0:00
First question they asked was, "How many of people are familiar with F1 or have seen a race?" One hand went up 20.
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One woman raised her hand.
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She said, "When you said the name of the movie and it was about racing, I wanted to get up and leave.
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I have absolutely no interest in that sport."
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She said, "Not only did I rate the movie excellent, I'm telling all my friends to go see it."
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Cuz she was emotionally engaged in this movie.
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something I'm sure that you never get too used to.
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The idea of of, you know, releasing something you've been working on, something you've been passionate about with a wide crew of people, passionate people to the world and and really finding out, you know, how people feel about the art that you in your heart know is special.
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And that that moment must be just still to this day, aside from the process of creating something, kind of the biggest kick to know it's about to be seen.
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It's exciting and nerve-wracking all at the same time because you never know how the public's going to receive it.
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As smart as we are and all the testing we do, the audience knows a lot more than we do collectively.
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And that's the exciting part about what happens when you release a movie.
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Anybody who tells you they have a hit movie Yeah.
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before the audience uh before it really opens, they're lying. They don't know. Nobody knows.
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And even if if you have, you know, test audiences that say it's brilliant, it can open to $2.
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And it's happened to me, you know, where they love the movie, it's it's fantastic, and then nobody shows up.
1:30
How do you sort of process uh a disappointment like that when when your instinct told you at the time, like it has many times that it has worked, that this was this was going to work.
1:41
This is going to be okay, you know, because it's about instinct and taste at the end of the day, isn't it?
1:45
Well, I'm still really proud of what we do.
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And that's the, you know, if I'm satisfied, I feel good about it.
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But I can't understand what an audience doesn't see in it or sees in it. We just don't know.
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We use our best instincts to make movies and, you know, I've gotten movies that again have gotten great reviews and people love and and it they disappear.
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But I know they're really good movies and and the critics know it's a good movie just for whatever happened happened in between us finishing it and it going into a theater.
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I don't know what happens on the way but something happens.
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Yeah, it's the great art of letting go.
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I think that uh you know that's something as human beings that we sort of figure out over the course of our life and you certainly understand the principle and that when you create something and have to let it go every time.
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But what's interesting now in the world we live in is they're streaming.
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So these things live on forever and they sometimes they become really successful in streaming but where people didn't want to pay money to see it but they'll they'll watch it over and over again on a streaming service like Apple.
2:46
Yeah, that's one of the plus sides of having a streaming service and the ability to experience things as you said kind of on your own time.
2:53
Um you know the downside of that obviously that I think movie makers in particular are really experiencing is the sense of eventization right the idea of a movie landing in a theater and for just a brief moment in people's lives. it really matters.
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It's a very big priority to disappear into into the darkness and enjoy it.
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How have you found that transition?
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Because you've seen it go from, you know, the absolute apex of theatergoing experiences, hundreds of millions of dollars, billions of dollars at the box office, now into the streaming era.
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And I know you still want to make movies for the big screen.
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So, how's the balance for you as a movie maker?
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You know, I love creating content.
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That's my passion and what I love doing.
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you know, whether it's for a big screen, which I prefer because you see the results immediately, or for a streaming service, it's still a creative art, and you can use your art whether it's in your living room or on the big screen.
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The movie we just finished for Apple F1, the movie, is to be experienced on the big screen.
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It's visually, it's stunning. The sound is amazing.
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It takes you inside a world that you never be a part of. It's immersive.
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uh the seats shake and you don't have to be a racing fan to really enjoy this movie at all.
4:02
Uh it's just the drama inside our characters that goes on in this world is what captivates people and it's emotionally engaging and that's the best thing that we can do.
4:14
We can take you on a ride and we transport you to this world that you'll never be a part of on the inside and you see how it actually works and you live the drama of Sunny Hayes who's played by Brad Pitt and his journey of redemption. We all want redemption.
4:32
We all want that's a human experience. We all make mistakes. We want to redo them.
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And also of teamwork on how teamwork can enhance your life and we all want that around us.
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have a great team that works together.
4:45
And the movie is is this kind of unfunctional group of people who can't quite get it together and how this one man can come in and and kind of mold it into something that's organic and works really well together.
4:59
You've wanted to make a movie about Formula 1 Grand Prix racing, I believe, since Days of Thunder.
5:04
Yeah, we've we've always loved the sport of of motor racing. It's a fan.
5:10
I grew up in Detroit, so I mean it's a car city and cars were always a big part of my upbringing there.
5:15
You know, we always waited for the new models to come out and who can get pictures of them and it was exciting. Yeah.
5:21
So that's but I really didn't know much about F1 until four years ago when I started watching Drive to Survive. Yeah.
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And really got a sense of uh the exciting world that encapsulates these amazing athletes.
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there there are only 10 teams, two drivers to each team, and it's the only sport where your team is your competitor because you all want to be the number one driver on your team.
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And even this last Sunday, two teammates crashed, McLaren trying to pass each other.
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And so you can see that how how visceral the sport is.
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even a guy who's in your same garage, you run off the track or try to and then you have to get, you know, Monday morning you go back to work again with the same person.
6:06
Well, it's kind of the timing was perfect last weekend for this film in particular because obviously without giving too much away, you know, there's a part of the arc that where that occurs where these two drivers are each other's throats even though they should be really working together.
