described by our THR critic<\/a> as a standout.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t[Smiles.] Yeah. When I read Sonny\u2019s character, and I understood the complexities of this man, then I thought, \u201cOK, I need to be in this.\u201d I need to [show] what the complexities are for the families [of drivers]. As much as it is their sons putting their bodies through it, being dedicated and focused, it\u2019s the families that help to drive you as well. They help to push you. They know you at your lowest point.<\/p>\n
\n\tDid you speak to some of the drivers or their families?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tI was lucky enough to speak to Sir Lewis Hamilton. And from the get-go, Joe was like, \u201cI\u2019m gonna get you to have a conversation with Lewis.\u201d And he sat with me, we talked and Joe left us to it.<\/p>\n
\n\tLewis was really open about his upbringing. In my opinion, he\u2019s one of the most successful racers. He\u2019s not only the best driver, he\u2019s the best-dressed. He\u2019s got a whole brand. And him talking about his upbringing and his sacrifices that his dad had to make \u2014 financially, he was not part of that world. I was like, these are the things that I can bring into this. I\u2019m not part of that world. I come from a working-class background. But that\u2019s not a limitation. How do you occupy those spaces? Having that really solidified it for me, and gave me so much information for how I could create this character. He was saying his dad was Grenadian\u2026 I just thought to myself, \u201cThis character has to be Bajan.\u201d My parents are from Barbados, and it\u2019s a very small island. I thought Bernadette has to be coming from a place that\u2019s different to what we usually see.<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd there is that significance of Lewis being the first Black F1 driver. We see it with Joshua\u2019s character, too. An element of having to work harder to get here.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tYeah, yeah. And what I love about the way Damson portrays Joshua is time has moved on. At the end he is like, \u201cThat\u2019s who I am. I\u2019ve occupied this space. I\u2019m not apologizing for anything. I\u2019m stepping into my power.\u201d But he\u2019s moving with it. He understands where he\u2019s come from, and he\u2019s just going forward. It feels very 2025.<\/p>\n
\n\t[Lewis] has so much more to achieve as well. He\u2019s really changed the game. Even watching him in Drive to Survive, how he talks about the car, how he\u2019s studying it. When they\u2019re having a debrief about a race, it\u2019s not just about being able to drive a car really fast. You have to strategize. You have to know where you went wrong. Kerry\u2019s character talks about the car: \u201cI\u2019m not out there. I need information from you about what it feels like in order to change and improve it.\u201d They have to know all about that.<\/p>\n
\n\tHad you met or worked with Damson before this film?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tI met Damson once, socially, like just by accident. But I never met him [properly]. He\u2019s got a real drive and focus, and it works really well.<\/p>\n
\n\tIs he quite similar to Joshua, the character?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tNo, he\u2019s not. He\u2019s from south London, which I am from as well, and he\u2019s got a real kind of: \u201cThis is my time. This is my space. I\u2019m going to just work hard for it.\u201d He and Brad were really going through [it] in rehearsals. I got to watch them race and I think the one time I saw Damson make a mistake, he was just like [drops head]. It meant so much to him to get it right.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tFrom left: Samson Kayo, Damson Idris and Sarah Niles in \u2018F1.\u2019<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarner Bros. Pictures Publicity<\/p>\n
\n\tWhat was that like, being privy to Damson and Brad\u2019s relationship off-camera and the immense amount of research they were doing for these roles?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tIt was great. I met Brad at a read-through. His energy, the way he came up to me and said he loved me and Ted Lasso. He wasn\u2019t afraid to tell me how much he loved the show and loved me in it. That\u2019s how he carried himself. He\u2019s very open. And when you got someone like that as your number one, I told him this at the London premiere. I said: \u201cWhen your number one cast member is open and kind and wants to do well, everybody wants to follow suit, right?\u201d That\u2019s what you need to have. He\u2019s the captain of the ship and he\u2019s steering it. And then Damson, too\u2026 I really had to pinch myself. <\/p>\n
\n\tWhat\u2019s it like on a Joseph Kosinski set?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tIt\u2019s amazing. You\u2019ve got the best of the best, really, when you\u2019ve got, Jerry as a producer [too]. He\u2019s an architect. He understands this is the landscape and how it\u2019s going to be understood by those receiving it. He\u2019s very, very clever.<\/p>\n
\n\tIs it safe to say you\u2019re an F1 fan now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tOh, yeah, definitely. 100 percent.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt must have been so difficult to film in parts \u2014\u00a0at the actual races<\/strong> \u2014\u00a0did you get to go to any?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tI was at [Silverstone, the British Grand Prix]. I was watching behind Joe. He was generous enough to let me sit behind him while he was filming. And you could feel, through to the paddock, the spectators, it\u2019s what you\u2019d imagine ancient Greece was like. It\u2019s theater. Everybody there is high-energy. And I remember watching when they did the national anthem, it\u2019s crazy how they did it. You can see Brad and Damson standing there. There was a moment when the two of them just started walking and they were playing \u201cWe Will Rock You.\u201d At that point, I think it was the first or second day I\u2019d been on set, and I hadn\u2019t really filmed anything. I just said, \u201cThis film, I can tell, is going to be a hit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tI don\u2019t how they managed to [capture F1] but they did. I was a bit worried about people, especially hardcore fans. [I thought], \u201cAre they really going to like this?\u201d But [the drivers] really have a dedication to wanting to do it well. Seeing how many laps they do, seeing the turning points, there\u2019s so much in it that they\u2019ve managed to capture about Formula One.<\/p>\n
\n\tThere is, it has been said, this fighter pilot level of bravery<\/strong> in the sport.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tAnd that\u2019s where Joe comes into it. Because when you watch Top Gun: Maverick, you understand the pressures of flying those planes. Then you understand Formula One and the pressures of driving something which could ultimately could kill you.<\/p>\n
\n\tAt the London premiere, I sat behind Tom Cruise. And Tom Cruise was on the edge of the seat from the get-go. He was watching it like this: [leans forward]. Luckily, I\u2019d seen it before so I was able to be a bit more relaxed. But even I found new things in the film I hadn\u2019t realized before. And I thought, \u201cIf Tom Cruise is on the edge of his seat, you know you\u2019ve got a winner here.\u201d He\u2019s the ultimate entertainer. He was so cool. He said, \u201cHey, how you doing?\u201d He said hello to my friends and the people in our row. He was just so at ease.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tSarah Niles stars in Heads of State and Fantastic Four: First Steps this summer.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCamara Edwards<\/p>\n
\n\tCan you tell us about your role in Fantastic Four?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tYou need to go and watch it! I work with the Fantastic Four. It\u2019s a great cast. I can\u2019t wait for people to see it. There\u2019s a lot of heart in this one.<\/p>\n
\n\tSo many blockbusters for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tMatt Shakman, the director of Fantastic Four, he was like, \u201cThis is the summer of Sarah.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe summer of Sarah Niles!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\tYeah. [Laughs.] I gotta go with that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the summer of Sarah Niles, it seems. The English star is talking to The Hollywood Reporter from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[15923,17497,4199,66507,707,4200,522,79,15763,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-232963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-brad-pitt","9":"tag-damson-idris","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-f1-the-movie","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-international","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-tom-cruise","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114785696664949139","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}