Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise bow out of ‘Ford v Ferrari’, reason revealed

Brad Pitt has opened up about what led him and Tom Cruise to walk away from Ford v Ferrari during the recent interview on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. 

Talking with The National, two-time Oscar-winner star expressed his long-held desire to work with the Mission: Impossible actor while shedding light on his pair up with Tom Cruise for high-octane racing drama, Ford v Ferrari.

Unfortunately, their highly-anticipated team ran into a major bump along the way.

The Fight Club actor stated: "Tom and I, for a while there, were on Ford v Ferrari with Joe [to direct]...This was about 10 years before the guys who actually made it— and made it a great movie.”

“What it came down to is that we both wanted to drive, and he wanted to play Shelby, and I wanted to play Ken Miles. And when Tom realized that Carroll Shelby would not be driving much in the movie, it didn’t come through,” he opened up.

After withdrawing from the film, the roles of Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby went to Christian Bale and Matt Damon respectively.

The project was released in 2019 under the direction of James Mangold.

It has been over three decades since F1: The Movie star and Top Gun actor appeared in 1994’s Interview With the Vampire, based on Anne Rice’s best-selling novel.

Is there a sequel planned for Hundred Days of Thunder?

According to The Hollywood Reporter’s report in 2024, Tom Cruise was actively looking into making a sequel to the NASCAR racing movie. 

Related: Brad Pitt reconciles with Tom Cruise after three decades