Brad Pitt Trained for ‘4 or 5 Months’ to Drive F1 Car in New Movie, Says Jerry Bruckheimer (Exclusive)

Brad Pitt is feeling the need for speed!

On Thursday, May 16, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, 80, spoke exclusively to PEOPLE about the actor's upcoming Formula 1 racing movie at the Los Angeles premiere of Young Woman and the Sea.

"He trained for four or five months. He's an amazing driver," Bruckheimer tells PEOPLE of Pitt, 60, at the El Capitan Theater. "In fact, some of the F1 drivers said he's a natural athlete. He really is. He's amazing in that car."

As for how fast Pitt has been driving? Well, that's a closely guarded secret.

"I can't tell you. The insurance company will kill me," jokes Bruckheimer.

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Pitt stars alongside actors including Javier Bardem, 55, and Damson Idris, 32, in the upcoming film, which sees Pitt play an aging F1 driver who emerges from retirement to mentor and team up with a rising star.

In July 2023, Pitt was seen sporting a racing suit and walking the grid with real-life F1 drivers to film the new movie at the British Grand Prix at the Silverstone race track in Northamptonshire, U.K.

“I’ve got to say it’s just great to be here,” Pitt told Sky Sports F1 presenter Martin Brundle at the time after driving a modified Formula 2 car. 

“We’re just having such a laugh, such a laugh, time of my life,” he added.

Pitt shared of the premise of the eagerly anticipated film, “I would be a guy who raced in the 90s. He has a horrible crash and kind of craps out and disappears and then is racing in other disciplines.”

“Then his friend, played by Javier Bardem, is the team owner. They’re the last place team, they’re 21, 22 on the grid, they’ve never scored a point and they have a young phenom played by Damson Idris and he brings me in as kind of a Hail Mary and hijinks ensure," Pitt went on. 

"Tell you what’s amazing about it, you’ll see the cameras come out all over the car, the shots you’ve never seen speed, you’ve never seen G forces like this, it’s really, really exciting.”