Carlos Munoz waited almost 18 months to tweet a photo of him and Will Smith from the set of “Focus” at NOLA Motorsports Park -- if only to back up recollections of his screen debut to friends.
“After those days, I knew for sure I wanted to be a Hollywood star,” laughed the 23-year-old second-year Andretti Autosport driver, who had to wait until close proximity to the feature film’s Feb. 24 premiere to break cover of photos. “It was my first time with such an experience and probably my first and last time in a movie. I’m looking forward to seeing the movie and how our scenes turned out.”
The Warner Bros. Pictures film stars Smith as a grifter who takes Margot Robbie, a novice con artist, under his wing. Their romantic relationship leads to complications and personal danger in their schemes.
Scenes with Verizon IndyCar Series cars driven by Munoz and team owner Bryan Herta were shot at NOLA Motorsports Park, which hosts the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana on April 12, across the Mississippi River from New Orleans.
“I think it’s great for INDYCAR to be featured in such a manner,” Munoz added. “There have been many racing movies with Indy cars, but no real-life ones recently. There was ‘Turbo,’ which was fun, but it was animated.”
Leading up to the Feb. 27 public release, theaters in several Verizon IndyCar Series race markets are playing host to private screenings organized by Warner Bros. Drivers Ed Carpenter, James Hinchcliffe, Gabby Chaves, Conor Daly and Pippa Mann were among the attendees.
“It was a pretty entertaining story and it was definitely great to see the cars from the Verizon IndyCar Series featured in a major motion picturesaid Carpenter, who introduced the film at Emagine in Novi, Mich. "It’s good exposure for the series and our sport overall. Hopefully the fans watching the movie like what they see and they’ll come out to races like the Chevy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans to see our cars and drivers in action this summer.”
Filming of the racing scenes took place in the summer of 2013 during the Verizon IndyCar Series season.
“We were approached about providing cars for the movie and two other drivers had conflicts, so I thought, 'What the heck; I'll drive it,' ” said Herta (left), a former Indy car driver who owns Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian. “I hadn't driven an Indy car since '06 or the new car ever, so I thought it would be fun to get in the car and see what it feels like for first-hand knowledge.
"Obviously, movie driving is a little different than racing, but it was still good to get out there and feel the downforce, the power and all those sensations again. I think the contract said we couldn't go over 100 mph. I'm not going to say we didn't though."
"Focus," written and directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, was produced by Denise Di Novi. The cast also includes Rodrigo Santoro and Gerald McRaney.
"Aligning the stars and cars of the Verizon IndyCar Series with the stars of a major motion picture like 'Focus' made a lot of sense to us," said Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Company, the parent company of INDYCAR and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "Warner Bros. and the entire 'Focus' production staff have been great partners throughout this process, and we look forward to positioning our brand with more of these opportunities in the future."
See the Indianapolis Premier of Focus Gallery below:
