OSCARS: WHAT DAMSON IDRIS REALLY LEARNED FROM WORKING WITH BRAD PITT
Originally appeared on E! Online
Damson Idris is ready to put his career in the fast lane.
As the F1 star arrived at the 2026 Oscars—hosted by Conan O’Brien at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood March 15—he detailed how his costar Brad Pitt taught him how to build “longevity” as he moves forward in his career.
“This is a long game,” Damson told Zuri Hall on Live from E!: Oscars 2026. “Ups and downs. [He has taught me:] Don't chase moments, chase legacy. And I'm doing that with the roles that I play. F1 is just the start.”
The 34-year-old—who sported a satin blue Prada suit on the red carpet—added, “There's so many amazing movies to come, from Children of Blood and Bone to [portraying] Miles Davis, I'm really excited for where I go in my career.”
Of course, Damson didn’t just take life lessons from Brad—he also took the title of Fastest Driver.
As he put it, “I am. I'm actually faster than Brad.”
But while Damson and the Oceans 11 star had fun building a bond, Brad also enjoyed pursuing one of his passions with F1, which is nominated for Best Picture.
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“I’ve always loved racing,” Brad told Formula 1 in June. "I grew up with Jackie Stewart [racing in F1 as] some of my earliest memories. In the ’90s I really got heavily into MotoGP. Then I started veering into F1, and here we are. I’ve been trying to get a racing movie done for 20 years. I’ve tried bikes, I’ve tried cars, I’ve tried different disciplines, and for whatever reason they never came to fruition.”
But thanks to a "great push," Brad, alongside Damson, was more than ready to finally embrace the track.
“I think by the time we get to the movie, it’s undeniable that we are driving the cars," Brad told the outlet. "We’re not sitting on a sound stage with wind machines…I don’t know where I go from here. You can’t compete with this experience. It’s almost like when we get to the acting scenes, you kind of go, ‘Oh, okay, no driving today!’ It’s really been amazing.”
And thanks to real-life racing icons such as Lewis Hamilton visiting the set, Brad was able to operate at full speed during filming.
“Everyone has had a hand honing this thing," the Babylon star noted, "then Lewis coming in for the ultimate ‘smell test.' It’s really fun, it’s exciting, it’s adventurous, and you feel it. I do. I hope others do too.”
Keep reading for a look at every celeb at the 2026 Oscars...
Watch the Oscars 2026 Sunday, March 15, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ABC and streaming on Hulu. 2026-03-16T00:15:45Z
