As a craft, casting hasn’t always gotten much credit. But the Academy is changing that this year, introducing it as a new competitive category at the 98th Academy Awards. “It’s a total delight,” said F1 casting director Lucy Bevan, whose career has included the Best Picture nominees “An Education,” “Belfast” and “Barbie.”
Bevan had worked with “F1” producer Jerry Bruckheimer before, but she thought the project would be “an incredible challenge” for a Formula One novice such as herself. To prepare, she leaned on her son (an F1 fan) and the 2019 documentary series “Drive to Survive,” cited by many “F1” crew members as a guiding star for the production. Bevan was tasked with building the film around a central talent—in this case, Brad Pitt, who plays veteran racer Sonny Hayes. One of the toughest aspects of the job was tracking down an actor to play Joshua, the hotshot driver who butts heads with Sonny.
“It was going to be a challenge to find a young actor who could go toe to toe with Brad and also be athletic enough to do the driving,” Bevan said. “It was a great opportunity for a young Black British actor, so we auditioned and auditioned, and Damson (Idris) came in and did an incredible job and was very impressive.”
When Bevan casts projects, she looks for certain traits—mainly, “actors who are prepped, have ideas, are ready to take notes and make adjustments.” Still, she noted that every casting process differs depending on the nature of the movie or TV show. For the role of Joshua, going to the racetrack was a must. “Every role you cast, you have to be specific,” she said. “In this case, (Joshua’s) athleticism was a big part of the character, so you just need to make sure during the casting process that you’ve got all of those attributes in the actor. And Damson had that. He had the confidence. He was so hardworking, and he’d done a lot of the prep and lessons. So when we took him to the track, he was ready.”
With Idris in place, Bevan and her crew began building outward—first with the racing team’s technical director, Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), and owner, Rubén Cervantes (Javier Bardem), then with the rest of the cast. When Bevan called Bardem’s agent, the casting director said she was immediately rejected. “Javier hates driving,” the agent told her. “Don’t even think about it!” Team Bardem changed its mind once Bevan explained that “he’s the money” and not one of the film’s racers.
Bevan felt it was important for the cast members to bounce off one another and work in tandem on the large-scale production. “It was a question of casting actors who were real team players to build that,” she said, “because the film is all about teamwork.” Real figures from the F1 world, such as commentator Will Buxton (who was shocked to learn that Pitt was a fan of his) and former driver Martin Brundle, appear as themselves in the film. When Bevan cast Samson Kayo as Joshua’s manager, Cashman, she was unaware that he and Idris had been childhood friends. Bevan was likewise impressed by Sarah Niles, best known as the psychiatrist in “Ted Lasso,” who brought a sense of interiority to the role of Joshua’s mother.
“It was not a huge role,” Bevan said. “Joe offered her the part and then really wanted to build the role so that the character wasn’t just a mom but had her whole world. (I’m looking for) actors who are really prepared to bring it and make the most of it when they get their moment on screen.”
This story first ran in the Below-the-Line issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the issue here.
