While Tom Cruise has a reputation as someone who mentors younger actors and hypes them up within productions and in the promotion, Cruise still has younger actors’ performances cut so that his films are centered on him and his sh-t. It happened with Manny Jacinto on Top Gun: Maverick – almost all of his scenes were cut. Well, the same thing has now happened with Brad Pitt and his dumbass vroom-vroom movie, F1. The basics of the story: Pitt’s character Sonny comes out of retirement to drive for an F1 team owned by Kerry Condon and managed by Javier Bardem. The team already has a hotshot young driver played by Damson Idris, and Sonny is supposed to compete with and mentor Damson’s character, Joshua.
They filmed this f–king movie for the better part of two years, and there are tons of photos from the international sets and races, so much so that people were well aware that Simone Ashley was cast in the role of Joshua’s girlfriend. There are photos of Damson and Simone at various races and looking coupled-up on set. Simone was also announced as part of the cast, and she’s been promoting the film for months as one of her many upcoming projects. She spent months on set, shooting scenes too. She even posted wrap photos on her Instagram!!
Well, now that F1 is being screened and premiered, people are talking a lot about how Simone’s role was massively cut back. She’s apparently only seen in one or two scenes. My guess? F1 director Joseph Kosinski (who also directed Top Gun: Maverick) and Brad Pitt decided that the movie needed to be more about Pitt trying to emote through his facelift and going vroom-vroom in fast cars, and why not cut out the woman of color?
Manny Jacinto’s involvement was publicized but his scenes in Top Gun: Maverick were cut without warning. He only found out when he sat in the theater.
Now it’s happening again. Simone Ashley’s casting in the F1 movie was pushed everywhere. Major publications ran it and so did… pic.twitter.com/ulCrh4z6eO
— did oscar score points in f1 today? (@oscarpiastri81) June 13, 2025
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- SIMONE Ashley actress portrait during the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2024, 13th round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship from July 19 to 21, 2024 on the Hungaroring, in Mogyorod, Hungary -,Image: 891208235, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: 00124014, Model Release: no, Credit line: Eric Alonso/Avalon
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- IDRIS Damson Alade-Bo (GBR), actor playing Joshua Pearce, driver of the fictional APX GP team in the Apex F1 movie by Apple Studios / Bruckheimer Films, portrait and SIMONE Ashley actress portrait during the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2024, 13th round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship from July 19 to 21, 2024 on the Hungaroring, in Mogyorod, Hungary -,Image: 891208262, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: 00124014, Model Release: no, Credit line: Eric Alonso/Avalon
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- IDRIS Damson Alade-Bo (GBR), actor playing Joshua Pearce, driver of the fictional APX GP team in the Apex F1 movie by Apple Studios / Bruckheimer Films, portrait and SIMONE Ashley actress portrait during the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2024, 13th round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship from July 19 to 21, 2024 on the Hungaroring, in Mogyorod, Hungary -,Image: 891208317, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: 00124014, Model Release: no, Credit line: Eric Alonso/Avalon
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- Damson Idris Schauspieler, Großbritannien, alias Joshua Pearce, APX GP, Simone Ashley Schauspielerin, Großbritannien bei Dreharbeiten zum Apple Movie F1 Kinofilm Apex, HUN, Formel 1 Weltmeisterschaft, Grand Prix von Ungarn, Hungaroring, Raceday, Ankunft der Fahrer, 21.07.2024 HUN, Formel 1 Weltmeisterschaft, Grand Prix von Ungarn, Hungaroring, Raceday, Ankunft der Fahrer, 21.07.2024 Mogyorod *** Damson Idris Actor, Great Britain, alias Joshua Pearce, APX GP , Simone Ashley Actress, Great Britain filming the Apple Movie F1 movie Apex, HUN, Formula 1 World Championship, Hungarian Grand Prix, Hungaroring, Raceday, Arrival of the drivers, 21 07 2024 HUN, Formula 1 World Championship, Hungarian Grand Prix, Hungaroring, Raceday, Arrival of the drivers, 21 07 2024 Mogyorod Copyright: xEibner-Pressefoto/Memmlerx EP_MMR,Image: 891218323, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Eibner-Pressefoto/Memmler/Avalon
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- Chanel Photocall – Paris Fashion Week – Womenswear Fall Winter 2025-2026 PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH 11 EDITORIAL USE ONLY – Simone Ashley attends the Chanel Womenswear Fall Winter 2025-2026 show as part of Paris Fashion Week at Grand Palais on March 11, 2025 in Paris, France.,Image: 974933277, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Franck Castel/Avalon
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- Simone Ashley attends the F1 Grand Prix Of Monaco on May 25, 2025 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco.,Image: 1003325929, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel/Avalon
It’s not just film studios and geriatric actors with massive egos excluding Black people and POC is it? It’s publications, the music industry and beyond. Variety tried to do it with Sinners & last week featured only white women & a white presenting woman on its cover from a show where they have a Black woman and two WOC as part of the main cast. It’s the history of that entertainment and the world as a whole and it won’t ever change.
Cruise has a history of doing this, particularly with non-white actors!
In the Last Samurai Hiroyuki Sanada’s role was shrunk to 10 minutes overall as he was overshadowing Cruise in basically every fight and scene they were both in.
A famous scene that was cut featuring them both is also on YouTube.
Well that sucks. Another reason to not watch it.
