After 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 anticipated racing film set in the world of F1.
Damson Idris has been tapped to co-star opposite Brad Pitt reports Deadline. 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 Lewis Hamilton through his Dawn Apollo banner and Plan B, with Copper CEO Penni Thow serving as executive producer.
As per 'Deadline', producers have been meeting with prospects for the role going all the way back to November, with Kosinski, Bruckheimer and Apple execs seeing dozens of actors.
At the top of the year the lists were cut down to a handful of actors, with Idris making the final cut. Besides doing a number of screen tests, actors also had to show they had the goods to handle the film's intense driving scenes 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'; he hopes for the same with Formula One race cars in this film.The untitled feature follows Pitt as 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.
Idris broke onto the scene with his acclaimed role in the FX series 'Snowfall'. The show's final season just premiered, and he has been looking for that next big role as his schedule opened up. He was also recently seen in Amazon's 'Swarm'.