Tom Cruise in F1 – now you’re talking «

Tom Cruise in F1 – now you’re talking

August 23, 2011 by Joe Saward

Red Bull does a lot of things right in F1 – although its management of drivers remains a bit of mystery on occasion – but the Austrian drinks firm does understand how to draw attention to itself, and to the sport. Rather than twiddling about with C-List celebrities who know Flavio Briatore the Austrians have always aimed for the bigger picture and finally nabbed Tom Cruise and offered him a ride in an f1 car. Not surprisingly the movie star jumped at the chance and turned up at Willow Springs, in California, to have a run in a car a few days ago – amid much secrecy.

David Coulthard flew over to serve as Cruise’s instructor for the day with support from a 12-person Red Bull Racing crew.

Cruise is an avowed racing fan who has driven various race cars over the years but never a Formula 1 car, completed 24 laps during the session, which began with Cruise and Coulthard lapping the track in a passenger car to learn the racing lines. Between stints, the team went over the car’s telemetry data with Cruise.

“Tom’s the real deal,” said Coulthard. “I was surprised that he picked it up so quickly and is such an accomplished driver. His recall was incredible considering how complicated driving an F1 car is. He’s a guy who really pushes the envelope in real life. This day was not green screened. He thoroughly impressed me.”

Let us hope that Cruise now decides that motorsport is great material for a movie… The man who really hit the big time with Top Gun back in the mid 1980s enjoyed success in a NASCAR-themed film called Days of Thunder in 1990, which was embraced by the sport and worked wonders for the popularity of the stock car series. Let us hope that if the upsurge in interest in racing movies will not be stymied by the Formula One company’s love of money-making. Sylvester Stallone popped up in Formula 1 circles in 1997 but was driven away from the sport by its attitude. He ended up going to IndyCar racing, where he made a rather poor film called “Driven”, which is nicknamed “Drivel” in motor racing circles. Be that as it may, the opportunity to use the cinema for the global promotion of the sport is something that should not be thrown away. Formula One can cash in on the new fans that a movie creates, rather than squeezing the film-makers for every available penny…

Posted in F1 Teams, Personal musings | 60 Comments

60 Responses

on August 23, 2011 at 06:46 Chris D

I take it he wasn’t driving Mark Webber’s car.
on August 23, 2011 at 06:50 scott guyatt (@scottyg_rc)

Cruise decides motorsport is great material for a movie….and we get Days of Thunder!

Good story, would love to see video footage…which I guess will surface from Red Bull in due course.
on August 23, 2011 at 06:56 Richard K

You mean Days of Thunder wasn’t enough for you
on August 23, 2011 at 07:11 f1fan1998

Joe, you need to change the title. “You can be my wing man anyday” In deference to top gun and red bull gives you wings. Feel free…..
on August 23, 2011 at 07:26 PT

Wow! Can’t believe it’s true. The visor shot looks a lot like Sebastian Vettel. Thanks Joe for bringing this to our attention.
on August 23, 2011 at 07:37 PT

You’re spot on, Joe. Movies can bring in more fans. I was really disappointed that nothing came of Antonio Banderas Senna feature film plans. I know the Senna documentary has attracted many non-F1 people, but still a feature film would have been great (if done right). Considering Banderas’ popularity and Latino features – so akin to Senna could have done wonders! But work has begun for a feature film on the 1976 F1 season, I guess.
on August 23, 2011 at 07:39 Oradis

Any idea whether/when Red Bull will release some video of this?
on August 23, 2011 at 07:46 peter

Did I read somewhere that the car arrived in Austin, TX after being repaired following “an accident in California”?
on August 23, 2011 at 08:21 Garry T

hey Joe like your new Tom cruise picture better than last one
on August 23, 2011 at 08:37 Mark Friesen

I sincerely hope Cruise doesn’t do a film about F1, Days of Blunder was bad enough. Today’s F1 circus doesn’t provide enough drama to sustain a film anyways, it would be patently fabricated. The cars are reliable to the point of boredom, the winners often decided at the start, and the drivers corporate robots. I do hold hope for the Lauda/Hunt film though. To real characters.
on August 23, 2011 at 08:40 Patrick

Why make a fictional film about F1 when the real thing has so much to offer; Crashgate, Max’s escapades, Stepneygate, etc…

If a film where to be made it has to have a central theme at it’s core, which is the tricky bit. How about Prescott & Powells ‘A matter of life and death’ (the David Niven film)meets Robert Altmans ‘Catch 22′. Altman would be my first choice of director for his unique ability on character development, plot and redemption, but alas he is no longer with us.

What we don’t want is an Americanised, dumbed down, formulaic, smoke and mirrors movie. Let’s have something that makes people think!
on August 23, 2011 at 08:52 Jack

wow 24 laps is pretty impressive isn’t it? Don’t you just hate people who are good at EVERYTHING
on August 23, 2011 at 09:38 Karen

Did RBR have to make a special booster seat for Tom?
on August 23, 2011 at 10:14 jim

Eli Wallach would have been a much more impressive choice to drive the Red Bull car.
on August 23, 2011 at 10:50 rpaco

I think that some of us twisted things need to know if he actually said it to DC or not ?
(I feel the …….etc)
on August 23, 2011 at 11:02 GP

I wonder if Cruise was jumping up and down in the cockpit, you know, like on Oprah’s couch…

Was it in Montreal (if not, it was Monaco) that George Lucas was asked if he was planning to make a new movie on F1…? His response was that sporting events are not good for a movie because they are always more unpredictable
and therefore more captivating than watching a scripted scenario.

Let’s see, if Cruise was in an F1 movie, who would win that race? A movie may promote F1 to new fans but they’re certainly not going to get my money after seeing Days of Thunder and a few minutes of Driven.
on August 23, 2011 at 12:01 Rudi

Days of Thunder – part deux? No thank you. Flying stock cars were bad enough.
on August 23, 2011 at 12:07 YuppieScum

I’d like to see a star of Cruise’s stature take the lead in a biopic about Bernie…
on August 23, 2011 at 12:07 Jakob Schmidt

Great summer haircut, Joe!
on August 23, 2011 at 13:10 Penn

“Formula One can cash in on the new fans that a movie creates, rather than squeezing the film-makers for every available penny…”

An eminently sensible comment… and one which will be quite impossible for Ecclestone to understand.
on August 23, 2011 at 13:49 malcolm.strachan

Harry Hogge: Cole, you’re wandering all over the track!
Cole Trickle: Yeah, well this son of a b**** just slammed into me.
Harry Hogge: No, no, he didn’t slam you, he didn’t bump you, he didn’t nudge you… he *rubbed* you. And rubbin, son, is racin’.

Harry Hogge: All right. While we’re still under a caution, I want you to go back out on that track and hit the pace car.
Cole Trickle: Hit the pace car?
Harry Hogge: Hit the pace car.
Cole Trickle: What for?
Harry Hogge: Because you’ve hit every other goddamned thing out there, I want you to be perfect.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think it could be adapted to F1 quite well.
on August 23, 2011 at 13:53 Michael C

‘Formula One can cash in on the new fans that a movie creates, rather than squeezing the film-makers for every available penny…’ HA HA HA

Given all the egos involved this doesnt look like much of a runner to me but Tom Cruise looks as though he has bagged Sebs part if it comes off. look forward to the video link
on August 23, 2011 at 13:54 M. Seamus McFly

Well, Tom Cruise is to Hollywood what F1 is to the automotive industry: Good name recognition, no plausible rationale in any meaningful context for what they’re doing, and well on their way to being silly, wasteful, mostly pointless footnotes in history – if not repurposed into something worse yet by the egos and interests of modern pied pipers, autocrats and oligarchs. Even Red Bull, the purveyor of slightly metabolism altering beverages and provider of proxy thrills by a select few stuntmen, must be running outta ideas if this is the way “forward”. The jesters of mammon devolved into considering the mere act of exchanging increasingly large fortunes between themselves as entertainment. Good grief.
on August 23, 2011 at 14:05 Jonathan

Ron Howard has confirmed an f1 movie based on the 1976 season is in production.
on August 23, 2011 at 16:28 Craig

Can they send it to the north of England next to see how the comics fare against him in a better car than Top Gear offer? (For those overseas who don’t watch it his time on Top Gear was beaten by John Bishop and Ross Noble..)

I’ll be interested to see the video publicity of the day when it inevitably comes out. The Brawn story would probably make an interesting F1 Days of Thunder (if we forget the Honda bit..) It could be good or hilariously bad..
on August 23, 2011 at 17:28 Steven Roy

A Tom Cruise F1 movie is most likely to lead to more new fans in America and yet another useless Tilkedrone (sic) at the expense of one of the few proper tracks left. We really don’t need that.

