Entertainment
Netflix helped bring F1 to new heights. Now the sport is poised to return the favor
A few seasons into the run of Netflix’s Formula 1 docuseries “Drive to Survive,” the racing league’s governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), presented the platform with a deck containing evidence of “the Netflix effect.” Since the series premiered in 2019 as part of a concerted effort to expand the sport’s footprint in the U.S., officials had seen social media engagement, merchandising, attendance and ratings for race telecasts improve in its least-penetrated major market.
“It’s tough to totally decouple — Formula 1 was doing a lot of great new stuff, you had a broadcast partner in ESPN that was also prioritizing it, and you had a partner in Netflix that was promoting the sport through the docuseries,” recalls Brandon Riegg, vice president, nonfiction series & sports, at the streamer. “But they for sure were very generous and said, ‘We attribute a lot of this to Netflix.’ And when you saw the gains that they made across many categories, it was impressive, and I felt like we could take credit for at least a portion of that.”
Now Formula 1 is poised to return the favor.
With the premiere Friday of “Senna,” a scripted miniseries about the life and career of Brazilian F1 legend Ayrton Senna, the championship’s rich lore — replete with archival footage and FIA authorization to reconstruct races, podiums, logos, uniforms and track layouts from Senna’s heyday — becomes the source material for yet another evolution in one of the most innovative relationships in sports entertainment.
“It becomes almost like an origin story for F1,” says “Senna” showrunner Vicente Amorim. “You love ‘Drive to Survive’? You’re an F1 fan? You’re maybe thinking of watching the ‘F1’ movie next year? Maybe have a look at how it all started.”
If Warner Bros.’ 2025 feature, developed in collaboration with the FIA and starring Brad Pitt, represents the sport’s promotional campaign at the scale of a Hollywood blockbuster, “Senna” flows instead from Netflix’s distinct approach to international television. The six-part series, which follows its dashing hero from his karting days in São Paulo to his tragic death, at 34, during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, was produced in Brazil, filmed largely in Portuguese and relied on Latin American artisans, particularly in the creation of its astonishing replica cars. It’s the same regional model that created crossover hits such as “Élite” and “La Casa de las Flores,” applied to one of the most successful drivers in F1 history.
“We really made those shows thinking they would be huge in Spain and Mexico, respectively, and I think it’s precisely their authenticity and their very specific local value, culture, look and feel that made them unique for their own countries and then globally appealing,” says Francisco Ramos, Netflix’s vice president of content Latin America, who worked on both titles. “What we’ve discovered, through this journey of almost 10 years making local content outside of the U.S., is that the most accurate, authentic stories that properly represent the cultures from which they come are the ones that are able to find resonance outside of their home territory.”
Conceived by the racer’s family and Brazilian production company Gullane, “Senna” came to Netflix after plans for a feature film hit creative and financial roadblocks — and soon found a devoted fan in Amorim, who vividly remembers Senna’s zenith in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when he won three world championships. “It becomes almost like a religion,” Amorim says of growing up in Brazil during this period. “Every Sunday, you turn on the TV to watch Senna probably win.”
Although its focus is the triumph and tragedy of Senna’s career, as well as his relationships with his parents, Miltão (Marco Ricca) and Zaza (Susana Ribeiro), and his glamorous pop star girlfriend, Xuxa (Pâmela Tomé), “Senna” is also the tale of a fast-modernizing sport, one on the cusp of becoming the glitzy global juggernaut it is today. In 1994, the year Senna died, the F1 world championship consisted of 16 races, 11 of them in Europe; 30 years on, the season now spans 24 races on five continents, including three in the United States alone. And Senna himself — handsome, media savvy and impatient with the Old World politics he found in F1 when he joined the circuit in 1984 — was instrumental in setting the transformation in motion. As Amorim puts it, “There’s an F1 ‘Before Senna’ and an F1 ‘After Senna.’”
Gabriel Leone as Ayrton Senna, right, with Matt Mella as Senna’s teammate and rival Alain Prost.
(Alan Roskyn / Netflix)
The makeup of the “After Senna” F1 fan base is, in fact, a significant part of why Netflix has invested so much in its partnership with the sport. Although the FIA first envisioned “Drive to Survive” as a way to reach American viewers, according to Riegg, Netflix saw the docuseries as a “hedged bet”: If it failed to catch on in the States, it still had potential in other countries where Netflix operates that had established F1 followings.
In the end, “Drive to Survive” boosted interest in F1 not only in the U.S. but also globally: When the FIA presented Netflix with its deck about the series’ impact, “They made gains in some of the markets they thought were the most mature, including Brazil and Italy and Spain,” Riegg says.
Although Ramos insists that “Senna,” which was first announced in 2020, was not expressly intended to “feed off” the success of “Drive to Survive,” in many ways it epitomizes the same effort to diversify output and audience that has defined Netflix’s business in recent years. The release of promotional art and the trailer for “Senna” attracted interest not only in Brazil but also in other F1 strongholds like Mexico, Argentina, Italy and Japan, while the docuseries might be said to have primed the pump for potential viewers in places like the U.S. that have a less established F1 following.
“During the process of getting this developed and made, ‘Drive to Survive’ became bigger and bigger,” Ramos says. “That’s not the way we planned it. … But for sure there’s a benefit that I cannot steer away from.”
The benefit might also work in reverse, Riegg acknowledges, creating a chance “to broaden the funnel or the entry point for people that are going to become fans of Formula 1 in general, whether that’s the races or something like our documentary series.”
It’s an opportune moment for Netflix’s relationship with F1 to evolve, as “Drive to Survive” confronts its first real headwinds after years of viewership growth.
“I think there’s been a stabilization of the viewership the last couple seasons,” Riegg says. “It did the first few seasons continue to grow consistently and — I guess ‘plateau’ is one word — then found its audience. There’s a natural ebb and flow on all of these shows, especially the sports shows, or even our dating shows, which is analogous in certain ways, where some seasons you just have stronger stories than others. I think part of what F1 deals with that’s somewhat different than some of the other sports is you’ve had a winner in Max [Verstappen] and a team in Red Bull that’s really dominated for many seasons in a row so there’s sort of been less suspense and perhaps drama over the course of the season.”
What’s not yet on the table for Netflix, Riegg emphasizes, is live Formula 1 racing, although the FIA’s current U.S. television deal, with ESPN, expires in 2025. And it’s not because of the challenges the platform has faced in scaling up its capacity for live programming, most recently during the boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, which led to widespread complaints of freezing, buffering and poor image quality. It’s because Netflix’s current focus vis-a-vis live television is on one-off events, rather than on a season-long commitment. “We’re in the crawl, walk, run phase,” Riegg says. “We’re definitely not in that business right now.”
And as “Senna” itself understands, it’s commerce as much as horsepower that makes the wheels of the sport turn. “F1 is a business,” Amorim says, repeating a real-life line from Senna rival Terry Fullerton that’s included in the series. “Except for two hours on Sunday.”
Film
Project Hail Mary
Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Pascal Pictures, General Admission, Lord Miller Productions
In Theaters 03.20.2026
The Oscars for the films of 2025 are this Sunday, and many of the races are tight. If I’m being honest, I’m struggling to care, in part because awards are a poor way to measure art. But mostly because Project Hail Mary is the first major studio release that’s a solid contender for Best Picture of 2026, and I’m far more stoked to see it again than I am to watch a three-hour ceremony.
Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling, Drive, Barbie) awakens alone aboard a spacecraft light-years from Earth with no memory of who he is or how he got there. As fragments of his past slowly return, he realizes he’s the sole survivor of a desperate mission to the Tau Ceti system, sent to find a way to stop a mysterious organism draining energy from the sun and threatening to wipe out life on Earth. Armed only with his scientific know-how, stubborn ingenuity and a growing understanding of the stakes, Grace races to solve an interstellar puzzle that could save humanity. Along the way, he discovers he isn’t quite as alone as he thought — forming an unlikely partnership with an alien visitor he nicknames Rocky (voiced and puppeteered by James Ortiz), whose own world is facing the same cosmic catastrophe. Together, the two forge an extraordinary friendship while tackling a problem that neither species could solve alone.
Project Hail Mary is an adaptation of the bestselling novel by Andy Weir, the author of The Martian, and it’s adapted by the same screenwriter for that film, Drew Goddard. As with The Martian, the script here stays remarkably faithful to the beloved source material, bringing a perfect mix of science, humor and heart. The shadow-drained cinematography by Greig Fraser (Dune, The Batman) is luminous and atmospheric. The Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who were fired from their gig piloting Solo: A Star Wars Story, finally get the chance to prove that not only can they do live action just as well as animation, they belong among the stars. For a story that is so dependent on making hard science accessible and is predicated on the imminent destruction of the planet and the human race, Project Hail Mary manages to be a joyous crowd-pleaser that should find itself scoring with all audiences. It’s as if the cerebral majesty of 2001: A Space Odyssey were mixed with the warmth of a road trip buddy movie, and they sync together perfectly. Daniel Pemberton’s ethereal musical score is filled with such majesty that it would be worth the price of an IMAX ticket just to hear it on a great sound system, and even at 156 minutes, the pacing never lags.
Gosling is becoming one of Hollywood’s most consistently great actors, and he balances the comic and dramatic elements with equal aplomb. The presence of a practical effect for Rocky gives Gosling a stellar performer to play off of, and I’ll be very surprised if we see a more engaging character relationship all year. Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall, The Zone of Interest) brings both an icy aloofness and piercing sense of humanity to the role of Eva Stratt, a Dutch scientist who is in charge of the project, and she continues to blow me away with the depth that she brings to each performance.
Project Hail Mary isn’t just a great movie; it’s a cosmic journey of epic proportions, and it’s nothing short of a cinematic masterpiece. These may be lofty words, and I know that I run the risk of being told “you built it up too high for me,” but when a movie comes along that causes me to lose myself in an all encompassing experience – and I look at the silver through the eyes of a kid who is filled with wonder and has traveled to edges of existence and back again – I’m willing to take that risk. —Patrick Gibbs
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Entertainment
Oscars host Conan O’Brien says ‘we will find the right tone’ for ceremony amid Iran war
The big question surrounding last year’s Academy Awards was whether the show would address the L.A. wildfires, which had rattled the city mere months prior.
This year, the elephant in the room is the ongoing Iran war, which like last year’s wildfires, puts a celebration like the Oscars in sharp relief. But for Conan O’Brien, balancing gravity and levity is part of his job description as host.
“My job is to always try and hit this very, very thin line between entertaining people and also acknowledging some of the realities,” O’Brien said during a Wednesday news conference with the Oscars creative team.
“It’s a dance that goes on up until the show begins,” the former talk show host said, adding that he and his team of writers are still revising material ahead of the show to ensure their content is as relevant as possible.
“Between us,” he said, referencing Oscars telecast executive producers Katy Mullan and Raj Kapoor, “we will find the right tone.”
O’Brien also during the news conference recalled Johnny Carson’s turn hosting the Oscars during the Iran hostage crisis, when 52 Americans, including diplomats and other personnel, were held hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran from 1979 to 1981. The comedian remembered the television host parodying ABC’s “Nightline” with his joke, “It’s day 444 of the Oscars.”
“It was such a funny, topical joke that touched on something everyone was thinking about, and at the same time, got a big laugh and was unifying,” O’Brien said. “That was meaningful to me.”
Kapoor said during the news conference that the production team is putting systems in place to alleviate attendees’ safety concerns amid the tense global situation and reported threats to California.
“Every year, we monitor what’s going on in the world,” the showrunner said, adding that the ceremony has the support of the FBI and LAPD. “This show has to run like clockwork.”
He added, “Everybody that is coming to this show, that is witnessing this show, that is even a fan of the show when they’re standing outside the barricades — we want everybody to feel safe and protected and welcome.”
As for the telecast’s creative direction, the team cited “human touch” as a unifying theme — a not-so-subtle slight to AI.
“We’re celebrating human touch, human connection and what I like to call actual intelligence, as opposed to artificial,” said music director Michael Bearden. “We want to get back to the communal … and so the music will reflect that.”
That spirit of celebration will be especially tangible in the “KPop Demon Hunters” performance, Kapoor said. That performance will be complemented by a “Sinners” moment featuring Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq as well as guests Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey and Alice Smith.
“We have this lovely story celebrating Korean culture with authentic Korean drummers and singers and even choreography,” the producer said. “So again, we’ve expanded our reach, and we’re telling these global stories, celebrating international films that have had a global impact and doing things in a really different way.”
Mullan and Kapoor closed the news conference by teasing a pair of reunions featuring cast members from “Bridesmaids” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Bridesmaids” alum Rose Byrne is nominated for a lead actress Oscar for her role in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” which marked O’Brien’s dramatic acting debut. (If Byrne wins, he said, “half that Oscar’s mine.”)
“We’re gonna have superstars, superheroes, and there is also going to be an extraterrestrial on the stage, so you can figure that one out,” Mullan said.
The 2026 Oscars will air live Sunday on ABC, with streaming available on Hulu, YouTube TV, AT&T TV and FuboTV.
Reminders of Him, 2026.
Directed by Vanessa Caswill.
Starring Maika Monroe, Tyriq Withers, Rudy Pankow, Lainey Wilson, Lauren Graham, Jennifer Robertson, Zoe Kosovic, Monika Myers, Sindhyar Baloch, Bradley Whitford, Nicholas Duvernay, Jillian Walchuck, Hilary Jardine, Skye MacDonald, Rick Koy, Susan Serrao, Anne Hawthorne, Laird Reghenas, and Kevin Corey.
SYNOPSIS:
After prison, a woman attempts to reconnect with her young daughter but faces resistance from everyone except a bar owner with ties to her child. As they grow closer, she must confront her past mistakes to build a hopeful future.
Given that Maika Monroe’s just-released-from-incarceration Kenna immediately desecrates the gravesite of her love Scotty (which is unintentionally hilariously on the side of the road where a tragic car accident took his life) by stealing the wooden cross (with an inner voice muttering that he hated memorials anyway), tells another character she doesn’t like cats, and complains to someone else that all music is sad and that she doesn’t like it, it’s reasonable to get the impression that the latest adaptation from Colleen Hoover, Reminders of Him, is intentionally aiming for an unlikable lead. Nothing says “get the audience on the side of our protagonist” like all of the above.
The reality is that Maika Monroe is capable enough to inject a modicum of emotion and grounded sincerity even into a Colleen Hoover character, but that, directed by Vanessa Caswill (with Lauren Levine writing the screenplay alongside the author), these are all characters stuck reaching for depth far out of grasp in a hollow romance that is less about someone with a criminal record ingratiating themselves back into society after a seven-year vehicular manslaughter sentence and earning the trust of her dead boyfriend’s parents (Bradley Whitford and Lauren Graham), now the legal guardians of her five-year-old daughter, for visitation rights or anything that would force the novelist (this is her third book translated to screen in as many years) to write an actual character, and more a dull push-pull possible relationship with the former NFL star best friend picking up the pieces, living next door to those grandparents, and assisting taking care of the young girl.
Asking the question “what would it be like to fuck your dead boyfriend’s best friend” should be a hell of a lot more morally thorny and emotionally charged than this. Rather than engage with that, the filmmakers need to dedicate 70 minutes to an outrageously contrived setup in which Kenna and that best friend, Ledger (Tyriq Withers, also visibly trying to express some personality and humanity, but is left hanging by the script), have never met before. Yes, you read that right (and yes, those are the real ridiculous names of these characters, although the latter is presumably intended to honor the late great Heath Ledger, who once starred in romantic dramas and made them a hell of a lot more watchable).
Despite being best friends, Ledger not only never met his best friend’s girlfriend, but he apparently had never even seen a picture of her until her mugshot (which he conveniently forgets, never mind that Maika Monroe looks mostly the same seven years removed) following the car accident on Scotty’s (Rudy Pankow) birthday, which he bailed on for fitness exams in preparation for the NFL draft. In the present, he no longer plays, having “blown out a shoulder”, yet appears physically fine and in no pain during the numerous shirtless scenes and a couple of sexual ones. Before the film gets there, he is skeptical of going anywhere near Kenna once he discovers her identity. Of course, that doesn’t last long because these two hot leads are gravitating toward spending time together.
Much of this is, to put it bluntly, airless and lifeless despite an ensemble trying their best to elevate the proceedings, with what feels like significant chunks of the novel cut out; there is a single flashback to Kenna’s time in prison – being taken under the wing of a mentor of sorts on how to survive – and Scotty is allocated such a minimal screen time that he hardly feels like a character and is never allowed to feel like a presence looming over the story and the choices these characters make. For some reason, there is also a friend Kenna makes here with Down syndrome (Monika Myers) who seems to exist as a vessel for comedic relief, which might have sat better if, once again, there were actually a damn character behind that.
One waits and waits for the inevitable moment where, after snowcone dates and playful arguments about music, there is a release of sexual tension. However, the drama resulting from this is childish, dumb, and resolved about three scenes later. You won’t need a reminder that Reminders of Him, like all Colleen Hoover adaptations thus far, is bad, once again searching for a romantic pulse and eroticism at the expense of characters who feel like actual people or anything that gives weight to the attempts at thorniness.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist
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