‘F1’ Star Kerry Condon Interview: 'Brad Pitt's a Very In-The-Moment Actor'

A Martin McDonagh favourite, Irish star Kerry Condon has been in the limelight ever since she collaborated with the acclaimed filmmaker first for his play The Lieutenant of Inishmore (2001), and has since gone on to have starring roles in his movies such as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) and The Banshees of Inisherin (2022). The latter of these — in which she played Siobhán, the sister of Colin Farrell's character— garnered her a BAFTA Award, following which Condon was cast in Joseph Kosinski’s upcoming sports drama F1, to share screen space with the likes of Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem and Damson Idris. Also the voice of Iron Man’s artificial intelligence F.R.I.D.A.Y. in the MCU, Condon now looks forward to the release of her biggest project yet tomorrow as F1 hits screens worldwide. 

In an exclusive conversation with The Hollywood Reporter India, the Academy Award-nominated actor talks about all things Formula 1, working with Brad Pitt, and when audiences can see her work with Martin McDonagh again.

Excerpts from an interview:

In F1, you play Kate McKenna, the technical director of Team APXGP, who is responsible for the design of the car. Did you have to go through a lot of research and background education to come to terms with the role?

I am going to be very honest and say that my physics and my maths are brutal. (laughs) So, when I got the part, I decided to talk to female strategists who worked in Formula 1 to figure out what I needed to know for each scene in a very baby-steps manner. Because ultimately, to learn how to build a car, I would need to go to college and study for years! So it was really about which scene I was doing, what was happening in them, and how to explain that to an audience who might not know anything about the sport.

We had Bernie Collins (Formula One strategy analyst) and Ruth Boscombe (British motorsport engineer and presenter) to help me out on set, which was really enjoyable, and there were little tricks I would have to come up with to try and sell it in a very natural way. Like the props and the headsets, when you plug in or unplug, what buttons you press, the wind tunnel stuff… all those little things were explained to me. 

A lot of the filming occurred at several live Formula 1 Grand Prix events, and you observed how the drivers were operating in the capacity of a real-time race; was that challenging to navigate?

We were so lucky to get access to shoot the movie at the same time they were racing. It was really important to me that I wouldn't be distracting or interfering with them in any way, because they were preparing for their real races. Their jobs were really happening, and I felt that we were guests in their world. So I really kept my head down, didn't distract anyone, never went into any of the garages that I wasn't supposed to be in, and just did my own job very quickly. Because God forbid I cause some disruption or distract a driver — that would have been mortifying for me! 

Joseph Kosinski, Brad Pitt, Kerry Condon and Damson Idris attend the European Premiere of 'F1 The Movie' at Cineworld, Leicester Square on June 23, 2025 in London, EnglandPhoto by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images

You had the recurring role of a jockey in the television series Luck, which was set in the world of horse racing; this even led to you adopting several rescue horses, and you run a farm for them now! Have you fallen in love with the art of motorsport racing as well after completing this movie?

Actually, I felt that there were a lot of similarities between horse racing and the world of Formula 1; amongst the jockeys and drivers, the physical strain that they're under, the wage aspect of it, and the in-the-zone sort of feeling. 

I’ve always had an appreciation for sports cars too. My dream car was always a Porsche 911, so I kind of maybe got a little bit more interested in sports cars after the movie than I would have had prior to the movie. But when the shoot of F1 was over, and the time came for me to move on to another role, I had to sort of rip the Band-Aid off and walk away. I just keep tabs on the drivers sometimes now. 

Lewis Hamilton, who is a producer on F1, said that some of the roles in reality haven’t caught up to what’s represented on-screen in the film; he was referring to you playing the technical director of a team. Can the character of Kate McKenna inspire more women to think of the sport as a serious career option?

So there have been female strategists earlier and there is one currently — Red Bull has Hannah Schmitz working as a strategist — and Bernie, who I spoke to, is a strategist too. But there are no female technical directors, and I absolutely hope that it does (inspire women to enter the sport), because it's such a cool job. If someone is interested in it at all, they should go for it if they have natural talent in physics and math or engineering.

It's not a sport that's just for wealthy people. If you study really hard and you're very sharp, you could go work for an F1 team, and be on the pit wall. If you are female and you want to do it, it's totally doable. The education sort of levels the playing field, and they are open to women… but, it is a big sacrifice. It's 10 months of the year away from home and traveling, so you'd really want to love it to take that step.

Brad Pitt and Kerry Condon in a still from 'F1'

You’ve been part of big-budget films/ shows and worked with other A-listers before, but acting alongside someone like Brad Pitt in a project of this magnitude, and playing his love interest to boot... what was your takeaway from that experience?

So initially, I knew that Brad was going to be racing when he wasn't doing his acting scenes. And having played that jockey (in Luck), I remember you get physically quite tired, because you're kind of doing two jobs, you know? You're kind of being a stunt person and an actor, so it was really important for me to be perfect when I met him to do our scenes together, to be really on the ball and very accommodating. 

Obviously I prepared for basic stuff like knowing my lines backwards, so even if I was nervous, I would still remember them. But what I took away most from working with Brad was that he’s always really relaxed; the more relaxed that you are in a scene with him, the more enjoyable it's going to be. He’s also a very in-the-moment actor… Brad doesn't really just do it one way, he kind of changes it up a bit, so you need to be open to change it alongside him, be it the dialogues or just going with the flow. 

I was really grateful that a movie like this came to me at this point in my career where I had the confidence to be like, sure, let's see what happens. Maybe when I was younger, I would have been a lot more nervous!

Will you reunite with your favourite director, Martin McDonagh, anytime soon?

I really don't know.. (sighs) We've been friends since I was a teenager, and I have never asked him this. It’s really tricky when you're friends with somebody who can employ you, and you just don't want to put that pressure on the friendship. He just finished a movie of his own recently, and I did, funnily enough, get a text from him today wishing me luck. So I'm just grateful that he's still my friend after all these years, and really supportive of my career. But obviously I'd work with him in a second, any day!