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And sure enough, just, you know, on the eve of releasing this film, you know, art and real life, all of a sudden the lines blur beautifully, you know.
6:22
Well, there's nothing in this film as far as racing that hasn't happened in F1 through the history.
6:29
Uh, we did an enormous amount of research.
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Uh, Lewis Hamilton is a producer on the movie.
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He's the first person we went to, even before Brad. Yeah.
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We got Lewis involved, you know, before we even started writing the screenplay just to make sure we had everything right.
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And we spent, you know, one day we had 12 hours in room with with Lewis and Brad just going through every page of the script to make sure we had everything as as good as you can make it.
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So he was the continuity expert ultimately saying, "Listen, this is just not kind of how it happens on on the on the track."
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And it even comes down to sound where he'd say, "We're at Silverstone and he's listening to a reel and he says, "Well, you're going into turn three and it sounds like you're in third gear, we'd be in second gear."
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So I mean, we had to modulate.
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and he'd say things, "Well, in turn five, you can't pass.
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If you try to pass, you'll crash." We use that.
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We had a crash on that turn.
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So, so anything we can do to make it as real as possible.
7:23
I mean, I feel like that is you and your process of making films.
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I've never seen um in particular the ones that deal with kind of the extreme version of the human experience, whether it's fighting fighter jets or race cars, where you don't lean into the detail.
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And in particular with F1, it's it's necessary because fans are obsessive.
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The sport itself is obsessive.
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It's incredibly detail orientated down to the millisecond.
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The tiniest little thing can change the outcome of a race for you.
7:51
So, you know, there's there's no broadstrokes in this particular film, right?
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It must have been hard or challenging, I should say.
7:55
Um, to be as detailed as you can be, but also want for us to experience the big picture excitement of a Brookheimr film.
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It's a combination of a lot of great artists. That's what it is.
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And it's what I try to do is gather the most talented people I can and and let them go protect them and let them go do their thing.
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And that's what happened with F1.
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We had Brad's an enormous not only a brilliant actor, Academy Award winner, but he's also he's into the details.
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He sits and works on the script with us.
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He worked on the edit with us.
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He worked on every possible way that we can make the film better and mold it into something that he would be really proud of. And that's so important.
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I mean, I've worked with actors who they come in and they do their lines, they go home. Yeah.
8:38
And you they show up at the premiere and that's it.
8:43
But but he's in the weeds.
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Kind of like Tom Cruz, the same thing.
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They're both in the weeds on everything and they make everything better. They really do.
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You know, some people could say, "Well, they're meddling and they're" It's not true at all because they're both of them are really smart and really good filmmakers and they do things that are unexpected and things I would never think of were the directors.
9:04
So, they bring this secret sauce to everything they do.
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Well, that's the art of collaboration and I wanted to talk to you about that.
9:11
I'm glad you brought that up because you're a very hands-on producer in the sense that you're a creative human being.
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I know producers who, you know, work the numbers and ensure that things stay on track. That's not you.
9:21
You are a creative person who finds yourself working to do all of that work.
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But from a creative point of view, so you know, you said something before about finding talented people and giving them the space, protecting them to do their best work.
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What is the art of collaboration when you in your heart know something could be better and the director doesn't see it or someone doesn't see it?
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And how do you know to push and not pull back?
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It's the art of persuasion.
9:44
I just uh can you elaborate a bit on that because I'd love to get your take on what the art of persuasion is.
9:50
A Brookheimr take you just keep going at it. You just don't give up.
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You you keep pushing and pushing until you you either you're right or you're wrong.
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It's always the best argument wins.
9:59
And sometimes they'll say something to me and I say, "Wait, you're right.
10:02
You know, it shouldn't be that way."
10:03
When you have a a creative relationship with your talent, which we try to do, but they come at it from a whole different point of view than I do. I I'm the audience. I want to see.
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I make movies I want to see.
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I don't know what you like.
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I don't know what anybody else likes, but I know what I like.
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And that's and I surround myself with people who in my opinion do things creatively interesting of things I think the public would want to see or be a part of.
10:31
What was that first film for you where you were in the audience as a child and you knew that not only did you want to be in the film business, but that you knew what you wanted to make because that film made you feel a certain way and you never you never shook it.
10:44
I think it was, you know, Steve McQueen and The Great Escape and uh I mean I I was passionate about David Lean as far as a filmmaker, Bridge on the River Quai, Dr. Javago.
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I mean, he's he was an amazing amazing director and visualist.
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And I believe it's it's not radio, it's film.
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It's got to be interesting to look at, beautiful to look at.
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And we try to hire the best artists, cinematographers, production designers, um, costumeumers, everything that can give you a visual experience that is unique and different.
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You want something that stands out and it looks you just by looking at it that you see something different.
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uh visually and then when you add the sound and the great storytelling, it makes it really something that's unique.
11:31
And that's the word unique. It's got to be unique.
11:33
You work in big budget films, you know, to make something that stands out, that looks beautiful on a big screen with great sound and the detail of cinematographers to say, you know, Jerry, I need this shot.
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You know, it's going to cost.
11:44
You're like, yeah, I'm my job is to protect you and your vision. Let's go do it.
11:48
So, with that being said, as someone who has made billions, tens of billions of dollars at the box office, but also spent a lot of money making these kind of films, um, what is one of the great sort of lessons you've learned about big money decision-m?
12:01
I think it's it's all about if you have a scene that's on the screen for four minutes, let's say, you want to spend some money, four or five minutes.
12:12
If it's on the screen for 30 seconds, try to save it.
12:20
Try the hierarchy of time. Yeah, that's it.
12:22
You put the money where the audience is really going to see it.
12:24
Don't don't spend on a 10 or 20 second little bit wherever, you know, you want everything perfect, but you know, let's not, you know, spend two days doing 20 seconds.
12:33
Let's not cheat the crash scene. Yeah, exactly.
12:35
The authenticity of of capturing real F1 on screen requires buyin from F1 offscreen.
12:41
And like any great sport franchise, uh, they're a world within a world. The NFL is the same.
12:50
Anywhere like that is the same.
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They protect their franchise.
12:52
So, how did you earn the trust of F1, not just the teams, but of the actual federation, the racing federation to be able to make this film?
13:01
It took four years basically on to make this movie.
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And the first thing we did is Brad, myself, and Joe, the director, flew to London and met with Stephano, who's the head of F1.
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And we explained to him what we wanted to do.
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And Joe developed a reel.
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And he showed Stephano, "This is how we made Top Gun."
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Cuz we didn't have Russian jets.
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So we skinned these planes.
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And then he showed him another reel.
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He took a a sequence, a race sequence, and he said, "Now here's how we're going to integrate our car into your race."
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And so he saw our Apex car around Red Bull and Mercedes and McLaren.
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And he saw, "Wow, this is seamless. You can't tell.
13:42
it doesn't look like visual effects.
13:42
And then we told them, we want to do it the most accurate movie.
13:47
And we have Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes who's going to build the car for us.
13:50
We want to make it as real as you possibly can uh about your sport to celebrate your sport.
13:56
And then we explained that we wanted to have Brad drive and Damson was the other character, Damson Idris, who's an amazing young actor.
14:06
So, we put them in road cars, then we put them in F4 cars, then we put them in F3 cars, and finally into our car.
14:13
So, it was a four-month process of training them because you look at the these races and they look kind of easy.
14:21
These guys get in the car and they drive at high high speeds. It's not. And it's not.
14:26
You turn the wheel that much, you're in the paint, right? That's right. That's right.
14:30
And there's so much information on the steering wheel, it's unbelievable. Yeah. Yeah.
14:32
We traveled to nine different tracks, really 10 including Daytona, and get time in between practice or qualifying or the race itself where we could put our car out there and and they were so gracious and but it took a long time.
14:49
The the biggest obstacle was to work with the teams and explain to the teams because Mercedes and Red Bull had a real kind of rivalry at that at that period. Oh yeah.
15:00
So Red Bull was for sure going to be the villain and they didn't like that.
15:05
And so we it took a while to explain to them, you're not the villain.
15:10
It's about the competition between our two drivers.
15:12
That's what the movie is.
15:13
Has nothing to do with you or Ferrari or Mercedes.
15:16
Well, that's Drive to Survive. Yeah. Exactly.
15:18
And then they all leaned in. Every one of them.
15:20
We did the same thing with the drivers.
15:21
We had Brad met with all the drivers as I did and Joe and explained them the kind of movie we're going to make.
15:28
But what people don't understand is these are the most gifted drivers in the world.
15:32
They are phenomenal athletes.
15:35
You go to Singapore that it's 100 degrees and so it must be 120 in those cars.
15:40
So they deal with the heat.
15:43
I mean the reaction time, the hand eye coordination is phenomenal. The focus.
15:48
I mean you're going 220 m hour and then you got to break down to 50.
15:54
And you want to break at the very last second so you don't lose too much speed. Yeah.
15:59
And that's what makes the the tenth of a second driver better than the one behind him.
16:04
And if you put every one of those 20 drivers in the same car, they'd be within one second of each other.
16:09
I love Formula 1 because it's not like any other sport in the sense that you really are dealing with a very finite pool of talent.
16:13
And getting on and off that board is hard. And it's so competitive. My god.
16:19
I mean, if a driver do three races and he doesn't Yeah. place, he's gone. You're done. Yeah.
16:25
It's like Italian football. Exactly.
16:25
Um, casting, the idea of casting Brad Pitt for a film, Brad Pitt doesn't make that many films these days, you know, he picks very selectively.
16:32
Um, he's earned the right to do that.
16:35
Uh, he's a huge box office draw.
16:38
He's someone everybody, including myself, loves to see on screen.
16:41
How was the conversation with Brad Pitt about F1 the movie?
16:43
And and you know, again, we're talking about triumph and challenge here. Um, you got the triumph.
16:50
What was the challenge of of getting someone like Brad to go, "Yeah, you know, this is a film I want to make.
16:53
It's a big commitment for him.
16:54
You got to learn a whole new skill, which I don't want to age at Brad Pit out. He looks phenomenal."
16:58
Much easier for Damson probably to pick that up than it is for someone like me because it's the reaction time.
17:04
All those things tend to go with the wind.
17:06
So, all of that plays into the question, how was it getting Bradpin involved?
17:09
Well, we we took him to a track with Lewis Hamilton and they drove and Lewis came to us and said, "He's a gifted athlete." Brilliant. He's really good. Brilliant.
17:22
And then Lewis took him Brad on a ride on a hot lap and I'm sure scared the hell out of him.
17:27
But but so it was it was a great experience to watch Brad get into this and he loved it.
17:33
I mean, his saddest day is when we were in Abu Dhabi towards the the end of the movie and he had he did his last lap and had to climb out of the car and it was my happiest day. Yeah, he's okay. He's okay.
17:45
We got through the movie, nobody got hurt.
17:48
What they were doing is first of all, a race is an hour and a half, maybe two hours.
17:55
We had 8 10 hours every day on the track driving. It's it's brutal.
17:58
had they had to they were when they weren't on the track they were training because your neck you're taking 5Gs going in those corners.
18:06
It's it's really physically debilitating and mentally debilitating.
18:11
You got to you got to learn the track.
18:13
We had them on simulators so they understood all the turns and the and they were going they were going fast. They were hitting 180. That's fast.
18:19
So they were really rocking. Yeah.
18:21
And but Damson is a good athlete too.
18:24
We tested him too before he got the part.
18:26
You'd be bummed if you were the right actor for the job, but you just weren't a natural fit for an F1 car, wouldn't you?
18:31
You know, would have been good.
18:33
But S going back to Days of Thunder because the Kindred spirituality between these two movies, both being driving films, uh, one being a primarily American sport, the other one being obviously far more international, more global, I would say, if anything, you know, really, you know, the the heart and soul of it in Europe.
18:50
Let's talk a little bit about um the difference between the two having made Days of Thunder back in 1990 before any of this and any of this, right? And steady can that. Yeah.
19:00
Um and now obviously with technology the way it is, I mean stakes are still high, but can we go back to 1990 or '89 when you were making that film and just how different it was making a high-speed sports danger film in 1990 versus 2025?
19:17
I mean, we didn't realize at the time.
19:19
We use the best technology available to us.
19:21
And Tony Scott is a visual artist and a brilliant filmmaker.
19:24
And he he figured out ways to get cameras in the most unusual places.
19:29
And yeah, because everybody's seen the wide man.
19:31
That's every Saturday or Sunday when they're putting it on TV.
19:34
We've seen all the cameras the TV wants you to see.
19:35
You got to go around those, right?
19:37
Well, we created things in in F1 where we have a First of all, the cameras are a third the size.
19:44
And now what they what we created is a a camera that can pan remotely.
19:49
So we put antennas around all the tracks.
19:52
So when our car is going at 180, he can pan to the car next to him.
19:58
He can go from Brad's face to the car next to him, which is pretty exciting.
20:01
Is there a memory from making Days of Thunder just while we put close the loop on this on this sort of synergy between the two?
20:07
um that really springs to mind.
20:10
It was a a moment you'll never forget during the filming of that could be a moment that felt particularly dangerous that kind of came up beautifully on screen or a moment of triumph.
20:15
Yeah, we we crashed a lot of cars.
20:18
I think I think we built 30 cars and I don't think one was left.
20:25
I mean, we just That sport is dodging though, isn't it?
20:28
I mean, it's the whole point is like, you know, I'm going to give I'm going to clip you. Yeah.
20:30
Tony Scott is, you know, he's he drives motorcycles. He's he climbs. He climbed mountains.
20:38
I mean, he's a real thrill seeker.
20:40
And Tom, I don't think he has a fear gene.
20:42
I mean, he he'll do anything.
20:44
He saw in Mission Impossible, he's hanging out of a plane for 20 minutes or half an hour.
20:49
It's unbelievable what he does.
20:50
So, you get these two guys together, you say, "Oh my god, what's going to happen?"
20:54
So, they were rubbing and, you know, racing.
20:55
It isn't racing unless you're rubbing.
20:58
That's what that's what NASCAR is.
21:01
Much different than than Formula One. Yeah. I mean, people do do it. Yeah.
21:05
Yeah, but it's a calculated risk. That's right.
21:07
It's normally a rubber rub. Exactly.
21:08
Um, what was your first impression of like, you know, when you find actors that you love, I know that, you know, you you make a commitment to them and you build franchises around these people and it becomes this beautiful creative relationship.
21:18
We get to see the benefits of it.
21:20
Um, Tom Cruz was somebody you worked with over over films, plural.
21:21
Um, what did you see in him when you first met him?
21:26
He'd been on screen, but but you decided to invest in Tom Cruz at that time.
21:30
Top Gun was a career-defining movie.
21:32
That for me was the top Tom Cruz intro.
21:34
I I was too young really to see risky business, but I saw Top Gun and I fell in love with this guy. So, what did you see? He's charismatic. I mean, he really is.
21:42
And he's got this smile that lights up a room.
21:45
He's so focused on what he's doing.
21:48
He wants to win in the worst way.
21:51
He wants everybody to win, not just him. He wants to move.
21:53
He He loves entertaining audiences.
21:56
That's what he wants to do.
21:58
He wants to pack those theaters, give them the best experience for their money ever.
22:02
And you got to commend it's not actors talk about their art and this and that.
22:07
Tom, his art is to entertain an audience.
22:09
How do I make a better movie that moves people and gathers people together to experience something that's unique, fresh, and different?
22:20
You know, I think about Top Gun and I think about what that that movie represents at the time, which is, you know, an exercise in strength, um, military power, um, this sort of post-industrial kind of complex onscreen of like, hey man, we make hardware and we go fast and we protect and the army and navy and the marines is an exciting place to be.
22:42
And you know when I was watching it as a kid? Yeah man.
22:46
I mean I was coming out of that world of like playing soldiers and doing all that stuff.
22:50
So of course it it it kind of plays into that.
22:52
How much of it was sort of uh beyond just entertainment also a conscious statement of of strength for the country for America?
23:00
Did it ever cross your mind or anyone's mind or was it purely about the big screen?
23:03
Always about the big screen. Never never about that.
23:05
Never wanted to make a statement or about war or anything else.
23:09
We just it's about character.
23:10
It was all about character.
23:11
It's all about this character who had to overcome something overcome his father, what happened to his father.
23:16
He had all these obstacles he had to overcome.
23:17
And that's what the movie's about.
23:19
It's how you overpower things that hold you back.
23:24
And those are great stories. We all want that.
23:26
It's it's kind of like F1, the same thing.
23:27
You you had these you made these mistakes.
23:30
Um now here's your here's another chance. Don't blow it.
23:34
The influence of movies is so beautiful, though, and it creates such a wonderful um a wonderful environment to your point to get lost in.
23:40
um you know, who do you in to your mind is is making those kind of movies today that you're not involved with that you're a fan of or what are some films that you've seen that really kind of to you strike a chord the way that you're trying to strike a core that you consider to be of equal experience from a movie going point of view?
23:56
Well, Chris Nolan is one of those individuals.
24:00
I He's I mean, Oppenheimer is absolutely brilliant.
24:03
I mean, who who can make a hit movie out of a scientist creating a bomb of all things bomb? Yeah.
24:07
I mean that was a a tour to force what he did and and but they're all different kinds of I mean you look at Marvel and Kevin Feige and all the things that they've created billions and billions of dollars of entertainment.
24:20
Um these are exceptional people who can get things done that people want to go see and I I love it.
24:28
That's I want to put my hand in my popcorn and sit down and watch one of their movies.
24:32
You've had such an incredible life in Hollywood and given so much to to the city.
24:34
Um, what do you love to this day about Hollywood for people who don't live in Hollywood, don't get to work in Hollywood?
24:42
Have it built helped to build the cornerstones of movie city?
24:46
What is special about Hollywood for you?
24:49
Well, it's a place where we can create dreams and magic and and move people and and entertain them around the world, make them feel better. And that's my job.
24:58
My job is to take a group of people, bring them into a theater and have an experience that they lose themselves for a couple hours and we transport them to another place, another time.
25:11
We make them feel something.
25:13
It's always about the emotion.
25:15
How can you move them emotionally?
25:19
And when audiences saw F1, they loved the humor. They loved the romance. And they felt something.
25:24
I had tears in their eyes at certain points in the movie. Do you get that as well?
25:30
Do you do you get emotional?
25:31
Every time I look at that movie, I get tears in my eyes.
25:34
And the same thing with Top Gun.
25:37
It's just they're emotional experiences, and I don't want to make a movie that doesn't take you on that kind of ride character-wise.
25:44
Top Gun Maverick was an important film because not only did you add something to a really important franchise um you know you gave us another bite at the apple which was really appreciated because you know it's it's hard to bring something perfect back and to make us enjoy it again and it worked at the box office.
25:59
It worked in terms of, you know, closing the story and it was recognized in areas that, and this shocked me when I found this out, that you hadn't been recognized in before to that degree in terms of like, you know, the Academy and things like that.
26:15
I mean, what did that tell you in that moment when you realized like after all the great films you've made and all the amazing success you've had and the contributions you've made to Hollywood, which the Academy reflects that, you know, this is the movie that get that that that people understand. Yeah.
26:31
Everybody wants, you know, accolades for their work and it's nice to get them, but my focus is on the audience.
26:38
That's what, you know, I mean, they're producers who just make movies to get awards. Yeah.
26:43
I make movies to entertain audiences and if the awards come that's a great bonus.
26:49
It was also, you know, pretty remarkable to to to see that story come to life with new talent attached to it as well.
26:56
Um, I want to talk a little bit about Maverick for a second and the idea of of aging Mav up and out, you know, in terms of he's he's down and out.
27:07
I mean, this was the hero, the protagonist of the first one, and you've got to you've got to give him some humility.
27:12
you know, he gets turfed out of a bar in the first 10 minutes.
27:14
I mean, this is kind of shocking and it sets the whole film up.
27:17
How is that for you as someone who'd helped build that character and that actor into into being an American hero to then watch him on screen and be a part of the process of tearing him down?
27:27
Do you know what I mean at the beginning?
27:28
Well, you got to give him a journey.
27:30
You can't you can't have him start out as the big hero again.
27:33
You got to have him have these opt obstacles that he has to overcome this time, which is which is to something Tom wants to do.
27:39
He's not he's not afraid to get thrown out of a bar or uh made fun of in certain ways.
27:44
So, he's in the weeds, too.
27:47
Just like Brad, they are in there. They're digging hard. They're like Brad. Four months.
27:50
Both those actors could have done another movie, but they put their energy and energy and time into making this movie the best possible movie.
27:59
How much fun though to learn how to drive a Formula 1 car.
28:03
I mean, that that's what I think about with actors.
28:04
I mean, it's just like the wonker factory of curiosity, isn't it? Yeah.
