Brad Pitt kept going after Damson Idris spit on his face while filming a rage scene in F1: ‘I thought I was going to lose my job’

With promising first reviews, Brad Pit-starrer F1 seems set for an enormous opening weekend. Damson Idris, who plays the rookie driver Joshua Pierce, recently talked to Stephen Colbert about how it was filming with Pitt. Idris shared his memory of seeing Pitt as a kid while he was working in a theatre in London and how, while filming a scene with Pitt, he did something so horrific, he thought he was going to be kicked off the movie.

On The Late Show, Colbert asked Idris about his journey into acting and the experience of working with Pitt, who plays the role of the veteran driver Sonny Hayes. Idris appreciated Pitt as an actor and a human being, and to prove to the fans how much of a ‘giving’ actor Pitt truly is, he shared a hilarious story from the sets of F1. He said, “It’s so funny working with Brad. He is an incredibly beautiful human being and such a giving actor. We had this scene where we were supposed to be having a disagreement, and I had to scream in his face. Suddenly, while screaming, I accidentally spat on his face, and he just kept going.” Idris added that he was sure that this was the point where he lost his job, as he saw the spit land on Pitt’s face and saw it dribble down the face of the Academy Award winner.

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Brad Pitt was also complimented by his F1 co-star Javier Bardem, who appreciated how he managed to produce and act while driving real F1 cars at 180 mph. He told Jimmy Fallon that “he was in that F1 car for real, driving it at 180 mph (289 km/h) around all the racing tracks. He had to deal with so many things, and he always made sure that he was taking care of everyone else and was giving all the actors their time to shine and would take a backseat.”

F1 is about a fictional Formula One team, APXGP, who are trying to win their first race. Headed by their team principal Ruben Cervantes, the team looks to touring championship driver Sonny Hayes, who used to race in Formula One alongside Cervantes. The veteran is brought in to inject some much-needed confidence into the team, and Cervantes also hopes that Sonny can be a good role model on the track to their rookie driver, Pierce. The two must squash their differences, learn from one another and pull the team from the pit of despair and defeat.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, who also helmed Top Gun: Maverick, the cast of the film features Brad Pitt, Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem, Simone Ashley, Lewis Hamilton and Tobias Menzies.