Lewis Hamilton is producing a Formula 1 movie with Joseph Kosinski starring Brad Pitt.
The British racing star could have worked with the filmmaker on Top Gun: Maverick had it not been for his conflicting work schedule.
In a new interview, Hamilton revealed he lobbied Tom Cruise to star in a possible Top Gun sequel before the 2022 film was made.
“I will even be a janitor,” Hamilton recalled in a GQ interview talking about his conversation with Cruise. “Just let me be in it.”
When Maverick entered the casting stage, Cruise remembered Hamilton and offered him a role as a pilot, but the racer had to decline due to his schedule, something he now regrets.
“Firstly, I hadn’t even had, like, an acting lesson,” he said. “And I don’t want to be the one that lets this movie down. And then secondly, I just really didn’t have the time to dedicate to it. I remember having to tell Joe and Tom — and it broke my heart. And then I regretted it, naturally, when they show me the movie and it’s: It could’ve been me!”
Although he didn’t have the opportunity to work with Kosinski in Top Gun: Maverick, he will now work with him in the Formula 1 film.
“My point was: Guys, this movie needs to be so authentic,” Hamilton said. “There’s two different fan groups that we have — like, the old originals, who from the day they’re born hearing the Grand Prix music every weekend and watching with their families, to the new generation that just learned about it today through Netflix.”
He continued, “I felt my job really has been to try to call BS. ‘This would never happen.’ ‘This is how it would be.’ ‘This is how it could happen.’ Just giving them advice about what racing is really about and what, as a racing fan, would appeal and what would not.”