28:08
And when I do interviews and people who don't understand the sport will say, "Jerry, you got to drive one of those cars."
28:13
And I say, "You've got to be kidding."
28:15
First of all, they mold the seat to you.
28:18
They make the seat specially for your body.
28:20
An F2 driver who's a champion, it takes him a week to figure out how to drive an F1 car.
28:24
That is the difference between these two cars.
28:28
And the F2 engine that we have was going 180 miles an hour.
28:32
I mean, that's it's spectacular that these these cars are so so precision and and when you look at a team and you see the pit crew and you see all the people around the monitors, that's maybe 5% of the people that actually work on these cars, there are a thousand people back in England looking at monitors and telling them their tire pressure and all kinds of crazy things.
28:55
And they built these cars.
28:57
They can put them together in a week.
28:59
Must have been kind of unique for you going in.
29:00
And normally you you you arrive with with your crew and your infrastructure and the circuses in town, but you're getting swallowed up by F1, right, to some degree. Oh, listen.
29:09
We had to fight for track time.
29:11
We, you know, we built these cars and then we built a garage.
29:15
We had our own garage and we were like between Red Bull and Ferrari and some of the races.
29:19
So, we're right in there with with all these teams.
29:24
And that was the gracious thing that F1 and and the various 10 teams awarded us because we were straightforward.
29:32
We told them everything we're going to do and we showed the movie to the drivers a couple weeks ago in Monaco. What they think? How was it?
29:38
Uh they you know they kind of see it as a it should be a documentary.
29:41
I explain to them it's not a documentary.
29:43
It's it's a it's a it's a movie about your sport, about these characters in in in our world.
29:50
And I think they really got a kick out of it.
29:52
They said it was terrific that I mean a couple of drivers said this is the first time I've watched a film that shows exactly what we kind of see when we're sitting in these cars. Then you did it. Yeah.
30:03
Then you did it right because you're always going to make a great film, Jerry.
30:07
You're always going to find a way to put it on screen for us to enjoy it.
30:10
But for the drivers to feel like you did them right, that's a beautiful thing.
30:14
I want to just ask one more question about Maverick and then we'll get back to F1.
30:17
Um there's a particularly poignant scene, I'm sure you know where I'm where I'm going with this, where where um you know, Tom Cruz and Valka get to spend one more moment on screen. Yeah.
30:27
And now, of course, you know, in reflection of of of Valka passing away, which was a a great loss, but what a life and what an amazing journey he he he gave us as an actor.
30:35
I just wanted to to get your reflection on that moment because I'm sure you were on set when that scene was was happening and and just from being there how powerful that was for both those actors and for yourself having started that journey with them.
30:49
It's a scene we shot a couple times uh to make sure we got it right.
30:53
Tom is about it's got to be perfect.
30:56
You got to hit a bullet with a bullet and the first time we did it, it was too distant.
31:00
The location was beautiful but it was too distant.
31:02
So we decided to put it in in terms of their proximity together to create the intimacy.
31:06
Yeah, it was it was outside.
31:08
It was So Tom and Tom and Joe decided to put it inside in in in Val's study and just Val then was sick.
31:15
I mean he wasn't really healthy and he he got so into it.
31:22
Tom, he he told me he said, "Look, we're not making this movie unless we put Val in it." Yeah. Not going to make it.
31:28
And we had to convince Val to play where he was in his own life and that's hard.
31:33
But Val was a soldier and he came in and said, "Let's go make it happen."
31:37
And uh I mean his performance with there was so great and Tom reacting to him was fantastic.
31:42
I mean that that's kind of the heart and soul.
31:45
Those are the emotions we want to give you uh when we make a movie.
31:47
There was no acting that day, was there? No. No. There it was. It was the real deal. Was the real deal.
31:53
What a life you live, you know, and and I I want to give you a compliment.
31:59
That's probably the the best compliment I can give you person to person that we've just met that you've seem to have built a beautiful life around this this this chaos, you know, relationships and family and you know, the stuff that's really important.
32:12
Um, I want to talk about the balance between the kind of success that can people can lose themselves in.
32:19
You've lost friends to success. Absolutely.
32:22
And you know, you've been able to continue to to live your best life and and and just to reflect on that and how you've gone about that for yourself. Well, you get grounded.
32:32
I've been with the same woman for 48 years and that kind of she sets me straight all the time, you know, she makes her own grounded, which is great.
32:42
And I have a daughter and and that's all part of your family unit that that kind of settles you.
32:47
No matter how terrible your day is, you come home and you have people there that love you and want the best for you.
32:54
What is it about success in particular in the entertainment business when you start reaching that high level of success that can be so intoxicating that good people can lose their way?
33:04
For me, it's never about the past.
33:07
It's always about tomorrow.
33:07
I don't think about any of those successes or anything.
33:12
I just worry about what is next?
33:14
How are we going to get through tonight?
33:16
How is this going to be perceived? What is the next movie?
33:18
What is our next TV show? Where are we going?
33:22
The past for me is only to not remake those mistakes that you made.
33:29
You learn from those mistakes. Move forward.
33:31
Think about what the next film is going to be.
33:33
That's where my energy goes.
33:35
My energy now is to promote this movie and to make sure we we deliver for Warner Brothers and Apple.
33:41
to because they, you know, the movie wasn't cheap, but it it's not expensive considering what we put on the screen or compared to other movies in the marketplace.
33:51
We're right in line with the big Superman's and all those other movies.
33:56
So, it's not more expensive than any of those films.
34:00
You know, when do you start thinking about the next film?
34:01
When you're making this one and you spending four years trying to get it made and then you're in production and the drivers have to learn how to drive the cars and then it starts to show up on screen.
34:08
You see the dailies, you're seeing it cut together, when does your when do you start to go, okay, I can compartmentalize this experience and stay focused on this and start thinking about what my next objective is going to be.
34:18
We develop, you know, we develop material all through making movies.
34:21
There's always something that we're working on next.
34:25
It's like a runway, you know, you have all these jets lined up and which ones are going to take off and which ones are going to stall.
34:32
That's that's the business I'm in.
34:33
Getting back to F1, um, this film, what do you want people to ultimately take away from this film when you know, you can't you can't guarantee anybody is going to love it.
34:41
To your point, we started the conversation acknowledging that.
34:44
That's just trying to catch wind in a bottle.
34:46
But if you could, what what would you want people to take away from this?
34:49
They've had an experience. They've been moved.
34:51
Um, they learned something.
34:53
uh they found out about a sport that they never had any interest in.
34:59
As an example, we did what we call a blind preview. What is that?
35:05
Means you gather an audience and say you're going to see a summer movie.
35:07
You they have no idea what it is.
35:09
So we screen the movie and then we had a focus group afterwards. 20 people.
35:13
First question they asked was how many of people are familiar with F1 or have seen a race? One hand went up 20. Okay. Perfect. Perfect sample audience.
35:22
This is This is in California. Yeah.
35:24
Next question was, "How many are interested in F1 now?
35:29
Would like to see a race." Every hand went up.
35:33
One woman raised her hand.
35:33
She said, "When you said the name of the movie and it was about racing, I wanted to get up and leave.
35:39
I have absolutely no interest in that sport. It's just noise to me."
35:43
She said, "Not only did I rate the movie excellent, I'm telling all my friends to go see it."
35:48
because she was emotionally engaged in this movie and the racing had no bearing on in fact that was a negative point.
35:55
She fell in love with the characters and wanted to see that journey and that's what we try to do when we make a movie.
36:02
We want them to take that ride with our characters and be a part of it.
36:06
They'll never be Sunny Hayes.
36:09
They'll never be Damson Idris uh JP but they will have over two hours of entertainment that they will take them on.
36:17
What was your favorite day of filming if there was one or or scene that was shot that that again is in your memory bank now alongside the other great films you've made where you just won't forget that in a hurry?
36:27
I think that he the first day when we were at Silverstone and he he climbed in the car for the first time and and he he had to drive in front of a 140,000 people there and 100 million on television and just to see his composure that I'd be scared to death.
36:48
Do you think he was nervous? I don't know.
36:50
I mean, he's so got to be he he's uh he's so calm and cool, this guy. He really is.
36:58
And he, you know, because you don't want him to spin out, you know, and first of all, they didn't know it was with Brad in the car, but still, if he spun out, somebody would have picked it up that Yeah. Yeah.
37:07
And he just did it and did it beautifully and hit all the right turns and corners and got the speed and that was a great day.
37:13
He said, "Okay, he can do it.
37:15
If he can do this in front of all these people, he can.
37:17
We we got another uh you know 12 weeks of him.
37:22
You know, Jerry, I make music and I talk to primarily people who make music.
37:25
Um and there's an infrastructure and a cadence to how people make that.
37:27
Um and it it doesn't always go the way you want it to.
37:32
Sometimes you feel like the album is coming together and sometimes you feel like you just want to tear it up and start again.
37:37
Is that as a producer and someone who's there every step of the way with the creative and production side of things, does it still happen to you?
37:44
Were there moments when you're like, hm, I need to take a step back and see this with some perspective because I might I it's not my instinct. You know what I mean?
37:54
I'm not feeling it the way I want to feel it.
37:56
Well, that's the audience tells you they tell you right away.
37:59
I've had movies that we screened for an audience and there were maybe 10 people left.
38:04
We just everybody walked out and then we it was a a movie with Michelle Fiper called Dangerous Minds about a school teacher in Northern California.
38:13
And then we worked on it for a year and it became a hit movie. Yeah.
38:17
I did over $und00 million in those days. That was a lot of money. Yeah.
38:20
You can That's what's great. Music's the same way.
38:22
You can go back and it's a lot cheaper.
38:24
You can go back in the studio.
38:26
You can add more musicians.
38:28
You can change the melody. You can add choruses.
38:29
You can do all kinds of cool things with it. Yeah, it's true.
38:33
But, you know, when you've got a when you've shot 70% of a film and you're not sure if the arc is how you imagined it to be, I can imagine that the stakes feel a lot higher. Yeah, it is.
38:41
And but what you do is you we bring in talent.
38:44
We bring in writers and say, "All right, how would you fix this?"
38:48
Because we've been too close to it.
38:48
Tell us what you would do. Yes.
38:49
And when we did Bad Boys, we were going to shoot the opening of the movie and I said, "It's not good.
38:56
The script, this is we never got it right."
38:58
So, I said, "Don't shoot it.
39:00
Let's cut the movie together and then we'll bring some people in.
