Tom and it’s the most stressful experience for someone like me building cars for him, doing stunts with him. Whereas Brad listens and he knows his abilities, and I think he’d be the first to say, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to do that.’”
Made in partnership with Formula 1 and its 10 teams, the Apple Originals Film will bow in theaters June 27, featuring Pitt as has-been (bordering on never-was) racer Sonny Hayes, who aims to stage a comeback after his promising career was derailed by a track accident, finding that his biggest competition may be his young, irreverent upstart teammate Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem, Sarah Niles, Kim Bodnia and Samson Kayo also star, with reports that Simone Ashley’s role has been cut down in the film.
Speaking to the blockbuster quality of the action flick, Pitt told E! News “it’s big, it’s huge. The driving is something off the charts, but on top of it, it’s really fun. And it’s funny and it’s kind of moving, I dare say.”
He added of the experience operating a Formula 1 vehicle: “I’ve tried to describe this feeling of downforce — it is something otherworldly. I’ve never had this experience anywhere else, not in a rollercoaster, not an aerobatic plane, nothing.”
Outside of F1, Pitt will appear in Netflix’s forthcoming The Adventures of Cliff Booth, with the actor reprising the stuntman role that won him the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award back in 2020, Deadline exclusively announced last week.
