06/01/2022
NEWS STORY
With Drive to Survive appearing to have captured the imagination of the American public, has the Netflix series also caught the eye of Hollywood?
Following a number of close encounters, few of which came anywhere near to hitting the spot, Hollywood is once again said to be looking to Formula One for inspiration.
According to the entertainment news website Deadline, Apple Studios is in talks to make an F1-based movie starring Brad Pitt.
Other names linked with the project include Joseph Kosinski, director of Tron: Legacy, Oblivion and the forthcoming sequel to Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick, as well as Ehren Kruger, the screenwriter responsible for Arlington Road, the US remake of The Ring, three movies from the Transformer franchise, Dumbo (2019) and Top Gun: Maverick, and legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the man who brought the likes of Con Air, Enemy of the State, Gone in 60 Seconds, Black Hawk Down, Veronica Guerin and several of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies to our screens.
According to the Deadline report, another name linked with the project is that of seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton - so that's what he's been doing since Abu Dhabi.
The plot is said to centre on a race veteran who comes out of retirement to assist a young rookie, which regulars may recognise as the premise behind Sylvester Stallone's 2001 masterpiece Drivel, sorry Driven.
While Driven was originally meant to be based in F1, such were the hurdles placed in his way by Bernie Ecclestone, the veteran Rocky and Rambo star eventually used IndyCar as the theme.
Over the years, Hollywood has enjoyed a long, hit and (mainly) miss relationship with F1, which the late, great Mike Lawrence best summarised in his 2006 feature Movies.
A few years after Mike's piece, it was revealed that cult director, David Cronenberg, the man behind a number of acclaimed films including Crash, The Fly, Dead Ringers, Scanners and Videodrome, had plans for an F1 movie in 1986 but these were thwarted by Bernie Ecclestone.
The Canadian, speaking after the Venice Film Festival, revealed that he was recruited by Paramount Pictures to make a movie based on F1, the first since John Frankenheimer's Grand Prix in 1966 - assuming you forget Bobby Deerfield (top) in 1977, which is probably the best thing you can do.
However, such were the demands of Ecclestone the idea was scrapped.
"I had meetings with Bernie to talk to him about how we might structure a Formula One movie that was modern at the time and could we, for example, invent a team and have a pit for our team," Cronenberg told the Independent.
Revealing that he had planned to use 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg as camera-car driver, Cronenberg revealed that at first Ecclestone was all in favour of the idea. "All of these things he was talking about as being possible," he said. "Of course, ultimately it would have come down to money."
A keen F1 fan, who has raced historic F1 cars, Cronenberg, though frustrated by Ecclestone's attitude, eventually used much of his research for a screenplay about Phil Hill's championship winning 1961 season. However, that movie project was also subsequently shelved.
Cronenberg's revelation came as Ron Howard began work on his movie based around James Hunt's winning season Rush, and as Asif Kapadia's feature documentary on Ayrton Senna continued to win over fans of the sport and non-fans alike.
While Ecclestone put up hurdles for Hollywood, Liberty Media, taking note of the success Drive to Survive has enjoyed, is sure to welcome talk of a movie, especially with an A-lister like Pitt involved, with open arms.
Indeed, one can imagine that Mr Kruger will be hard-pressed to match the screenwriting abilities of some of those already working in-house at F1 towers.