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00:00You know, it's not like you're kissing someone at a disco.
00:04Do you know, there's like a lot of other things on your mind besides...
00:08So you weren't thinking, I'm kissing Brad Pitt.
00:10No, I was like...
00:11It strikes me it was no big deal.
00:13It was more like, how long do you want the kiss to be?
00:15Three seconds? Okay, one Mississippi, two Mississippi.
00:24So I'm honoured to be moderating a conversation with Kerry Condon,
00:28who stars alongside superstar legend Brad Pitt
00:31in the fast-paced, globetrotting F1,
00:34which took us behind the scenes of a Formula One team
00:37battling for supremacy on the racetrack.
00:40Kerry won a BAFTA and received an Oscar nomination
00:44for her role in the Banner Sheez of Inner Shuren.
00:47And in F1, she's in the driving seat as the technical director
00:50for a fictional Formula One team.
00:53Please help me welcome Kerry to discuss all things racing cars
00:56and some things that happened off the track.
01:06If you go there, please, Kerry.
01:08Thank you very much.
01:09And oh, before we get down to it,
01:13let's have a look at a clip from the film.
01:15Apex GP, Sonny Hayes.
01:18He raced with me back in the day.
01:19Against you, you mean.
01:21Kate McKenna, our technical director.
01:24Dutch Dota, our chief mechanic.
01:27And Kaspar Smolinski, team principal.
01:29You may know him by reputation.
01:31Five-time Constructors Champion with Ferrari.
01:36As a rear jackman.
01:37So is my pop.
01:38Can't win without him.
01:39And our talented rookie, Joshua.
01:41Why has he got a helmet?
01:43Safety.
01:45Joshua, your city is safe, okay?
01:48Sonny's here for the audition.
01:52When was the last time you won a race?
01:53Sunday, Daytona.
01:55Oh, I'm sorry.
01:56I meant Formula One.
01:57Oh, I'm sorry.
01:58Then same as you.
02:03Cyber, Peter, when I interviewed with you,
02:06many veteran drivers...
02:07Yeah, who all turned you down?
02:09How many?
02:10Seven.
02:11That's a lot.
02:12I'm number seven?
02:13You're eight.
02:14This is a disaster.
02:15Starting to feel more like a nine.
02:16Technically, there is one who I've not heard from yet.
02:19So I am a nine.
02:20You know how numbers work, right?
02:22In business, my most inspired ideas come late.
02:25Yeah, the best things in life usually arrive ninth, right?
02:27With respect, Ruben, I cannot condone.
02:29We spent our only test day giving your long-lost teammate an audition.
02:33Kaspar, you misunderstand me.
02:34We're not auditioning him.
02:35He's auditioning us.
02:37So, Kerry, in a way, you're in charge in this movie
02:40because you're the technical director.
02:42You're the boss lady, right?
02:44Well, in F1 world, it actually would be...
02:49Kaspar is really the one in charge,
02:52but in real life, I suppose...
02:54I know I wasn't in charge in real life.
02:57It was a real...
02:58Like, we were all...
02:59There wasn't really anyone in charge.
03:01Even Brad wasn't.
03:02We were all just kind of helping each other out
03:05and giving each other time.
03:07Oh, cool.
03:07I love all the stuff in the movie about, you know,
03:09you've got 500th of a second
03:11and pressure gauges and wind velocity and all that stuff.
03:16I mean, forgive me,
03:17did you have to study all that stuff?
03:20A little bit, yeah.
03:21So, I had...
03:22Luckily, there was a lady who worked for F1 in real life
03:25and was a strategist in real life called Bernie Collins,
03:29and she helped me.
03:31And she was from Ireland, too,
03:33which was really, like...
03:34It was great because I just kind of followed her career
03:36and where she went to college in my head,
03:38kind of thought, if I had done that.
03:39It wasn't such a stretch for me to think about
03:43if that had been me.
03:44But it was really trying to sell it in a really natural way,
03:48but then in a way that the audience kind of understands
03:51what I'm talking about.
03:52So, it was walking a fine line, you know,
03:54making it sound natural,
03:56but so people would understand.
03:58Well, he made me understand,
03:59which is a big thing, believe me.
04:01But tell me...
04:02Because, I mean, did you have the globe trot?
04:04Because, I mean, the film went around the globe,
04:05like, around the world.
04:07Oh, it was really, yeah.
04:08What was that like?
04:09It was crazy, you're joking.
04:10We got to go, like, all over the world.
04:13We got to go to Abu Dhabi twice.
04:16We got to go to Las Vegas,
04:18Italy, Belgium.
04:20Like, it was...
04:21Yeah, and so we all really bonded,
04:23like, the crew and the actors.
04:26And it was, like, two years on and off.
04:28So, it was very kind of upsetting when it ended
04:32because it was fairly sad saying goodbye to everybody.
04:36It had been such a long, you know, time together.
04:39And have you kept in touch with me?
04:40Did Brad give you a number to sort of call?
04:42Everyone asks me,
04:43did Brad give me his number?
04:46You listen, like, it's weird.
04:48We're in touch now
04:49because we're promoting the movie, Irving.
04:50But obviously, like, when you finish something,
04:53you kind of have to walk away a little bit
04:54because you have to kind of clean the slate
04:56for the next job.
04:58It's the same as, like, people say,
05:00oh, do you want...
05:00Do you still be into F1?
05:01And I'm like...
05:02I mean, I'd be kind of going to an F1 race now.
05:05I'd be like, where's the crew?
05:07I would...
05:07Wouldn't...
05:08It would be weird.
05:09I have to kind of walk away
05:10when I finish a job a little bit, yeah.
05:13But can you change a tyre?
05:15I can change a tyre,
05:16and I'm a great driver, I have to say.
05:19Even though the boys are probably like,
05:20shut up, she's not a great driver.
05:22But, yeah.
05:24I mean, I...
05:24Honestly, physics and maths
05:27were my worst subjects in school.
05:29So when I was learning about it,
05:30I did have my limits
05:32with the physics aspect of it.
05:35It's very technical.
05:37And it's not something I would be good at
05:40in real life.
05:41It's just so technical.
05:43But I admired it, you know.
05:46You know, you do have to get to deliver
05:49Brad Pitt's character some bitter pills,
05:52don't you?
05:52I mean, there's this line that I love
05:54when you're in the bar, I think.
05:56And you go, you know,
05:57Sonny Hayes wasn't a has-been,
05:59he's a never-was.
06:00I mean, what was it like having to deliver that?
06:03And how did you get it past Brad?
06:06Yeah, so that was very early on in the shoot.
06:10Like, the beginning of the shoot.
06:11And before we shot that scene,
06:14it was Silverstone weekend.
06:16And we had shot at Silverstone,
06:17and it was a big high.
06:18Everyone was...
06:19And everyone went out.
06:20And I was like, I'm not going out,
06:22because I've got that big scene with Brad on Tuesday.
06:24Like, there's no way I'm hitting the town.
06:26So I laid low,
06:27because I knew I had that scene coming up.
06:30And it was a really big scene,
06:32and I knew I wanted to kind of, like,
06:33prove why I got the job.
06:36The biggest thing for me in that pub scene
06:38was when I pick up the pint,
06:39I was like, don't shake the pint,
06:41don't shake the pint.
06:42You know, that, like, that would give away
06:44that I was, like, nervous.
06:45I was like, just pick it up.
06:46And so that was on my mind a lot.
06:51And then I suppose it was...
06:53Joe said the more takes we did,
06:55the kind of meaner I got,
06:57which I was surprised at.
06:58I was like, I don't think I was that mean to him.
07:00And so a lot of the cut that you see
07:03was the first take.
07:05Because I went in going,
07:06I have to, like, be great,
07:08because I don't want to...
07:10We were...
07:10The strike happened, like, the next day,
07:12the actor's strike.
07:14So a part of me was like,
07:15I could get recast if I don't do this good.
07:18Oh, wow.
07:19I mean, you could, you know.
07:21Stranger things have happened, you know.
07:23Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:24So, but did you and Brad...
07:26Were there rehearsals where that sort of,
07:28you know, because, like, you know,
07:29I cover the theatre as well,
07:31and sometimes people say to me,
07:32if I'm going to do a mean scene,
07:35you know, I just go up to the actor and say,
07:37I don't mean it.
07:38And did you ever say to Brad,
07:40I don't mean any of this?
07:41Ah, no, the wages he's on,
07:43he can handle it.
07:49No, I'm not worrying about him,
07:51I'm worrying about me.
07:53No, I didn't at all.
07:55No, we did rehearse, though.
07:57Joe, like, our director, was so prepared.
08:00I mean, like, we were really able to have fun
08:03because we had prepared so much.
08:05So by the time we did come to shoot with the real races,
08:08because a lot of it was shot live with real F1 races,
08:12it was fun because we had it prepared so much.
08:15So we did practice the pub scene,
08:18and funnily enough, when we practiced the pub scene,
08:20in the rehearsals, the table was kind of rickety,
08:23you know, when you have to put in a little thing to fix it.
08:26And then when we shot it in real life,
08:28the table was rickety as well.
08:30I mean, I just thought it was kind of a sign that,
08:32like, oh, isn't that interesting?
08:34You know?
08:35Meant to be or something.
