ABU DHABI: A PERFECT PLACE TO END 'FI'

Director Kosinski and producer Bruckheimer tell us why the emirate is so significant in the film

- By Manjusha Radhakrishnan Entertainment Editor

There was no time for small talk. In the five brisk minutes I had with director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, what struck me most was the no-frills, no-fuss tone of our chat — much like their new film, F1 The Movie.

Brad Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a once-great Formula One driver pulled back into the sport, clearly with unfinished business of his own. He's older, bruised by the past, and just self-aware enough to know he's being written off. And yet, he shows up. That quiet defiance is at the film's core.

'IT'S NOT FOR THE MONEY'

So I went straight in — to the line that stuck with me long after the credits rolled: “It’s not for the money.” It says everything about the man behind the wheel. And, as I soon learnt, it said a lot about the men behind the movie too.

“Yeah, no, I do this job because I love it,” said Kosinski, who knows his way around scale and speed, thanks to Top Gun: Maverick and Tron: Legacy.

“I make films about subjects that I'm interested in. Yeah, it’s all about passion... it took almost four years from the initial idea to where we are now. So, yeah, you have to love what you do. And it doesn’t feel like work, you know, at all. It’s great.”

And then there’s Jerry Bruckheimer — a name that’s practically a genre unto itself and that has defined blockbuster cinema for decades. His response was pure Bruckheimer: grounded, direct, and razor-sharp. “Listen ... you’ve got to love what you do. The money is an added bonus. But if you love what you do, you work really hard, and the money is not as meaningful if you do something you hate...”