Rush (2013 film)

Plot

James Hunt, a brash and self-confident individual, and Niki Lauda, a cool and calculating technical genius who relies on practice and precision, are exceptional racing car drivers who develop a fierce rivalry in 1970 at a Formula Three race in London, when both their cars spin before Hunt wins the race. Lauda takes a large bank loan from Austria's Raiffeisen Bank to buy his way into the BRM Formula One team, meeting teammate Clay Regazzoni for the first time.

Meanwhile, Hesketh Racing, the fledgling racing team Hunt drives for, enters Formula One. Lauda then joins Scuderia Ferrari with Regazzoni and wins his first championship in 1975. Hesketh closes down after failing to secure a sponsor, but Hunt joins the McLaren team. During this time, Hunt marries supermodel Suzy Miller, while Lauda develops a relationship with socialite Marlene Knaus.

The 1976 season starts with Lauda dominating the first two races while Hunt struggles to catch up. Hunt wins the Spanish Grand Prix, but is disqualified after a post-race inspection results in a ruling that the width of his car was greater than permitted. Struggling to comply with F1 rules, McLaren suffers a series of racing setbacks, and Hunt's situation is further exacerbated when Suzy starts a relationship with actor Richard Burton.

Following his divorce, Hunt regains his competitive spirit and, when his disqualification in Spain is overturned, the restored points put him into championship contention. Lauda marries Marlene in a private ceremony but begins to have concerns about the effects of his newfound happiness, worrying that he has become vulnerable as a racer, as he now has something to lose.

On the day of the German Grand Prix, Lauda calls a drivers' meeting, urging the F1 committee to cancel the race due to heavy rain on the notoriously dangerous Nürburgring Nordschleife; the vote goes against cancellation after Hunt argues that Lauda is trying to personally benefit in competition by reducing the number of remaining races at a time when Lauda already has a significant points lead towards the season's championship.

Most drivers start the race with wet weather tyres, which becomes a costly tactic due to most of the track quickly drying. They all change tyres during the second lap, pushing Hunt ahead of Lauda; the latter's attempts to catch up result in a suspension arm in his Ferrari breaking, causing a loss of control and crash of the car into an embankment where it bursts into flames. Lauda is airlifted to hospital with third-degree burns to his head and face and internal burns to his lungs. For six weeks, Lauda is treated for his injuries while he watches Hunt, who is otherwise guilt-ridden by Lauda's condition, dominate the races in his absence. Despite his doctor's orders, he decides to return to drive his Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix, finishing fourth while Hunt fails to finish.

The 1976 season comes to a climax at the rain-soaked Japanese Grand Prix. Hunt's late rally in Lauda's absence has pulled him within three points of Lauda. Hunt argues that the race should be canceled, but since the television rights were sold everywhere around the world, the Grand Prix still takes place. At the end of the second lap, after his car has slid several times, Lauda returns to the pits and decides to retire from the race, considering it too dangerous and opting to stay with Marlene instead. This allows Hunt to win the championship if he can finish third or better. After facing stiff competition under grueling conditions, tyre problems, and a hand injury due to the gear shifter knob breaking, Hunt finishes third, winning the championship by a single point.

Hunt spends the rest of the year reveling in fame, sex, and drugs, while Lauda takes an interest in flying private planes. At a private airfield in Bologna, Lauda suggests to Hunt that he focus on the next racing season to defend his title, but Hunt argues that his glamorous lifestyle is the highlight of being world champion; Lauda realises that Hunt no longer feels he needs to prove himself to anyone.

In voiceover, Lauda reflects on how Hunt's continued hedonism led to limited future success and his eventual death at age 45, but also on how their great rivalry and personality differences spurred each other on that one season. Lauda closes "He was among the very few I liked and even fewer that I respected. He remains the only person I envied."

