FlixPatrol reports that Brad Pitt and Damson Idris’s racing drama, F1, continues to be Apple TV’s most popular film across the globe, beating titles like The Gorge, Outcome and Greyhound for the platform’s top movie spot. But it’s not a complete victory lap for Joseph Kosinski’s film, as the Academy Award-winning titlehas come under fire. Actress and director Jodie Foster has suggested that the script for F1 might have been written by AI.
Speaking at the Aspen Institute, the two-time Oscar winner didn’t hold back: “I look at a movie like F1 and I’m like, F1 was made by AI. That movie’s like… was it wasn’t it? I mean, the structure was exactly the structure that you would learn in school. The actors say the lines exactly the way it would be written if a computer was writing exactly what would be the right thing for that time. And they were able to dominate the technology to make something big and beautiful and potentially where a lot of the information comes from other places.”
But while many are dismissing her claims, she does have a point – even if there was a team of four people credited for the story. F1 has a textbook underdog-driver narrative. It hits all the same beats as films like Top Gun: Maverick and Rocky Balboa. We’ve seen this type of story a dozen times before: an aging pro gets dragged back for one final run, but there’s a rookie standing in his way who needs to be mentored. In F1, 62-year-old Pitt plays a veteran driver named Sonny Hayes, who is dragged back into Formula One racing after years away. Damson Idris is the rookie here.
However, to be fair, F1‘s biggest appeal wasn’t the story but the practical racing footage, real tracks and real cars that made the spectacle feel authentic (thanks to seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton co-producing). That more than made up for the film’s lack of an original story.
Still, Foster’s critique sticks. The film is so generic that it might as well have been written by AI, even if the credits say otherwise.
And there’s a second film coming. Jerry Bruckheimer recently confirmed that a sequel is officially in motion at Apple. “We’re working on a sequel,” he said speaking to the BBC at the Academy Awards luncheon in Los Angeles. And given that the 2025 film made $630 million at the box office and picked up four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, it makes sense.
Bruckheimer was pleased with the response to the film. “It was a long journey to get the movie made because we had to endure a couple of strikes – but in the end, the movie entertained audiences around the world,” he said. He also added, “I never worked with Brad Pitt before and it’s really a thrill to work with Brad.”
Right now, there’s no official news about whether or not the sequel would follow Brad Pitt’s character or whether it will continue the journey with Damson Idris career. But honestly, it’s hard to imagine them building a franchise around Sonny Hayes and then parking him in the garage.
But if AI is writing the films, we only need to look at everything that’s come before to predict what to expect in the sequel: more of the same.
F1 definitely entertained. We’ll have to see if the sequel can shake off Foster’s “written in school” critique. Either way, the follow-up now has one job: go faster and maybe take a few more risks with the script.
