Brad Pitt ‘F1’ Movie Filmed With Custom Sony Camera

Claudio Miranda, the Oscar-winning cinematographer who is shooting Joseph Kosinski’s upcoming “F1,” worked with Sony Electronics to develop a custom camera to film high-speed shots of Brad Pitt, Damson Idris and additional cast members and stunt drivers on Formula One racetracks.

For his prior collaboration with Kosinski on “Top Gun: Maverick,” Miranda used another new Sony development, the Rialto system, which effectively untethers the body of the camera from the sensor to create a device that could be mounted in small spaces such as aircraft cockpits to capture the feel of being in the aircraft.

To put a camera in a race car with Brad Pitt, who plays Formula One driven Sonny Hayes and was also a producer on the movie, this needed to be even more compact. Miranda tells Variety that on “Maverick,” excepting Tom Cruise, “the actors didn’t fly the aircraft. On Formula One, the actors were driving the cars … So we needed to have a small enough camera system where we could make sure that [Pitt] could drive and see while we get the shots we want.”

The custom cameras were built and mounted in Mercedes Benz race cars for filming — four per car, with remote control over pan and focus. “We spent a lot of time getting the cars ready,” Miranda says, noting that in some cases the stunt drivers exceeded 200 miles an hour. “Sony really listens to us.”

The production received permission to shoot during actual Formula One race days, using the empty track for short intervals before the race so that they could film on the actual track with a live audience. “We’re kind of following the circuit,” Miranda says of “F1,” which is still in production with filming locations including Abu Dhabi and Las Vegas.

“Both Brad and Damson [who plays racing prodigy Joshua Pearce] are really good drivers,” Miranda relates, noting that the released trailer footage is “early Brad. He’s actually a lot faster now.”

For safety, of course, additional cars and dangerous action will be added to the filmed shots as visual effects.

Miranda spoke with Variety during Sony’s recent Kando Trip at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, a sort of high-level customer retreat where industry players are invited to try out Sony gear while the company conducts focus groups and conversations in order to generate customer input for future product research and development. As subjects for lensing, Sony even made arrangements for synchronized swimming and Cirque du Soleil-style performances on the resort grounds.

“[Some] products that have come to market [have been] directly impacted from the meetings that happen here,” says Sony North America president Neal Manowitz. “It’s this idea of co-creating the future, literally together. Claudio has been deeply involved in lots of the development of our products.”

Sony has made no official statement on whether the camera system developed for “F1” will be released as a new product. “F1” is slated for a June 27 theatrical release from Warner Bros.