Following months of meetings, auditions and even several days of driving tests, Apple Studios, Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer look to have found their race car driver to steer their highly-anticipated racing film set in the world of F1. Sources tell deadline Damson Idris has been tapped to co-star opposite Brad Pitt. Kosinski is directing.
Kosinski will produce his untitled feature alongside Jerry Bruckheimer and Chad Oman of Jerry Bruckheimer Films (Top Gun: Maverick), seven-time Formula One champion Sir Lewis Hamilton and Plan B, with Copper CEO Penni Thow serving as executive producer.
Producers have been meeting with respective prospects for the highly-sought after role going all the way back to November with Kosinski, Bruckheimer and Apple execs meeting with dozens of actors for the role. At the top of the year the lists were cut down but to a handful actors with Idris making the final cut. Besides doing a number of screen tests for the part, actors also had to show they had the goods to handle the intense driving scenes in the film and were put through a number of driving tests in January. Kosinski is big on using natural effects after going a similar route when he put his actors in real fighter jets for Top Gun: Maverick and hopes for the same with formula one race cars in this film.
The yet untitled feature follows Pitt playing a racer who comes out of retirement to mentor a younger driver and take his final stab at glory on the track as the younger driver’s teammate. Apple landed the highly-sought after package in one of 2022s biggest deals. At the time,. sources told Deadline that the package was in the $130 million-$140 million range, before above-the-line compensation. That puts it in line with several big package deals made last year, the kind that seem perfectly suited to streamers that need content but are still getting up to speed on the development front.
Idris broke on to the scene with his critically acclaimed role in the FX series Snowfall. The show’s final season just premiered at Idris had been looking for that next big role as his schedule opened up.
He was also recently seen in Amazon’s Swarm. He is repped by CAA, M88 and attorney John Meigs.
