For the time being, Sir Lewis Hamilton appears to have zero intentions of retiring until he earns that eighth world championship title with Mercedes – and racking up however many more records for the history books between now and then – but the Formula 1 star does have a vision of what life will resemble beyond the grid, and it involves his own production company.
In a recent interview, the British racing talent revealed that he’d set up his latest venture with talent outfit Cooper: an investment and talent advisory helmed by Hamilton’s manager Penni Thow, which specialises in entertainment, media, fashion, and of course, sports.
Dubbed Dawn Apollo Films (“Apollo is the Greek god of sunlight, music and poetry… ‘Dawn’ because it is a time of other-worldliness and light, symbolises new beginnings.”), here’s what F1’s GOAT in the making had to say about the matter…
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“I’ve always been into movies. I watch a lot. I find it a real escape. There are a lot of movies I find inspiring and I’ve always dreamed of one day doing something in this space,” Hamilton explained to Deadline.
“The question was often asked whether I would act. I’ve been very fortunate to be an F1 driver so I never really had time to dedicate to the craft of acting but a dream of mine has been to story-tell.”
Lewis Hamilton added: “I sat down with my team, and I asked: “What would it take for us to start a production company?” And I went around and I met a range of producers and filmmakers in LA just to gain knowledge. One of them was Jeffrey Katzenberg.”
“The goal is to make impactful stories and ultimately to inspire people through movies and storytelling. A big part of the new company will be about social impact, community and causes. That’s very important to me.”
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Lewis Hamilton currently has two major projects in the works with Apple: a highly-anticipated Formula 1 movie starring Brad Pitt and directed by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick), which he’s producing, as well as a feature-length documentary about his career produced by Box To Box Films (Drive To Survive).
Fun fact, at one stage, Hamilton was actually on track to make an appearance in Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick.
“I was trying to get in Top Gun because I’m a massive fan… I had an opportunity to do it and I couldn’t do it. I didn’t have time to do any filming,” Hamilton previously stated.
By all accounts, he was taking the entire endeavour quite seriously. Even going so far as to enlist the services of an entertainment agent and seek out an acting coach. But as you can imagine, the race calendar always got in the way of pursuing screen stardom.
“I auditioned for a movie a while ago and it took one day to learn the role. I had a fashion show in Paris and I probably had maybe four or five shows to go to, so in between.”
“It’s super heavy-loaded and I’m trying to take days out to give myself some time back, so I can be the best that I can be here [in the Formula 1]. So it is just trying to find a balance.”
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But like we said before, there’s still plenty of fight left in this dog (and plenty of races to be won).
“My main focus and my core job is still motor racing,” assured Sir Lewis Hamilton.
“I’m 37. I’m very focused on my health: on my body, my mind, and my spiritual well-being. I’m very conscious of other great athletes who spend their whole lives as I have, focused on their sport, and when they come to the end they might not necessarily have had the right people around them to help structure the course ahead for them.”
“I’ve spoken to people who have said: ‘Look… when I stopped it all came crashing down. I wasn’t prepared to do other things. I hadn’t taken time to learn any other crafts, other skills. I don’t know what my other passions are, so, I didn’t really focus on trying to understand what those are and create pillars.’”
“So, when I do stop racing — which I don’t plan on doing for a while; I still feel I’m in a good place — I want it to be seamless. I want to be able to move on to fully focus on Dawn Apollo Films and to be able to jump in at a similar level to what I’ve been used to.”
