Joseph Kosinski Wants Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise to Reunite for a DAYS OF THUNDER and F1 Crossover
Director Joseph Kosinski has an idea that sounds so wild it just might work, and it involves reuniting Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise on the racetrack in an F1 sequel that also serves as a Days of Thunder crossover.
In a recent interview with GQ Magazine UK, Kosinski opened up about the fantasy team-up, saying:
“Well, right now, it’d be Cole Trickle, who was [Cruise’s] ‘Days of Thunder’ character, we find out that he and [Brad Pitt’s] Sonny Hayes have a past. They were rivals at some point, maybe crossed paths…
“I heard about this epic go-kart battle on ‘Interview With a Vampire’ that Brad and Tom had, and who wouldn’t pay to see those two go head-to-head on the track?”
Kosinski, who previously directed Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick, has clearly been itching to put these two legends in the same cockpit again. He almost pulled it off years ago with a Ford v Ferrari-style racing film.
“Yeah, I got close with that. But yeah, you know, everything worked out for the best. I got to do ‘F1.’ But anything’s possible.”
The Cruise/Pitt dream team hasn’t shared screen time since Interview With the Vampire in 1994, but their chemistry and real-life friendship have kept fans hoping for another collaboration. While at the London premiere of F1, when asked by E! News if he’d ever work with Cruise again, Pitt said:
“I’m not gonna hang my ass off airplanes and shit like that.”
Still, the timing might be perfect. Cruise has been actively thinking about a return to Days of Thunder, previously saying that he’s “thinking and talking about what could we do and what’s possible” for a follow-up to the 1990 NASCAR drama.
Kosinski is already juggling massive-scale projects, including a Top Gun: Maverick sequel. While it’s still in early development, he teased:
“I think we’ve found a way to do it, not only in the scale of what we’re proposing, but the idea itself of the story we’re telling. We’re thinking much bigger than… It’s a really existential crisis that Maverick has in this, and it’s much bigger than himself.
“It’s an existential question that Maverick has to deal with, that would make Maverick feel small, I think, as a movie, compared to what we’re talking about. There’s one last ride. So we’re working on it now… we’ll only do it if we feel like we’ve got a strong enough story.”
If he can deliver that, why not emotional pit-stops and ego-fueled laps between Hayes and Trickle?
At this point, Kosinski’s crossover idea feels like a challenge waiting to be accepted. A Brad Pitt/Tom Cruise racing showdown? Fans would love it, but it all comes down to telling the right story.