08:37So Joe, yes, was all about rehearsals,
08:39but not so much a performance rehearsal,
08:41really just more a kind of a,
08:43do you have everything you need to pull this off?
08:46Like, does your headset, you know, feel comfortable?
08:48Can you hear everything?
08:49I think, and he really made you feel,
08:52and the AD department was, I mean,
08:55Toby should be given, like, a Nobel Prize or something.
08:58He was so intelligent and helped everybody.
09:02I mean, it's a, you know, it's a great team.
09:04You know, there's a great team on screen and then off screen.
09:08Yeah.
09:08You know, so I can imagine, you know,
09:10there's caravans of people going around the globe.
09:13And the logistics, I mean, just the logistics of shooting it.
09:16Like, the call sheet on the real race days would be, like,
09:203.58, you know, in position on the pit wall.
09:254.02, Brad and the car.
09:27And so it was very, Joe did say when I got the job,
09:31like, there's a, if, you know, the theatre background will help
09:34because there's a live aspect to this.
09:36But you couldn't be, like, can I go to my trailer?
09:39I just want to, like, you know, brush my teeth.
09:41It was, like, you have got to be ready at three.
09:44There's nobody waiting for you.
09:46Like, we have got these windows and we can't.
09:48And then also when you'd be on the pit wall,
09:50you couldn't get a hair or makeup check or things like that.
09:52So he kind of loved the non-princess-y vibe, you know,
09:58because it was, like, we can't be thinking about that.
10:00You have got to just not be thinking about that.
10:03We haven't time.
10:03Because, of course, this was going on.
10:05The Formula One races were going on for real.
10:09Yeah.
10:09So they couldn't reshoot them.
10:10Yeah.
10:11It was crazy.
10:13And, like, we'd be doing those scenes and the pit wall.
10:15And then sometimes, like, the real drivers would be lining up,
10:18like, literally.
10:19Like, I'm not even joking.
10:20Where that chair is would be, like, the real car.
10:23And so we'd have the cans on to shoot the scene.
10:27And then the ADs would, like, try and make me embarrassed
10:29and be like, Kerry Lewis is, like, right behind you.
10:32So I'd blush and be like, oh.
10:36Yeah.
10:37So did you get, so did you sort of hang out with Lewis Hamilton?
10:42Everyone says that, too.
10:43And that's another thing.
10:44Because, you know, because we were filming,
10:48I felt like we were a guest of Formula One.
10:51And we were.
10:51You know, we were, like, a film crew infiltrating their actual job.
10:55So I did not, you know, hang out.
10:59And, you know, I was very, like, went in, did my job,
11:02and got out of there because I didn't want to be distracting.
11:05I didn't want to be annoying.
11:06And they were trying to win races and stuff.
11:10So, you know, I wasn't looking for a date.
11:14Nothing really on my mind.
11:16Which does bring me to Sunny because, you know, sort of, you know,
11:19you and the scenes with Kate and Sunny.
11:23Yes.
11:24So they're professional until they're not.
11:27Yeah.
11:28Yeah.
11:29Which is lovely because, you know, a lot of people go,
11:31God, that was so, you know, bad that there's romance
11:33and she should have been detecting.
11:35And I'm like, Jenny, what's wrong with romance?
11:38Do you know?
11:38Like, why is that a bad thing?
11:40And so, yeah, that was, those were interesting
11:45because when we did the Vegas balcony scene,
11:48which is supposed to be, like, after they've slept together,
11:51we had been on a break for two months.
11:54So it was like, I did another movie in that two months.
11:57And then it was like, yeah, and then it was like Vegas.
12:00Oh, hi, hello.
12:02And, okay, now act like you just slept together.
12:03Let's go.
12:04It was quite, you know, it wasn't easy.
12:07And the balcony was freezing as well.
12:09Vegas was freezing.
12:10My teeth were kind of, like, chattering the whole time.
12:13So those had their challenges.
12:16You know, I mean, everyone, you know,
12:17it's not like you're kissing someone at a disco.
12:21Do you know, there's, like, a lot of other things
12:23on your mind besides that.
12:25So you weren't thinking, I'm kissing Brad Pitt.
12:27No, I was like.
12:28It strikes me it was no big deal.
12:30It was more like, how long do you want the kiss to be?
12:32Three seconds.
12:33Okay, one Mississippi, two Mississippi.
12:35So you were counting as you were counting.
12:40I mean, I wasn't, but I did have to know.
12:42And then, you know, there's all these technical things
12:44because when a camera's very close,
12:47you can't look sloppy.
12:49The case, you know, you should be,
12:50it's very technical, you know.
12:52Like, it's not.
12:54And also, like, come on, do you know,
12:56I'm a professional actress.
12:58It's not like I'm in it for the, you know, which act.
13:09And let's move along.
