Brad Pitt Reveals Why He and Tom Cruise Pulled Out of Starring in 'Ford v Ferrari'
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Before Brad Pitt suited up for F1: The Movie, he and Tom Cruise were nearly the stars of another high-octane racing film: Ford v Ferrari.
In a recent interview with The National, Pitt confirmed long-standing rumors that he and Cruise were once attached to star in the racing drama, with director Joseph Kosinski on board.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R14ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R24ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe“Tom and I, for a while there, were on Ford v Ferrari with Joe [to direct],” Pitt said. “This was about 10 years before the guys who actually made it — and made it a great movie.”
But the megastar pairing didn’t pan out for one simple reason: they both wanted to be the one driving.
“What it came down to is that we both wanted to drive, and he wanted to play Shelby, and I wanted to play Ken Miles,” Pitt explained. “And when Tom realized that Carroll Shelby would not be driving much in the movie, it didn’t come through.”
Eventually, the project was reimagined and released in 2019 under the direction of James Mangold.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R19ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R29ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeMatt Damon starred as Shelby, the visionary car designer, while Christian Bale played British driver Ken Miles in the true story of Ford’s effort to beat Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards and won two.
While Pitt and Cruise’s original version never made it to the starting line, the idea of working together on a racing film isn’t off the table.
As Pittexplained, he’d “love to” collaborate with Cruise again, possibly on a sequel to F1: The Movie, which earned $144 million globally in its opening weekend, per ESPN.
Pitt even floated the idea of a dual sequel that would combine F1 and Cruise’s own 1990 NASCAR film Days of Thunder — but with one condition: “I would want to drive again, selfishly speaking,” he said.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R1eekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2eekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeBrad Pitt Reveals Why He and Tom Cruise Pulled Out of Starring in 'Ford v Ferrari' first appeared on Parade on Jul 4, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 4, 2025, where it first appeared.
