F1 movie star and producer Brad Pitt has revealed that he and Tom Cruise were about to star in Ford vs Ferrari originally. The American claims they were approached a decade before the movie was eventually made. But the idea fell through as both Pitt and Cruise wanted to drive cars within the film.
The Brad Pitt-starrer F1 movie has had a successful theatrical release. The movie, co-produced by the likes of Pitt and F1 star Lewis Hamilton, has also faired well with the critics. But Pitt has now revealed that he could have been the star of another classic racing movie, Ford vs Ferrari.
Speaking to The National, the American actor shared that a movie about the events in Ford vs Ferrari was originally pitched to him and Tom Cruise. But he explained why the superstar pairing did not go through with the idea.
“Tom and I, for a while there, were on Ford v Ferrari. This was about 10 years before the guys who actually made it – and made it a great movie,” said Pitt. [as reported by film-news.co.uk]
“What it came down to was that we both wanted to drive. He wanted to play Carroll Shelby and I wanted to play Ken Miles. And when Tom realized that Carroll Shelby would not be driving much in the movie, it didn’t come through.” he added.
Eventually, Matt Damon ended up playing the role of Carroll Shelby. Christian Bale was cast as Briton racing driver Ken Miles.
Joseph Kosinski had pitched the idea to Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise
The director of the F1 movie, Joseph Kosinski, was actually the man who pitched the Ford vs Ferrari idea to Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in 2015. This was titled “Go Like Hell”, based on the book, “Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans” by A. J. Baime. The eventual Ford vs Ferrari film was also based on this text.
Kosinski revealed this during a watch-along of his movie Top Gun: Maverick on Josh Horowitz’s YouTube podcast, Happy Sad Confused, in January 2024.
“I was going to make a movie called “Go Like Hell” that became Ford vs Ferrari, in 2015 with Brad [Pitt] and Tom [Cruise],” said Kosinski.
“And got to the point where I had them both in a room reading the script together, which was pretty amazing.” he added.
However, the film was ultimately made with Matt Damon and Christian Bale in the lead roles- hardly a compromise. James Mangold ended up directing the 2019 biographical drama.
Brad Pitt, Joseph Kosinski, and Tom Cruise have teased the idea of making a racing movie together. Kosinski also hinted at a spinoff combining Pitt’s F1 character, Sonny Hayes, with Cruise’s Days of Thunder character, Cole Trickle.
