Brad Pitt is open to working with Tom Cruise again - as long as he doesn’t have to do any big stunts.
The 61-year-old actor hasn’t appeared on-screen with the Mission: Impossible star, 62, since 1994’s Interview with the Vampire, and Pitt has now revealed he would collaborate with Cruise again, on the condition that his feet stay firmly on the ground.
Speaking with E! News, Pitt said: “Well, I’m not gonna hang my a** off airplanes and s*** like that.
“So when he does something again that’s on the ground [then yes].”
Pitt will next be seen in F1 - the high-octane racing movie from Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski.
In F1, Pitt plays Sonny Hayes, a retired racer who returns to the track with new blood Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris) in a bid to become the best Formula One driver in the world.
While Pitt wants to avoid doing any major stunts in a Tom Cruise movie, the Once Upon A Time In Hollywood actor had driven at 180-miles-per-hour in real Formula One cars for F1.
Speaking at a Q+A event in March, Kosinski said: “[Pitt] just had that natural feel for grip in the car, and what we're doing on this film is dangerous. So yeah, you have to be fearless, and when you see Brad driving, that's not acting.
“He's really concentrating on keeping that car on the track and out of the wall during all those scenes. So that's something that you just can't fake, I think. I hope the audience feels that when they watch the movie.”
The filmmaker added Pitt had undergone “months of training” to prepare for the racing scenes, which also involved learning the art of the sport under the tutelage of seven-time Formula One world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton.
Kosinski explained: “Brad and Damson are both driving in this film and in order to get them into these race cars, it required months, literally months of training. But the first day was really fun.
“It was me, Brad and Lewis Hamilton at the track together, all of us jumping in cars and driving each other around in sports cars, which was one of those things, I'll never forget having Lewis Hamilton as your driving instructor.
“But what we learned and what Lewis was really interested was seeing did Brad knew how to drive right? Because if Brad can't drive, this whole film wasn't going to work.”
The director said Hamilton found Pitt to be a “very talented, naturally gifted driver” when they first sped around the track together.
Kosinski said: “And what Lewis was very happy to discover was that Brad had a lot of just natural ability right from the start.
“And I don't know where he got that or if he was born with it, and he rides motorcycles, which I think has something to do with it, but he's just a very talented, naturally gifted driver, which for Lewis after that first meeting gave him a lot of confidence that we might have a shot at pulling this off.”
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The New York Giants were routinely linked with quarterback Shedeur Sanders leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft, but the Giants ultimately traded back into the first round to select Ole Miss signal-caller Jaxson Dart at pick No. 25. For a piece published on Monday, Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News revisited how Giants general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll ended up with Dart instead of Sanders earlier this year. "Members of the Giants’ staff had fawned over Shedeur Sanders," Leonard wrote. "Giants brass had spent a lot more time with Sanders during the fall. Then, Daboll’s increased participation after the NFL season steered the process in a different direction." Sanders allegedly had a rough visit with Daboll ahead of the draft, and a report from early May revealed that "Sanders openly acknowledged during the predraft process that he didn't hit it off with Giants coaches." A different story claimed that Schoen "shifted his preference to Dart this spring as head coach Brian Daboll warmed to Dart as a player and person and Schoen rounded out his own evaluation" before the draft got underway. That said, Schoen raised some eyebrows when he said during a May interview that he knew the club would select Dart over Sanders as of "the week of the draft." Schoen also said the decision was the result of a "collaborative process." According to Leonard, those comments were seen by some as "not exactly a firm endorsement of a player standing out above the rest" as it pertains to the quarterbacks. "...Schoen’s lukewarm rhetoric and reluctance to stick his neck out about Dart caught the attention of some people around the league," Leonard added. "And it has put the rookie in a strange position: trying to validate support that almost sounds conditional." Meanwhile, Sanders fell to the draft's fifth round before the Cleveland Browns traded up to grab him at selection No. 144. As of Monday afternoon, FanDuel Sportsbook had Sanders (+870 odds) and Dart (+1060 odds) as significant betting underdogs to serve as Week 1 starters in September. Cleveland is expected to go with Joe Flacco or Kenny Pickett for its regular-season opener, while Russell Wilson is on track to start for the Giants against the Washington Commanders on Sept. 7. In short, fans may have to wait a long time to learn if Schoen has any buyer's remorse about possibly being talked into drafting Dart when Sanders was on the board.
WNBA players sent a message to the league with T-shirts they wore ahead of the All-Star Game on Saturday night, but the ratings for the game did not exactly strengthen their stance. Prior to the All-Star Game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., Caitlin Clark and other players warmed up in shirts that said “Pay us what you owe us” across the front. The message had to do with the current state of collective bargaining agreement negotiations between the WNBA and WNBA Player’s Association. Unfortunately for the players, the television ratings for the game were not very good. Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports reported on Tuesday that the WNBA All-Star Game drew 2.19 million viewers on ABC, which was down roughly 36% from a year ago. Last year’s game featured the WNBA All-Stars against the Team USA squad that was preparing to compete in the Summer Olympics in Paris. The dip in ratings is likely another example of the type of impact Clark has had on the WNBA. Although she was a team captain for this year’s All-Star Game, Clark did not play due to a groin injury. Clark played in last year’s game for the All-Star side, as she did not make the Team USA Olympic roster. Many fans were outraged that she was snubbed from the Olympic team, which added an element of intrigue to the All-Star Game. There is no way of knowing for certain whether more fans would have watched the All-Star Game on Saturday night had Clark played. It is a safe guess, however, especially when you look at some recent trends for the league.
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