39:02
We brought some great writers in and they came up with a great idea in the open of the movie.
39:08
You did the opening scene after you'd already kind of edited a majority of the film so you could see kind of what piece of the puzzle was missing. Exactly.
39:13
We've talked a lot about um F1 and we've also touched on just some of the the many films you've you've produced and given the world.
39:19
Uh, and there's one through line here with with a lot of your films, which is um, you maybe with the exception of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, which felt a lot more fantastical, but but most of your films will have some kind of strong soundtrack or music element to it. I love it. Yeah.
39:31
And I want to talk to you about that.
39:33
I want to talk to you a little bit about the combination of music and cinema.
39:35
Um, you know, you're obviously very involved in that as a producer, so you know, you have a hand in that.
39:40
And I feel like there's always big songs that come out of Brookheimr films.
39:44
It started way back on I'm trying to think on first of all it started on Flash Dance of course you know I was watching a movie and I said God this whoever this composer is he's really talented and so I met with the head of music at at Paramont and and I said I I would how do I get to this guy's a hit makes hits all the time. How can I get to him?
40:05
He said I want to introduce you and that was George Moro. Yeah. Amazing.
40:09
And so he he made that that soundtrack phenomenal.
40:15
I mean, he's such a great writer and producer and um so I've had a long relationship with that.
40:20
In fact, I'm going to try to do a movie about his life because it's fascinating.
40:23
You know, you talk a little bit about um loving music and loving it.
40:27
You know, you've had a long relationship with Han Zimmer as well. Yes.
40:30
Um that side of things is very important.
40:32
I'm a huge Thomas Newman fan. I love composition.
40:33
Um, you know, working with Hans on a score like that, again, you got to trust Hans.
40:38
He knows what he's doing, but you got to feel it, right?
40:42
When you sit there in the edit bay and you hear the music come together, unless you hear stand up, unless you get the feeling, it's not going to work for you.
40:49
So, how was that on this film?
40:52
And how and how is working with Hans?
40:53
What's the relationship like there? I mean, he's a genius.
40:55
I don't know where it comes from. I really don't.
40:58
He'll sit down and he'll play something for us and you you get the goosebumps. It's just there.
41:05
And then he'll build it out.
41:05
He'll build it out for all the scenes and he'll write multiple melodies for characters and but it's not easy.
41:11
It's hard because he has to be in a place where it's the last second.
41:18
That's his that's his art and there's enormous pressure and the director is getting nuts. Where's our music? Where is it? Where is it? I said just be patient. He will get there. He will get there. It happened on F1. Joe was getting nervous.
41:30
When are we going to hear something?
41:31
When are we gonna hear something?
41:32
hear something? And finally he he was on tour so he couldn't he couldn't do anything and he comes back he's back for a week and then he plays something and Joe said that's it perfect we got it we got it and we took the melody for that and put it in a song with doa cat I mean
41:50
uh so that is something that is magical that he brings that is just I don't know where that that gift comes from where he how many notes are there not that many notes and yet you can rearrange them to to make something that's unique and different for every movie you make. You
42:06
You talked about making a a film about George Marot's life.
42:10
What a fascinating life that is.
42:11
I'm a fan of documentaries.
42:12
I think that it's important that we continue to find stories to tell because I've done a good job of telling a lot of them.
42:17
One that hasn't been really told is yours.
42:19
And I I sort of wonder I I appreciated the message you sent which was I like to look forward.
42:25
I don't like to look back as much as it's important to kind of learn from things.
42:28
Um, but how are you with reflection or about other people's reflection of your of your life because of the great experiences you've had?
42:35
Do you would you be comfortable with letting somebody tell your story? Not really.
42:42
I I want people to remember me for the movies. Not for me. I want them to.
42:50
It It's so great when people come up to you and say, "God, you were part of my my childhood.
42:54
All your movies I just grew up on.
42:56
You're that gives me the thrill. That's what I want.
42:59
And I want the next generation to be inspired by F1, become filmmakers or composers or writers. And that is what I love.
43:10
That's what you know I Michael Bay was telling me a story that when he saw top the first Top Gun, he was like he got so inspired by it, he wanted to become a director. Yeah.
43:20
And that's what that's what we try to do.
43:24
That's the gift that I want to give to the next generation is be inspired by what we do. Have it move you.
43:29
Have it move you into a career.
43:31
But what I always tell talent is do what you love doing that gives you a glow.
43:38
You know when you finish something or you're doing and you said, "Boy, that was good. I felt good about that."
43:43
And and that is what we try to give to the youth.
43:46
But sometimes people get don't get the glow that they want to get for the things they think they want to be and they're not good at it.
43:57
I would love to be an actor.
44:00
I'd love to be in front of the camera. I'm no good at it.
44:04
So I found something that I love doing that I get the glow every time I watch one of our films.
44:10
And I'll get it tonight again.
44:11
And when I sit there with 4,200 people watching this movie on an IMAX and phenomenal sound and uh that's when I feel great.
44:20
Jerry Brockheimr, thank you for your time.
44:22
It's been a pleasure to meet you and thank you for the films.
44:24
You've entertained us endlessly over the course of your life and continue to do so.
44:27
Good luck with everyone in the movie tonight and thank you for stopping by. Thanks, Z. It's been a pleasure.
44:31
You're you're you're great at what you do. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. [Music]