Why Simone Ashley’s Scenes Vanished in Brad Pitt’s F1 Film
So get this: Simone Ashley actually shot scenes for Brad Pitt’s high-octane F1 movie—and then they never made it to the big screen. It’s one of those Hollywood curveballs that feels straight out of a sequel nobody asked for. According to the New York Post and confirmed by sources at Variety, the Bridgerton star was tapped to play a rival driver in Joseph Kosinski’s adrenaline-fueled racing drama, only to be excised in last-minute editing rounds.
Insiders tell People magazine that Ashley spent weeks on set at Silverstone and Monza, running lines alongside Pitt and getting fitted for custom race gear. Early set photos (first spotted by NY Post’s entertainment desk) showed her in full FIA-approved kit, helmet in hand, grinning between takes. Yet when the final cut dropped, her subplot—rumored to add emotional stakes to Pitt’s character—was MIA.
The film’s studio execs quietly trimmed about 20 minutes during test screenings to tighten the narrative around Pitt’s character, petty rivalries, and a climactic crash sequence. A source close to director Kosinski emphasized to Deadline that it was purely about pacing (“no hard feelings,” they insisted) and that platinum-hair Pitt had to carry the load. Still, it’s rare to watch an actor’s time on location evaporate so completely.
Fans lit up social feeds when early trailers and set Instagram stories featured Ashley’s sleek racing suit, only for that footage to vanish in subsequent promos. Her own Instagram now feels like a museum of deleted moments—snaps of her aerobraking in concept art rooms and clinking champagne flutes at post-wrap celebrations. On a recent post, she cheekily captioned, “If you see this film, tell me where I am,” sparking a flurry of disappointed replies.
As for the film itself, expectations remain sky-high. With big names like Brad Pitt, a $200 million budget, and F1’s global backdrop, studios aren’t sweating one missing performance. Yet in Hollywood, cameo cuts can sting—just ask Hitchcock, whose more famous blade-jobs became lore. Rumor has it execs are considering an extended digital release that would restore Ashley’s character arc, though nothing’s set in stone.
For Bridgerton fans, this flick-cut drama adds a juicy footnote to Ashley’s meteoric rise. She already proved she can steal every scene on Netflix; now she’s learning the hard way that celluloid shapes can be fleeting.
Anyway, that’s the story. Do with it what you will. If this trend of “blink-and-it’s-gone” casting takes off, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and The New York Post, People magazine, Variety, Deadline
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