Unfortunately Bernie is like the football player in Jerry Maguire. ‘Show me the money’ and will follow the money regardless whether or not that is a good thing for the sport. The saddest thing about F1 is that the most important factor in any decision is how much money one man makes. It baffles me that the teams etc think Bernie getting richer is a good thing.
on August 23, 2011 at 17:31 Piotr Misztal

Tom Cruise did a bit or racing in IMSA about 20 years ago. From what I understand he was plenty fast but tended to kill his equipment. He did not know how to drive to finish. Speed seemed not to be a problem.
on August 23, 2011 at 18:00 BJ

I was pretty impressed by this, provided there was no sand volleyball match between Cruise, DC, Vettel and Horner afterwards.
on August 23, 2011 at 18:20 Silverstone79

Joe, new hair cut or not….have you lost weight ?
on August 23, 2011 at 18:28 Baz

“Days of Thunder” is referred to as “Days of Chunder” for a reason.
on August 23, 2011 at 18:41 DaveMyers

Scientology to sponsor Red Bull in 2012? (Someone had to say it)
on August 23, 2011 at 19:56 docjkm

Re above: F1= best drivers and cars, why not best tracks. We all know, and see, what’s happening.

LEGACY TRACKS!! Imperative step. Take it now before they fade.
on August 23, 2011 at 20:29 noahracer

Who is going to get the “SCIENTOLOGY SPECIAL?”
on August 23, 2011 at 21:15 Patrick

How about Martin Scorcese as director!

The themes from his films fit easily into the F1 paddock…
on August 23, 2011 at 22:14 Stravros

Hello peeps,

In the pic, DC does seem a bit pained.

Hum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r1F0Whz3tI
on August 23, 2011 at 22:27 Tony Dowe

Kinda makes me think that if he could do it, so could I! Not what F1 needs!
on August 23, 2011 at 22:56 Tony G

And Ross Noble didn’t put it on two wheels either….
on August 23, 2011 at 23:16 Larry Perkins

Tom is a Lawyer, he’s a pretty good lawyer, till he hits a crisis of confidence, but a beautiful lady talks him into being a better lawyer, he then becomes the best lawyer ever
Tom is a bartender, he’s a pretty good bartender, till he hits a crisis of confidence, but then a beautiful lady talks him into being a better bartender, he then becomes the best bartender
Tom is a fighter pilot, he’s a pretty good fighter pilot, till he hits a crisis of confidence, but a beautiful lady talks him into being a better fighter pilot, and he becomes the best pilot
Tom is a nascar race car driver, he’s a pretty good race car driver, till he hits a crisis of confidence, but a beautiful lady talks him into driving cars better, then he becomes the best NASCAR driver
Tom is a sports agent, he’s a pretty good sports agent, until he hits a crisis of confidence, but a beautiful lady talks him into being a better sports agent, then he becomes the best sports agent.
Tom is a secret agent on a plane, he’s quite a good secret agent, until he hits a crisis of confidence (in the FBI), but a beautiful lady comes to help him, and he becomes the best agent.
COMING SOON
Tom is a F1 driver, he’s quite a good F1 driver, until he has a confidence crisis, however his beautiful lady helps him and he becomes the best F1 driver.
on August 24, 2011 at 00:47 Adrian Newey Jnr

The only person Tom could feasibly play is Schumi. I guess there are a lot of similarities. Stalled comebacks…
on August 24, 2011 at 03:05 markdartj

I’ve been waiting for a modernization of the movie “Grand Prix” which was done by John Frankenheimer in the 60′s. It starred James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, and my favorite, Yves Montand. There has never been a better racing movie made. It was the first time cameras were placed on high speed cars, and actors were actually drove the cars while being filmed. It was edited with footage from real races (centered around the 1966 season), and featured walk on shots of Graham Hill, and Phil Hill. The plot is predictable, but the filming and editing make the movie worthwhile. I like it especially for the shots of the old Monza circuit, when they raced the combined high banked oval and road course. Also the Spa Francorchamps is raced on the old full course. Eau Rouge looks a lot more intimidating in cars without downforce.
on August 24, 2011 at 09:26 rpaco

“I’ve been waiting for a modernization of the movie “Grand Prix” which was done by John Frankenheimer in the 60′s. It starred James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, and my favorite, Yves Montand. There has never been a better racing movie made. ”

Yes it was a classic, but the behind the scenes story at Monaco was even better, it involved actors (James Garner, dripping wet frozen cold and with no sense of humour ) directors, producers, sound men, lighting men, stunt men, all of whom spoke different languages and none of each other’s. (I’m pretty sure I remeber this from a Parkinson show).
The old “Le Mans” film was also a classic (Steve McQueen the Tom Cruise of his day but ten times more style and machismo, he drove himself in all his films, even chasing himself in the great escape when the stunt man said no) And who can forget the first proper car chase ever in “Bullitt” (even if the engine was erroneously revved on the up change as well as the down) until my daughter spoilt it for me by mentioning the VW beetle reappearing in every other chase shot. (oops don’t read that if your are going to watch Bullitt again.)
on August 24, 2011 at 11:43 paulN

the ron howard film is called ‘Rush’ and is a biopic of Niki Lauda in the 76 season. Due for release in 2013. check it out on IMDB by looking under Ron howard, director
on August 24, 2011 at 11:43 Jerry

