Racing superstar Lewis Hamilton is opening up about the time he passed on an opportunity to work with Tom Cruise that he still regrets today.
The Formula One driver revealed in a recent interview with GQ magazine that he befriended Cruise after the actor invited him to the set of his 2014 film Edge of Tomorrow. The pair continued to keep in contact — which consisted of Cruise sending Hamilton encouraging messages during races — and the racer eventually asked the actor to cast him in a hypothetical Top Gun sequel, years before Top Gun: Maverick actually came to fruition.
I said, ‘Dude, if you ever do Top Gun 2, I will even be a janitor,’” Hamilton recalled telling Cruise at the time. “’Just let me be in it.’”
Once the sequel started pre-production, the F1 driver said the Mission: Impossible star remembered his request and put Hamilton in contact with director Joseph Kosinski, who ended up offering the racer a role as one of the film’s pilots.
However, due to his busy schedule, including the 2018 title race, as well as his lack of acting experience, Hamilton said he ultimately passed on the opportunity. But he later regretted his decision once he saw the 2022 action film starring Cruise, Miles Teller and Glen Powell.
“Firstly, I hadn’t even had, like, an acting lesson,” he told the magazine. “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….”
Though the Top Gun sequel didn’t end up being the F1 star’s door into Hollywood, another opportunity to work with Kosinski came shortly after. Hamilton signed on to produce the director’s upcoming Formula 1 movie starring Brad Pitt to help make sure the film includes an accurate representation of the international racing league.
“My point was: Guys, this movie needs to be so authentic. 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.”