Formula One has in recent years become big bucks at the ‘box office’. More so the TV box office particular since the arrival of Netflix behind the scenes annual Drive to Survive series. Whilst the Le Mans 66 film (Ford v Ferrari) made just $225m dollars, the fact a film company showed interest in the topic was unusual.
Yesterday Apple announced they intended to jump on the band wagon and acquired the rights to an F1 film staring Brad Pitt with Lewis Hamilton named as the producer.
Hamilton is credited with ‘executive producing’ a 2018 documentary about a competitor in the UFC switching his diet to Veganism. The new Apple Original Films project will be Lewis Hamilton’s first full production credit as movie’s ‘The Producer’.
The difference between an ‘executive producer’ and ‘producer’ is substantial As screenskills.com details: “Sometimes the title of executive producer is a nominal. It’s used to credit an established writer who has signed off a drama but had little to do with its production. It’s a role that applies to TV drama, rather than film.”
Hamilton was credited for the 2018 UFC film, but in reality was not involved in the pre-production, production or post-production aspects of the movie.
Being a full credited producer producer is a far more weighty role as boards.com reveals.
“A film producer is involved in initiating, coordinating, supervising, and managing the production, which can be a television show, a movie, an online series, or commercial video.”
“Thanks to them, ideas ripen, scripts get written and perfected, money flows, talent gets attracted to the project’s vision, contracts are signed, personnel shows up, and production schedules are drawn up.”
Is this really in Lewis Hamilton’s skill set?
Aside from the pre-production work detailed above, the producer
During the production phase, “On and off set, producers work closely with creatives during production, facilitating or making decisions. Their main responsibilities are of a business, financial, or logistical nature and giving approval to script or budget changes,” says boards.com
Lewis will add value to ensure realism amongst the Hollywood set who know little about Formula 1 and a lot about creating ‘a story’. Keeping it real is important for an audience like F1 fans because if the movie becomes ‘too Holywood’ it will quickly be dismissed.
In the post production phase the producer, “prepares the release, which includes arranging test and preview screenings, planning marketing, promotion and distribution, and generating hype and buzz through media contacts.”
It’s evident Lewis Hamilton could certainly “generate hype and buzz” around the release of the movie via his huge social media presence. Yet the rest of the post-production role is surely beyond Hamilton’s remit.
It is farcical to consider Lewis Hamilton will ‘produce’ the Apple TV movie. His role though valuable will be limited.
In reality Lewis will be a ‘line producer’ of some description, subordinate to a professional who has all the necessary contacts within the movie industry.
But hey…… never let good PR stand in the way of reality.
It is appropriate that Ham wil be the producer of a F1 movie. A joke of a 7 times champion being a joker again making movies on F1. You can expect him to airbrush all the lies, cheating and dishonesty that helped him to the those fake titles.
I wish he would go full time into Hollywood and leave us genuine F1 fans to enjoy a clean sport.
F**k you
Vijay, seriously go and get a life that’s not full of hate and irrational thoughts. You really are a hateful worm
Vijay obviously has problems
Looking back 30 or 40 years from now, nobody imo would rate Lewis as anything but average. For sure he had the most dominant car and team of our generation, but with this silver brute, lost to teammates Nico and a very young George.
When Ayrton and Michael arrived on the F1-scene, their ability on track earned the respect from their peers and fans WORLD WIDE. Ayrton and Michael had the raw talent and work ethics to unite their team around them and take them to another level. Never, ever showed the small minded, whining, entitlement that were seeing from Lewis.
Question…
In what way do you class him as having lost to Nico, when the facts are that at that point, Lewis was 2-1 up in WDC’s at Mercedes (ignoring his 2008 title at McLaren), and that Nico literally burnt himself out to such an extent in order to win, that he immediately threw in the towel
I’ll ignore the 2nd point you made about Senna and Schumacher, as its just nonsense
Sir Lewis Hamilton’s love and passion for F1 started from his childhood days which drove him to go-karting. He from thence acquired knowledge and gained experience about F1. His seven time championship is only a small part of his capabilities in the sport. I am confident that the word can be assured that his experience and knowledge acquired throughout his chosen career enables him to continue serving his fans, the world and the F1 institution as a producer.
Tata sells more units than Rolls Royce, Bugatti and Maybach combined. A lot more. Even maybe seven times more. Still wouldn’t buy one.
I not really a Hamilton fan . My most enjoyable F1 days were watching Prost, Lauda, Keke Rosberg etc.
But let’s be fair, Lewis Hamilton is and will be remembered as one of the F1 greats, he has superb natural talent.
Perhaps the issue is his diversity of interests made possible by his “Superstar Status” rather than true ability in fields outside F1.
You have to wonder if he were to focus purely on F1 now, how much better he would be positioned in the current driver’s championship.