I’m not going to jump to conclusions just yet considering the co-lead is Damson Idris; and the movie is about his character and Pitt’s. Ashley by all accounts was cast his girlfriend and is not the focal point or even a focal point of the movie. Now it would be different if Damson’s role was dramatically cut considering he’s the co-lead. Side note, the Director, Kosinski is known for cutting entire arcs out of films; like Malick when Brody thought he was the star of Thin Red Line – and his role was cut to nothing.
On the one hand, this is incredibly commonplace and normal and every actor who signs a contract knows there’s zero guarantee how your role will change during filming and editing, and if you’ll make the finished cut or not. The people being outraged online aren’t actors, because every actor on earth has filmed something and wound up cut. It’s just a universal actor experience.
On the other hand, it does disproportionately affect actors of colour, and should be called out when it involves the one WOC cast member being cut. It ties in with a bigger conversation around representation and failures of mainstream industry to adequately respect the need for representation.
Roles get cut in editing all the time. The director shot all the scenes – it’s not like he read it, hired her, then didn’t shoot was was in the script. This happens a lot and as much as I’m rooting for her and think she’s amazing it seems like the norm.
Remember this story? Timothee shot all these emotional scenes with Matthew and Christopher Nolan then cried when he saw the Final Cut of Interstellar.
https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/timothee-chalamet-interstellar-disappointment-wept-for-an-hour-1202025502/
Agreed. Genevieve O’Reilly has recently talked about how she initially played Mon Mothma in Episode III but her part was cut out entirely.
Sadly this does not surprise me. Sure it happens all the time but when white guys are in charge it’s hard not to see bias in who is cut.
What does surprise me is that BP is supposed to be an F1 driver??? I haven’t had any interest in this film because of his involvement and while in theory all his face work means he doesn’t necessarily look his actual age it’s an incredibly physically demanding job and no way are you convincing me he could actually do it at a level to be competitive. How old are they pretending he is in the film?
I assume it will follow the Top Gun Maverick formula of the older guy having to come back and finding some excuse that he just has to get back in the driver’s seat..physical realities be damned. Cruise and Pitt following the same playbook.
It’s why the fact that Top Gun 3 is in development fascinates me. In theory they have a fabulous main cast potential as now in addition to Miles Teller a good chunk of the young actors have broken out (Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro, Lewis Pullman, etc.). But I think the best case scenario would have Tom Cruise at 65 years old when they film it…so…is he leading the mission again? Because, uhhhhh. 🤣
Absolutely. In plenty of books and films I’m more than happy to suspend reality but this just seems entirely unnecessary beyond an ego trip (on both counts although I didn’t watch TG2). Come in as the canny mentor who helps the young guy succeed but they just won’t do it.
I hadn’t heard that about Manny Jacinto. So the movie focused mainly on Cruise, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm and Glen Powell right? Four white guys. I know there were other pilots including at least one woman (and Jennifer Connelly as his love interest) but don’t remember if there were any characters of color that had a lot of screen time. But then I don’t remember much about the movie except the action scenes and Rooster playing the piano like his father.
I’m sure it does happen all the time with actors in general, but still. And not at all surprised it happened on “The Last Samurai.” That was a good movie marred by too much “Look At Tom Cruise” energy.
Jay Ellis had a large supporting role. As did Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin, and Greg Tarzan played Coyote. And none of these actors including the ones you listed were ever co-leads. They were all supporting. The only person that came close to being a co-lead was Miles Teller. Everyone else was a supporting player.
And Kos has nothing on Terrence Malick. He is notorious for hiring actors, filming and then basically making completely different movie with the footage and cutting out what people thought were significant roles. And he does this to mostly men, white and A/B list.
Yeah. I remember when this happened it got overshadowed by how Cruise was mentoring Glen Powell. Lord.
It sucks that her role was cut down significantly. I can’t imagine going to a premiere of a movie I thought I was in, only to find out that I was not really in it anymore. However, I’m not sure it’s fair to call this racism. The co-lead is a Black man and they did cast a WOC as the girlfriend as opposed to a white woman. Considering a lot of the F1 drivers are dating your run-of-the-mill white IG influencer type, I was happy to see Simone cast. A lot can happen in editing.
You would think the director would give the actor a heads up before the premiere, “we decided to go in a different direction in the final cut and unfortunately that meant that many of your scenes did not make it into the version that will be in theatres”
FOR REAL! Especially if you’re paying money for glam, to bring family out, etc. I think the actor who played Darth Vader walked out of the Star Wars premiere when he found out his voice had been replaced with James Earl Jones’. Would it kill them to shoot a message?
Her career is not doing well at all compared to her costar Jonathan Bailey.
Quelle surprise 🙄
I didn’t even realize that Manny Jacinto was in Top Gun: Maverick! And as a red-blooded gay male, I would have remembered him. Was he one of the young pilots? The only ones I really remember are Monica Barbaro and her gunner, Pullman the younger; Glen Powell; Goose’s son; and the gorgeous man who is also in the new Mission Impossible movie.
This is BS. Simone was great in Bridgerton and, my god, she’s a knockout… That gorgeous hair! I feel like she got hosed in the live action Little Mermaid too — she plays one of Ariel’s sisters in a blink-and-you-miss-it role.
Greg Tarzan of Charles Parnell? LOL. They are both insanely good looking. Parnell being the distinguished gentlemen with gravitas in spades and Tarzan just being hot. LOL. I liked them both in MI8.
My cousin’s very first movie was hugely exciting for him and he told everyone to go see it. Then his entire part ended up on the cutting room floor.
Do they still get paid?