The filming of the Brad Pitt/Apple F1 movie has brought excitement and novelty to the Formula 1 paddock. Initially, people were drawn to the APX Grand Prix garage at Silverstone, eager to catch a glimpse inside. However, when the garage returned to Budapest, it went unnoticed. The producers of the film are thrilled by this indifference, as it means their fictional APX team blends in seamlessly with the real Formula 1 teams. They have gone to great lengths to win over the F1 paddock, keeping everyone informed about their plans and making sure their presence doesn’t disrupt the Grand Prix circuits. While this is not the first time F1 has been involved in a movie production, the current film is already drawing comparisons to John Frankenheimer’s 1966 F1 film, “Grand Prix.” Both films immersed themselves in the world of F1, featuring real drivers and actual racing footage. The new film is using F2 chassis disguised as F1 cars, which adds to the authenticity. The late James Garner, who starred in “Grand Prix,” was an avid racing fan and relished the opportunity to be part of the film. The new film aims to capture the glamour and danger of F1, just like its predecessor. Despite the risks involved in the sport at the time, the drivers embraced their roles and accepted the realities of their profession. Garner himself took part in some of the more risky scenes, refusing to use a stuntman for a fiery crash scene at Brands Hatch. Overall, the new film has successfully integrated itself into the F1 paddock and is eagerly anticipated by fans and insiders alike.
—————————————————-
| Article | Link |
|---|---|
| UK Artful Impressions | Premiere Etsy Store |
| Sponsored Content | View |
| 90’s Rock Band Review | View |
| Ted Lasso’s MacBook Guide | View |
| Nature’s Secret to More Energy | View |
| Ancient Recipe for Weight Loss | View |
| MacBook Air i3 vs i5 | View |
| You Need a VPN in 2023 – Liberty Shield | View |
The filming of the Brad Pitt/Apple F1 movie alongside recent racing has been an exciting and unusual addition to life in the paddock, but the sport has been here before, since 1966…
The novelty soon wears off in the Formula 1 paddock. At Silverstone, the APX Grand Prix garage was quite the draw. The production crew took part in their first weekend of filming at the track, and at some point, most people found an excuse to wander around pit lane and surreptitiously peek inside. However, when the garage returned to Budapest, no one realized it was there. APX Grand Prix were simply part of the furniture. No doubt this excites the producers of the film.
READ MORE > FIRST LOOK: APXGP car from the upcoming Apple Original Movie
…because, of course, this is the point. APX is supposed to mix it up, and the common consensus in the paddock is that if you didn’t know better you wouldn’t think twice, because it really looks like the real deal.
That’s backed up by cars: F2 chassis outfitted with ersatz F1 bodies created by Mercedes, with the cars run by a crew from Team Carlin, who know more than a little about driving single-seaters.
It took me a bit longer to get used to the cars in action. When they’re running in tandem between sessions, shooting footage to later map it into runs, it looks like a demo. Likewise, when they tag them on the back of a grid to film the first lap.
However, as they exit the garage and race down the pit lane, there is a momentary look of confusion on many faces and a quick glance at the session countdown timers on each monitor in the garage as they go by. The engine note isn’t the real problem and people relax again, glad they don’t have something terribly, terribly wrong, but otherwise, like we said, if you didn’t know better…
.jpg.transform/9col-retina/image.jpg)
The as-yet-unnamed producers of the film have worked hard to win hearts and minds in the F1 paddock, which, against the standard level of background cynicism, is no easy task, but they have done a good job. .
They’ve done a lot of briefings, keeping everyone in the loop on their plans, and the footage blends into the background, because really, no one is going to notice a couple more cameras on a Grand Prix circuit, and the general feeling is that everyone will want to take a look at the finished product.
But this isn’t the first time F1 has gone down this path and, in certain corners of the paddock, there is a benchmark against which it will be compared.
Given the current enthusiasm for movie doubleheaders, it’s inevitable that the APX film will be followed by a somewhat riper crop: Enter John Frankenheimer’s epic 1966 F1 film: Big prize.
The parallels are exceptional. Just as director Joseph Kosinski is now doing, Frankenheimer embedded himself, his cast and crew in the F1 paddock during the season, following the circus all summer from track to track. He had 1961 world champion Phil Hill driving his car on camera, and the 1966 camp made cameo appearances, either as themselves or as fictional teammates of the leads.
And just like the new movie, Big prize Used chassis from disguised junior formulas, though F3 cars driven by many of the best drivers in the world.
Squint a bit and the action footage at Grand Prix looks real. Maybe it’s the long sequences of genuine, uninterrupted racing footage, maybe it’s the soundtrack of unbelievably loud, pure engines, or maybe it’s seeing all those old, familiar places – different, yes, but the same in all important ways. , and all shot on glorious Super Panavision 70s. Or it could be that star James Garner is very, very good.
Garner died in 2014, his screen legacy includes half a century and more of starring roles with everyone from Steve McQueen to Ryan Gosling, but, having been bitten by the racing bug, he was always happy to reminisce. The manufacture of Big prize. “I enjoyed it, I loved it. We stuck with it all the way from Monte Carlo [May] to Monza [September] and I had a lot of fun”.
Garner is best known for playing the kind and wry character: as the romantic lead opposite Doris Day; Hendley the Scrounger, in The big escape; and on television as Brett Maverick and Jim Rockford.
But Big prize Pete Aron is a darker, more brooding character, interested in winning and candid about his willingness to stomp on friends to get to the top. It was a piece that Garner was actively seeking, as he had been a fan of single-seater racing ever since he saw the 1958 Indy 500. It was also a piece that he almost never got.
“John Frankenheimer wanted to make a film that would be attractive outside of the United States. He also wanted actors who would do what he wanted, actors who didn’t have their own opinions, but the studio needed box office, so they wanted a big star. They went for Steve McQueen, but he and Frankenheimer had a meeting and they just didn’t get along. I was lucky.”
Frankenheimer took his filming very seriously. Refusing to use sped-up film, he required the cast to mix it with a bewildered but willing F1 contingent. Actor Yves Montand, who plays Ferrari driver Jean-Pierre Sarti, spun early in the season and thereafter often demanded everyone to slow down because he considered it too dangerous. Later, he filmed close-ups of him being towed by a Ford GT40, but Garner, completely in the zone, was driving by himself.
Several months before filming, Garner began learning his racing trade in California under Bob Bondurant, before the cast reunited for a week-long course at Jim Russell’s racing school.
“When I arrived in Europe I knew how to drive, although I wasn’t very skilled. Being out on the track, at some truly magnificent circuits, with the best drivers in the world really tested my nerves.”
PODCAST > BEYOND THE GRID: Sir Jackie Stewart on surviving and thriving in F1’s fiercest era
Part of the charm of Grand Prix is the number of cameos from the Formula 1 drivers of the day. World champions Phil and Graham Hill had character parts as the directors’ teammates, everyone else played themselves. “We had Jim Clark, Mike Spence, Bob, Jochen Rindt, Jacky Ickx, Richie Ginther…everyone except Jackie Stewart because he was out for most of the season after an early crash.”
For the live action scenes, the drivers and cast would gather and film a section of each track, complete a few turns in front of the cameras, and then race back to the start for another take. Natural competitive instincts and good humor were a problem: In an effort to be first back to the rally point, Jo Siffert managed to crash into a set of track markings, knocking off three wheels of his car.
The film doesn’t mince words juxtaposing the glamor of F1 with the danger of the time. Death and serious injury are recurring themes throughout, although none of the drivers seemed to have a problem with this. “I’ve certainly never heard anyone say anything bad about the script, and no one was down when we discussed it,” Garner said. “I guess they just accepted the situation.”
He wasn’t exactly playing it safe. Before long, the scene at Brands Hatch where Aron’s Yamura bursts into flames was filmed with Garner instead of a stuntman driving the car. The realism with which Garner skids to a stop and jumps out of the car owes nothing to the actor’s muse.
“The fire got a lot bigger than I expected, it wasn’t a very comfortable time and I got out of the car in a real hurry.” It is an anecdote that he told with a chuckle, but the scene left him limping for weeks, both legs bruised from thigh to ankle as a result of brushing against the steering wheel as he dove to safety.
The incident led insurers to cancel Garner’s policy for the final two months of filming, a threat they had made earlier in the season when an agent caught the star flying through Blanchimont at 130 mph during the sort of torrential downpour. which anyone who has watched the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix will be familiar with.
Garner again, speaking with the comfort of hindsight, remembered it fondly: “Yes, Spa might be scary in the rain, but it’s the best circuit in the world and you wouldn’t want to give anything but the best.” Interestingly, it’s Spa that Garner named his favorite track, rather than the usual celebrity frequenting Monaco.
Monte Carlo, he said, “…was nice, really everything you’d expect,” but the highlight of the south of France was not the atmosphere, but the calm presence on set of the great five-time world champion Juan Manuel. Fangio.
Today, it’s the footage of Frankenheimer in Monaco that allows us to see the debut of Bruce McLaren’s new namesake team in sharp colour, rather than a few grainy moments of black-and-white newsreel footage: Bruce ruffling a few feathers by running without colors. of New Zealand, but instead in the green and white livery of the fictional Yamura team
It’s the kind of blurring of boundaries woven throughout the film that marks Big prize not just as three hours of gripping Hollywood drama, but also as a vivid time capsule that captures the golden era of F1 like nothing else. If the new F1 movie has the same appeal half a century from now, it will have done its job very well.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.lights-camera-f1-the-inside-story-of-the-first-time-hollywood-took-on.gP5UGvKHaSgQzLxJXJe7A.html
—————————————————-