UPDATE [10/5/2024]: Our wish has been granted. Daniel Ricciardoโs scripted comedy series Downforce โ which is destined for Hulu/Disney+ โ has been described as Formula 1 meets Entourage with shades of Ted Lasso. Even better, itโll be helmed by legendary television writer Alec Berg (Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Silicon Valley, Barry) and veteran producer Adam Countee (Community, Silicon Valley, Vice Principals).
While digging online to find out what the hell happened to Day 1s โ the project about Premier League footballers created by Doug Ellin (Entourage); first announced back in late 2020 and now ostensibly dead in the water โ it suddenly dawned on me. Thereโs another sport, one thatโs been recently enjoying global amounts of attention like never before, which could potentially deliver far greater entertainment value if it were to be given the Entourage treatment: Formula 1.
Hear me out.
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In this post-Drive To Survive era, F1 drivers arenโt just athletes. Theyโre fashion icons. Theyโre Top Gun pilots. Theyโre movie stars โ all rolled into one; especially in the case of seven-time world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton, who was just a scheduling conflict away from literally ticking all three boxes.
And considering the extremely cutthroat nature of their employment โ plus the high-octane nature of what said employment mentally/physically/mechanically entails โ larger-than-life personalities, eye-watering contracts, and all the chicks asideโฆ itโs territory ripe for cinematic exploration. Hence why director Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick), Brad Pitt, and Hamilton himself are currently in the process of producing a feature-length love letter on behalf of Apple as we speak. Practical effects and all.
โBut Garry,โ I can hear the whinier of you lot saying in an exaggerated falsetto, โThe grid is already so well-established. How could you possibly reconcile the fictional and reality without compromising on immersion?โ
Itโs simple.
Similar to how Ted Lasso approached placing the completely fabricated AFC Richmond in the Premier League โ and how Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) interacted with the rest of actual Hollywood in Entourage โ the narrative follows a smaller team always on the edge of AAA-list stardom, limiting the wheel-to-wheel action unless absolutely imperative for the story at hand for obvious reasons.
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Ask yourself: how much acting did we actually see Vinny get done across eight seasons of the beloved HBO dramedy? How much football have we actually seen Coach Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) accomplish on the pitch? Exactly.
But if thatโs too much of a stretch for you, why not shift the focus to Formula 2? Follow the exploits of young, hungry, volatile hotshots vying for a shot in the big leagues while allowing Formula 1 as we know it to unfold in its own self-contained pocket of existence. I can do this all day, folks, somebody pay me.
Incidentally, beyond whatever negligible impact this article might have upon the media landscape, weโre on track to receive such binge fodder. Or at least, something in the same wheelhouse.
As some of you may recall, last year, it was revealed that Daniel Ricciardo was developing a fictional answer to Netflixโs hit docuseries series for Disney-backed streaming platform Hulu.
Ricciardo, who was then still driving for McLaren Racing, described the untitled project as โBallers or Entourageโ meets Formula 1.
โI teamed up with Temple Hill, they know what theyโre doing in that field so Iโve got my full trust in them. Iโm basically going to act as executive producer but try to steer the ship a little,โ said Danny Ric (via RaceFans).
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โIt is fiction but Iโll try to give as much input that it stays on course and doesnโt go too far away where people are like โokay, this would never happenโ. So Iโm going to try and give the best advice I can when I can.โ
The Red Bull Racing reserve driver added: โWeโre at the point of now just finding a writer. I donโt want to put pressure on the time thing but hopefully by the end of the summer thatโs all established. Then it should be casting.โ
But donโt expect regular appearances from The Honey Badger. If anything, his onscreen contributions will resemble something closer to Mark Wahlbergโs occasional check-ins with Entourage (and thatโs assuming weโre lucky enough).
โIโm not planning to be in it, so itโs literally me from the outside or from afar. But if they need a good-looking stud to cameoโฆโ
Hereโs to bloody hoping.
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