Tom Cruise shows up as a surprise guest at Brad Pitt’s F1 London premiere

Tom Cruise was a surprise guest at the London premiere of the F1 movie, out to support a film he, technically has nothing to do with.

Cruise and Brad Pitt are two of the remaining old-school movie stars who are still commanding attention and audiences, and the pair’s combined celebrity power lit up the red carpet at Leicester Square.

The two greeted each other with a hug in front of the cameras, shared a laugh and then posed for a series of photos.

The encounter instantly lit up social media platforms and news outlets, speaking to the enduring power both men, now in their early 60s, still have as proper big screen stars in an era of diminishing singular celebrity power.

The F1 London premiere managed to dominate an entertainment news cycle that also included the New York City opening for Jurassic World: Rebirth, as well as the ongoing promotional tour for Superman.

Pitt has been globetrotting to promote the F1 movie, which is in cinemas this week, and he seemed happy enough to share the spotlight with his former Interview With the Vampire co-star. Earlier this month, Pitt was asked whether he would act in another film with Cruise, and he said yes, but had the condition only if it didn’t require him to hang off a plane mid-air.

While the two aren’t known to be best buds, Cruise is, however, very close to F1’s filmmaking team. F1 has the same director (Joseph Kosinski), producer (Jerry Bruckheimer), screenwriter (Ehren Kruger) and cinematographer (Claudio Miranda) as Cruise’s billion dollar-blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick.

He’s also been the most high profile cheerleader for the cinema experience and has posted photos of himself at the movies holding tickets to the likes of Sinners, Tenet, Barbie and Oppenheimer.

Last year, Cruise also attended the London premiere of Maverick co-star Glen Powell’s movie, Twisters. In return for his support of Sinners, Michael B. Jordan, who starred in and produced the horror film, walked the red carpet for Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

The F1 movie was produced by Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton through his banner, Dawn Apollo Films, in collaboration with Apple, who is working with Warner Bros to release the picture in cinemas globally before it hits streaming. The production budget was a reported $US200 million.

The film features Pitt as Sonny Hayes, a fictional former driver who crashed out of the elite competition in the 1990s but is recruited back onto the circuit by friend Ruben (Javier Bardem).

Faced with a wall of sceptics, including his younger teammate Joshua (Damson Idris), Hayes is out to prove there’s still speed and life left in him, despite his advanced years.

The film also stars Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Kim Bodnia and Sarah Niles.

Hamilton’s involvement in the project gave the filmmakers access to the biggest names in the sport, securing Formula One’s endorsement and cooperation.

The production followed the 2023 competition around the world, from circuit to circuit, starting with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, capturing on track and track-side footage during the real-life races.

Hamilton had introduced director Kosinski to Toto Wolff, the principal of the Mercedes team and they would work together to rebuild six Formula Two cars to look like Formula One cars, and incorporated cameras, sound equipment and transmitters.

Pitt and Idris would drive the cars and be filmed during Formula One race weekends in the small window of time, sometimes as little as nine minutes, between practice and qualifying sessions.

Kosinski said during a media Q&A session in March, “I don’t think the crowd realised that Brad Pitt was in the car that was in front of them, so there was definitely this heightened quality to every race.”

To further ground the movie in the real world of Formula One, a raft of actual personalities appear as themselves in the film, including Hamilton, Wolff, Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso.