There’s been long-standing rumors on the internet that Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt either didn’t get along or were totally whatever with one another during the filming of Interview with the Vampire way back in 1993 (for a ’94 release). But during Paramount 2025’s panel (which CinemaBlend live blogged), Tom Cruise told a surprising-but-fun story about racing go karts together during the making of the iconic film.
It was while talking about McQuarrie’s ghost work on World War Z the subject of Brad Pitt even came up, with the M:I star referring to him as his “friend.” Like Cruise, Pitt has his own 2025 movie release coming, F1, and Cruise wanted to hype that. He’s always a champion of tentpole movies, but this one just so happens to be coming from his Top Gun: Maverick buddies Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer.
Cruise said he’s championing the release, but also told a BTS story about their own time filming together.
Brad’s got a new movie Formula 1 with Jerry Bruckheimer, Joe Kosinksi. I can’t wait to see that this summer. It’ll be awesome.
We saw the first 10 minutes of F1 during Warner Bros.’ panel earlier this week, and it did not disappoint. We saw Brad Pitt’s character go from prepping for a race in a trailer to doing some big driving on a track. Making bold moves brought his team from behind during a 24 Hours Daytona race. It was exciting stuff, all set to the adrenaline-charged music of Led Zeppelin.
In reality, Brad Pitt can also drive in real life. Cruise made the startling admission while revealing why he was excited to see F1 this summer. While I would have guessed Kosinksi and Bruckheimer might be the reason, it turns out Tom Cruise thinks Pitt is a “hell of a driver,” and he knows so because they used to race go karts together during the filming of Interview with the Vampire.
It’s great to see Brad driving. He’s very good. He’s a very good driver. Believe me, I’ve raced against him. When we were doing Interview with the Vampire we’d go and race Go Carts. We’d literally finish and go drive go karts all night.
I’m loving this story. I’ve heard all kinds of stories about actors blowing off steam while filming, but I had never once known Tom Cruise has some firsthand knowledge of Brad Pitt’s driving ability. It’s even funnier considering this was their bonding activity in between Pitt playing the mopiest vampire of all time.
Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt only ever started in the one movie together, but it’s clear they at least spend some downtime together. And it’s very generous of Cruise to even bring up the old movie given he was at one point involved in a prank over a sequel to the movie when George Clooney sent him a letter pretending to be Brad.
And now this picture of them go kart racing will live rent free in my head forever. What a great week for movies.