13:13Did you, I mean, you know, all those cars,
13:15did you actually, was there a moment
13:17where you hopped in one of the cars yourself
13:19to give it a test run?
13:20Were you allowed to?
13:21I would have ruffled a lot of feathers
13:23if I started showing off how good a driver I was.
13:26So I was like, no, no, no.
13:27The boys were so competitive about the driving
13:29and I left that to them
13:31because I had my own stuff to be doing,
13:33like, my own stuff to learn and everything.
13:36But after the fact, I did go and drive at a Porsche.
13:41You know, at the beginning of the movie,
13:42there's the cool Porsche.
13:44So that would be more my vibe
13:46because those, you have to learn how to drive
13:48those Formula 2 cars and, you know,
13:50like, they're not even like a real car.
13:53So I wouldn't even know how to drive them.
13:55No, I kind of stayed away from all of that.
13:58I didn't even watch them shooting that stuff.
14:01But it's a big, great kick-ass movie.
14:03And the thing I love about F1, though,
14:05is that, you know, it's a big blockbuster
14:08and it's kind of fun.
14:10Yeah.
14:10And we need that.
14:12Yeah, I know.
14:12And sort of, like, the underdog kind of thing.
14:15You know, like, people, like, the losing team
14:18and the losing team winning.
14:19Like, all of those kind of things make you feel good
14:22and there's an escapism element to it.
14:24And then the music was amazing.
14:26Like, all the music, all the different...
14:29That was fascinating, learning, like,
14:32how to sell a massive movie, you know,
14:35and getting different singers and their demographic,
14:40you know, and then that attracts different audience and stuff.
14:43And then I was like, God, it gets it.
14:45I can see why the bigger the budget,
14:48the more exciting it is when it opens.
14:50Because it's, like, gambling really big in Vegas.
14:52You know, like, 200 million.
14:54Oh, my God, we have to really, like,
14:56make a lot of money to make this back.
14:58So I could see the high of big-budget movies.
15:02But at the same time, it didn't feel like there wasn't a pressure.
15:06Like, it was probably the most fun I've ever had on a movie.
15:10I don't think Joe ever projected, like, any stress onto any of us.
15:15He was always, like, just have fun.
15:17Just give me options.
15:19Just have fun.
15:20And I remember at the time thinking, like, gosh, this is weird.
15:22Like, we're just having fun all the time.
15:24And then when you watch it, he totally captured fun.
15:28It is a fun movie.
15:28Fun, yeah.
15:30So by having everyone relaxed,
15:32I think you can kind of see it on the screen.
15:34Yeah.
15:35And just quickly before we go,
15:36you've been shooting a film playing a character out of history,
15:40Kay Summersbee.
15:41Yes, that's what I did before the balcony scene.
15:43Oh, in the two months?
15:44Yes, yeah.
15:45Okay.
15:46Yeah.
15:46So tell me quickly about that.
15:48That's called what?
15:48What is the name of that?
15:49That's called Pressure.
15:50And that's set during World War I.
15:52And Kay Summersbee was Dwight Eisenhower's...
15:56Right-hand woman, I guess?
15:58A bit more than that, maybe.
15:59Yeah, well, so they say, yeah.
16:02We don't know.
16:03Yeah, that was good.
16:05That was really interesting, actually.
16:07All about, like, the weather, determining D-Day and all of that.
16:12And it's funny, though, again, like, cleaning the slate.
16:17You know, I don't really remember.
16:18The only thing I remember from that job is the wig
16:20and how long that took every morning.
16:22So when I promote that movie, I'll have to go back,
16:25read the script, look at the notes,
16:26because you move on.
16:28Like, it's very hard to explain.
16:30It's almost like you don't remember doing it.
16:33Because you're in the moment when you're doing it.
16:35And so it's almost like this blackout kind of a feeling.
16:40So it's hard to remember.
16:41But I remembered the wig.
16:43Yeah, I don't have to worry about that.
16:46But what next for you?
16:49So funnily enough, I actually took time off after,
16:52when we finished F1 in December,
16:54I took some time off because, you know,
16:57I just don't want to be, first of all, overexposed,
17:00because I find that, you know,
17:02I just don't want to be overexposed.
17:04And then also because I was very tired, you know,
17:08and I didn't want to burn out a bit.
17:11So I haven't done anything.
17:15I mean, I have horses,
17:16so I did things like with my life or whatever.
17:18But I haven't filmed anything.
17:20And it was lovely to live my life and learn about life.
17:23So I have some experience to draw on in another job.
17:26And you just had a nice little reunion with Colin Felder.
17:28Yes, yeah, I know.
17:30So thank you so much.
17:32And please, thanks very much.
17:35Kerry Condon, ladies and gentlemen.
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