Toto Wolff has revealed an amusing and curious behind-the-scenes detail from the filming of F1, the Hollywood movie starring Brad Pitt and set in the thrilling world of Formula 1, in which several drivers and team principals, including Wolff himself, made cameo appearances.
In the film, a number of Formula 1 figures briefly appear on screen, among them Toto Wolff. The Mercedes team principal features in a short sequence towards the final scenes, but according to Wolff, he was not particularly pleased with how his role turned out.
The movie, which has already grossed 5 million euros in Italy and an impressive 552 million worldwide, tells the story of a former driver, played by Brad Pitt, who makes a comeback to Formula 1 to mentor a young rising star while also attempting to rescue the struggling team owned by his longtime friend.
Lewis Hamilton is one of the executive producers of the project. The seven-time Formula 1 world champion was deeply involved in ensuring the film would remain as authentic as possible to the reality of the sport, even though, as Wolff himself reminded, it is still a Hollywood production. However, not every driver or team principal was enthusiastic about stepping in front of the camera to take part in the movie.
Toto Wolff shared his personal experience directly from the set of the film F1. Speaking in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the Mercedes boss explained that it had been “interesting to be part of the conversations with Brad [Pitt], with Javier Bardem, with director Joe Kosinski and [producer] Jerry Bruckheimer.”
However, when it came time to actually act in front of the camera, things took a rather unexpected turn. Wolff recalled: “They say it was nice, but I think they were lying to me. It makes me cringe. It happened in Abu Dhabi, after the race. There was no makeup, no hairstyling. They just told me, ‘ok, let’s do it’. They were a little annoyed because I did that scene five times. I wanted it to be good. Not that it turned out good in the end…”
The scene in question was filmed right after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where Wolff is shown approaching the character of Joshua Pearce, played by actor Damson Idris. In that moment, Wolff offers Pearce a seat at Mercedes, telling him that his team is searching for a new driver.
Adding to the challenge, Toto Wolff admitted that he even performed the lines in several different languages, something that made the cameo far from simple and turned it into a genuine test of his ability.
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