A certain Irish MMA fighter recently featured in a big-budget movie, but it seems that the door to Hollywood had already been flung open to sports stars - whether they can act or not.
At least, if you're Lewis Hamilton, that is.
The Formula 1 driver became friends with Tom Cruise several years ago, after Cruise invited him onto the set of 'Edge of Tomorrow' in 2014.
They kept in contact over the years, and Hamilton revealed in a new interview with GQ that he had asked Cruise to consider him for a role if he was ever making a sequel to 'Top Gun'. "I said, ‘Dude, if you ever do Top Gun 2, I will even be a janitor," he told Cruise at the time. "'Just let me be in it.'"
As we all know, that sequel did, in fact, come to fruition as 'Top Gun: Maverick', which was released in 2022 - and Cruise did indeed offer Hamilton a role. However, the F1 star ultimately turned it down.
Hamilton said that Cruise had put him in contact with director Joseph Kosinski, who offered him a role as a pilot in the film - but he became a little spooked by his lack of experience in the film world.
"Firstly, I hadn’t even had, like, an acting lesson," he said. "And I don’t want to be the one that lets this movie down. "And then secondly, I just really didn’t have the time to dedicate to it. I remember having to tell Joe and Tom, and it broke my heart. And then I regretted it, naturally, when they show me the movie and it’s: It could’ve been me! Oh, God, I’m still…."
Hamilton has more recently become involved in the film biz under the guise of producer, as he is involved with Kosinski's forthcoming Formula 1 film for Apple, which will star Brad Pitt and Damson Idris, as well as Irish actress Kerry Condon.
"My point was: Guys, this movie needs to be so authentic," he said of the as-yet-untitled racing film. "There’s two different fan groups that we have — like, the old originals, who from the day they’re born hearing the Grand Prix music every weekend and watching with their families, to the new generation that just learned about it today through Netflix,” Hamilton explained. “I felt my job really has been to try to call BS. ‘This would never happen. This is how it would be. This is how it could happen.’ Just giving them advice about what racing is really about and what, as a racing fan, would appeal and what would not."