Larry Perkins – you forgot:

Tom is a scrabble player, he’s a pretty good scrabble player, until he hits a crisis of consonants . . .

credit to Rich Hall for that one!
on August 24, 2011 at 12:09 heathroi

@markdartj sorry but Grand Prix was only good because of the cameras on the F1 cars. The only decent film about formula one or racing up to the recent senna doco was the quick and the dead aka one by one, which bombed at the movies.
If I would presume to offer Ron Howard advice, He should just interview people involved in racing or go through their memoirs and build up a storyline around those and then put a few clips of actual 70s formula one cars. At least avoid it becoming Driven or involving Sylvester Stallone
on August 24, 2011 at 12:35 Max Blake

“amid great secrecy”…erm…correct me if i’m missing something but that doesnt sound like a great publicity stunt to me!
- on August 24, 2011 at 16:13 joesaward
  
  The announcement was a week after the test
on August 24, 2011 at 14:13 Tony

I want 82 the movie, has everything from strikes( set to piano music) treachery on more than one level, tragedy, tears ( tambey at Hockenheim) , and an unlikely World Champion. Mind you it would turn out about twice as long as Ghandi.
on August 24, 2011 at 14:45 Martin Collyer

Rpaco

We watched Bullitt recently and spotted green VW Beetles all over the place, perhaps it was a popular car/colour comination at that time!!!

Strange that we never spotted it before, we have seen the film many times.
on August 24, 2011 at 15:29 dj_ghosie (@dj_ghosie)

Thinking of TC as a driver in an F1 movie would be out of sync with reality as there’s no way he could act in his 20. But to have him portrait as a Team Principal in an F1 movie based more on the political side (as Brawn in the takeover/transition year) could be possible to make a grippy movie. Similar idea worked in Senna.
on August 24, 2011 at 15:57 contrarian

Joe, the Senna Documentary has done quite well in most of the countries it has been shown. With several film/cinema sites saying that women and non f1 fans have been quite favorable/receptive. But here in the states where multi-plexes abound, the distribution of this film, even though there is distribution by disney owned ESPN Films, has really been limited to selected cities and quite often the more art-house venues. This film could have been that trailblazer to create a hunger for more.
After seeing the success in Japan, and in the UK, and warm reception at Sundance and other festivals, one would have thought that a little wider distributed campaign might have been a possibility, especially if they utilized the Disney/ESPN synergy.

What a shame.
on August 24, 2011 at 16:58 rpaco

Martin
It’s the same car! But it’s still one of the best ever car chases.
New F1 film L Ron Hubbard to write script? F1 Lensmen!
on August 24, 2011 at 19:04 second lensman

Didn’t Tom Cruise drive his Dad’s Ferrari into a lake?
on August 24, 2011 at 19:10 GeorgeK

I can’t believe all of the negative comments in regard to Cruise and Days of Thunder. Cruise is an accomplished ACTOR, he was playing a role. The role may have been limited, but not his capability to ACT.

As long as he has a passion and capability of driving well any movie about F1 will have the potential of being great. And it may bring him into racing in a more general mode ala Paul Newman after he filmed Winning. PN was 45 at the time.

I would love to know what it cost Red Bull to set this up.
on August 24, 2011 at 19:24 GeorgeK

Contrarian:
In regard to U.S. distribution I haven’t seen it anywhere, not that I have actively looked for it.

Limerock race track here in Connecticut is showing it in their “theater” this Saturday for $15.00, my son and I planning on going.
on August 24, 2011 at 20:21 malcolm.strachan

What I really want to know is what Coulthard thought of the Willow Springs circuit, and what his best laptime was!
on August 24, 2011 at 23:30 contrarian

it was a Porsche 928, “Who’s the U-boat commander?” plus it rolled into the lake maybe with the keys locked in it.
on August 25, 2011 at 02:26 Adrian Newey Jnr

DJ-Ghoshie – I see TC playing Flavio in a life pic.
on August 25, 2011 at 14:25 rpaco

Aide
TC and who else on his shoulders? Can two people fit in a fat suit?
on August 25, 2011 at 15:22 Tom

Larry Perkins made my day. lol.
on August 27, 2011 at 17:08 Rudi

Jalopnik reports that TC went off during the drive and a has picture to support it!

http://jalopnik.com/5834702/watch-awesome-tom-cruise-drive-awesome-f1-car-awesomely

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