F1 star Damson Idris reacts to Bridgerton star Simone Ashley being cut from movie
Director Joseph Kosinski confirmed last week that Ashley would no longer appear in the big-budget sports film.
Last week, F1 director Joseph Konsinski confirmed that Bridgerton star Simone Ashley had been cut from the finished film despite previously being announced as part of the cast – and now one of the film's leads has spoken out about her absence.
Damson Idris, who stars opposite Brad Pitt as rookie driver Joshua Pearce in the movie, was asked about Ashley's role during a recent interview with BuzzFeed, praising the actress but explaining that her role in the film had never been an especially large one.
"First of all, I love Simone, not just as a person, but also as an artist. I think she's stupidly talented," he said.
"Essentially, the role was more of a cameo kind of role. It was sort of a love interest situation that happened. But, as with many movies, you know, the director's cut. I mean, I've been cut out of movies... and these things happen."
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Illustrating the fact that there was no bad blood following the decision, he added: "The joy of it is that, I know she's gonna work with not only [director Joseph] Kosinski again, but definitely with me again."
Kosinski previously explained the reasoning behind Ashley's scene being cut in an interview with PEOPLE, telling the publication: "It happens on every film, where you have to shoot more than you can use. There were two or three storylines that ultimately didn't make it into the final cut."
He added that Ashley was "an incredible talent, incredible actress, incredible singer" and further emphasised that he "would love to work with her again".
Read more:
- F1 director confirms Bridgerton's Simone Ashley has been cut from Brad Pitt movie
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Ashley had previously described making the film as a "crazy" experience, telling ELLE: "I have a very small part, but I’m grateful to be in that movie. I got to experience many grands prix. I don’t think I’ll ever do anything like that again."
Pitt and Idris are joined in the cast of the finished film by Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, Kim Bodnia, Javier Bardem and Shea Whigham, while there is also a role for Doctor Who's Callie Cooke.
In our three-star review, we called F1 "thrilling but two-dimensional", writing that it "will blow your mind when it comes to the stunning racetrack footage" but that "off the track, the story is hammy".
F1 will be released in cinemas on Wednesday 25th June 2025.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
