LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Las Vegas is getting ready to take another turn in the spotlight.
This time, the city will be featured as part of the new F1 movie. Filmmakers spent two and a half years traveling to races around the world, including the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer said they filmed during the 2023 race and realized they didn't get enough footage, which prompted them to return for the 2024 race.
“I think the most difficult race that we have is Vegas because it’s a street race and it’s at night and we don’t have much track time,” Bruckheimer explained during Liberty Media’s Investor Day in November. “We only get like 15-minute breaks when the guys aren’t out there actually practicing.”
On Thursday, Bruckheimer was joined by actresses Kerry Condon and Simone Ashley as well as Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 team principal and CEO Toto Wolff and driver George Russell at an IWC Schaffhausen Miami GP Event.
Condon echoed Bruckheimer's remarks saying the team had to be incredibly prepared for the short filming windows.
"We prepared so much that when it came back to the actual day, it was more like an excitement feeling than a nervous feeling. It was just like a documentary. It was kind of this radical way of filming that I had never done before," Condon said. "The timing of everything was incredible. On the call sheet, we would have like seven minutes to film a scene. It was maybe pre-qualifying, we would get a tiny gap to run onto the pit wall and film stuff and we had all of these checks that we would do. We had to have the same time because, obviously, if the camera saw the time. I had my notepad. It was all like a little check we would do before we'd go film."
Bruckheimer compared the new F1 movie to a TV show that many Las Vegas locals may be familiar with.
“I like to make what I call process movies. I’ve done it over and over again. I had a TV series called CSI that takes you behind the curtain and shows you what the world is really like and that’s what our movie really does. You get inside the world of F1 to see how it actually works,” Bruckheimer said. “When you see F1, you don’t see the behind-the-scenes of what these kids actually have to do. They are booked every five minutes. It’s unbelievable what their life is like and the physical toll it takes on them, the amount of training they have to do, you never see that but we’ll certainly show you some of that in the movie.”
To show that process, filmmakers paid attention to the small details while using the latest technology to showcase what drivers actually go through.
“We have these mounts that give you some vibration so you can feel the speed but not too much vibration where you can’t see the image because you’re going so fast. The cars are going from 220 miles per hour down to 50 in some of these turns,” Bruckheimer said. “I think we have 16 cameras placed around the car at various times … Apple made special, tiny little cameras that we put on the actual F1 cars in races so you have Lewis Hamilton driving a car at 220 miles an hour with these tiny little cameras.”
And for Russell, it's been rewarding to see their vision come to life.
"We've been so lucky to see some clips already. I've been so impressed with what you guys have done because it's sometimes challenging to really showcase the speed that we go through the corners," Russell said. "With the visuals that you've got, it's going to be truly amazing."
Russell joked that the cast was so immersed in getting things right, it delayed his training one day.
"Both of them [Brad Pitt and Damson Idris] were in the Mercedes F1 simulator getting the practice in. Obviously, they aren't racing drivers," Russell said. "I remember one day I was a bit delayed because Brad was doing some extra laps in the simulator because he was just enjoying it so much. I think that's what will make this movie so authentic because the whole team was taking it so seriously."
F1 is hosting several fan-first premiere screenings in certain cities ahead of its official premiere date. The Las Vegas screening has already sold out.
However, you can catch the movie when it hits theaters on June 27. After its theater run, you can also can watch the movie on Apple TV+.