What's Inside?
- Brad Pitt confirms both he and Tom Cruise wanted to drive in Ford v Ferrari, but only one character had significant racing scenes.
- Pitt’s latest film F1 impresses with global success and features real F1 athletes, including producer Lewis Hamilton.
- Director Joseph Kosinski teases a crossover between Pitt’s F1 and Cruise’s Days of Thunder, reviving hopes for a long-awaited reunion.
Hollywood fans were once inches away from witnessing two of the industry’s biggest stars, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, racing head-to-head in the high-octane drama Ford v Ferrari. However, that collaboration never made it to the big screen. In a recent interview with The National, Pitt finally opened up about why that version of the film, once set to be directed by F1 filmmaker Joseph Kosinski, fell apart. While budget constraints were previously known to be the culprit, Pitt’s latest revelations reveal a more personal twist involving creative control and the desire to drive.
Brad Pitt Reveals Why His Ford v Ferrari Team-Up with Tom Cruise Fell Apart
Though Ford v Ferrari eventually turned into a critically acclaimed film under director James Mangold starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon, an earlier iteration of the movie was designed with a star-studded duo in mind—Brad Pitt as Ken Miles and Tom Cruise as Carroll Shelby. Both actors were deeply invested in the project with Kosinski at the helm. Yet according to Pitt, the reason their version was never realized boiled down to screen time behind the wheel.
The moment Tom Cruise surprised us on the #F1TheMovie red carpet! ❤️#F1 pic.twitter.com/1Ika62mWmC
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 23, 2025
“Tom and I, for a while there, were on Ford v Ferrari with Joe [Kosinski] to direct. This was about 10 years before the guys who actually made it — and made it a great movie,” Brad Pitt shared. “What it came down to is that we both wanted to drive, and [Tom] wanted to play 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.”
The desire to take the wheel literally and figuratively ended what could have been one of Hollywood’s most exciting reunions since their 1994 appearance together in Interview with the Vampire. Yet both actors have maintained mutual admiration, especially when it comes to racing. At CinemaCon 2025, Cruise remarked, “It’s great to see Brad driving. He’s a very good driver. Believe me, I’ve raced against him… we’d go and race go-karts all night.” (Per CinemaBlend)
F1 Success Sparks Sequel Hopes – And Maybe a Reunion After All
While Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise never shared a racetrack in Ford v Ferrari, the F1 movie is giving new hope. Pitt plays Sonny Hayes in the new film, which made a global splash with a $144 million opening. Shot in collaboration with F1 legends like Lewis Hamilton, the film has brought the adrenaline of motorsports to life in a way rarely seen on screen.
“I would want to drive again, selfishly speaking,” Pitt told The National, hinting that the film’s focus in a sequel would likely shift to Damson Idris’s character Joshua Pierce and his team’s championship fight. As for Sonny’s return? Pitt laughed, “Sonny’s probably out on the Bonneville Salt Flats, setting speed records or something like that.”
Even F1 director Kosinski seems enthusiastic about rekindling the Cruise-Pitt chemistry in a sequel, pitching a crossover with Cruise’s Days of Thunder character Cole Trickle. “They were rivals at some point, maybe crossed paths… who wouldn’t pay to see those two go head-to-head on the track?” he told GQ UK.
Although Pitt joked, “Well, I’m not gonna hang my ass off airplanes and s— like that,” referring to Cruise’s daring stunts, he didn’t rule out a future collaboration. For now, he’s just grateful: “We are delightfully surprised that everything that we had aimed for, and then some, came to fruition. That’s the power of this kind of cinema.”
With F1 racing forward, fans may still get the Pitt-Cruise high-speed reunion they’ve long craved—this time, with fewer studio hurdles and more horsepower.