Cast

• Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt, a British F1 driver who races for McLaren
• Daniel Brühl as Niki Lauda, an Austrian F1 driver and Hunt's main rival who races for Scuderia Ferrari
• Olivia Wilde as Suzy Miller, Hunt's wife
• Alexandra Maria Lara as Marlene Knaus-Lauda, Niki Lauda's wife
• Pierfrancesco Favino as Clay Regazzoni, Niki Lauda's teammate
• David Calder as Louis Stanley, chairman of BRM
• Natalie Dormer as Nurse Gemma, a nurse who checks Hunt's injuries and is one of Hunt's girlfriends
• Stephen Mangan as Alastair Caldwell
• Christian McKay as Lord Hesketh
• Alistair Petrie as Stirling Moss
• Colin Stinton as Teddy Mayer
• Julian Rhind-Tutt as Anthony "Bubbles" Horsley
• Patrick Baladi as John Hogan

Hunt and Lauda appear as themselves, in the 1970s and 1980s, via archival footage at the end of the film, while Lauda is then seen for a few seconds in contemporary footage from 2013.

Former F1 driver Jochen Mass makes a cameo as himself during the scene at the German Grand Prix.

Production

The film was shot on location in the United Kingdom, Germany and Austria, including Blackbushe Airport in Hampshire, the Snetterton (Norfolk), Cadwell Park (Lincolnshire), the former Crystal Palace and Brands Hatch (Kent) motor racing circuits in Britain, and at the Nürburgring in Germany. Both vintage racing cars and replicas were used in the filming.

The financiers include Hürth-based action concept Film- und Stuntproduktion, Egoli Tossell Film, Revolution Films (GB), and Cross Creek Pictures (US). The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW funded the film with €1.35 million, additional funding was provided by MFG Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg and the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF).

Director Ron Howard originally intended for Russell Crowe to make a cameo appearance as Richard Burton for a brief scene where he confronts James Hunt on his affair with Suzy.

Music

Main article: Rush (2013 soundtrack)

The film's orchestral score was composed by Hans Zimmer. The soundtrack includes 1970s rock music by Dave Edmunds, Steve Winwood (originally performed and written by the Spencer Davis Group), Mud, Thin Lizzy and David Bowie.

Release

Marketing

BBC Two aired the documentary Hunt vs. Lauda: F1's Greatest Racing Rivals, on 14 July 2013. The documentary provides an extensive look at the rivalry between Hunt and Lauda, featuring interviews with Lauda and former crew members of the McLaren and Ferrari teams.

The Ferrari & the Cinema Society jointly organised a screening of the film at Chelsea Clearview Cinemas in New York on 18 September 2013. Chris Hemsworth attended the screening.

Home media

Rush was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 28 January 2014. A Sainsbury's exclusive edition with a bonus disc of new special features was released for a limited time. The Australian Blu-ray release is bundled with the 2013 documentary 1. Shout! Factory released The film on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on November 19, 2024.

Reception

Box office

Rush grossed $26.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $71.3 million from other territories, for a worldwide gross of $98.2 million, against a budget of $38 million.

After making $187,289 from five theaters in its opening weekend, the film expanded to 2,297 theaters the following weekend and made $10 million, finishing in third. It then made $4.5 million (a drop of 55%) and $2.4 million in its third and fourth weekends, finishing in fifth and eighth, respectively.

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 235 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "A sleek, slick, well-oiled machine, Rush is a finely crafted sports drama with exhilarating race sequences and strong performances from Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl." Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating to reviews, calculated an average score of 74 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

When Niki Lauda first saw the pre-screening of the unedited footage, he considered himself to be portrayed too negatively. This changed on the day of the first screening when Bernie Ecclestone told him how much he liked it. Lauda was pleased with the overall look of the film. He was quoted as saying: "When I saw it the first time I was impressed. There was no Hollywood changes or things changed a little bit Hollywood-like. It is very accurate. And this really surprised me very positively".

Historical accuracy

Some things in the film are exaggerated (like the Hunt–Lauda rivalry; in reality they had shared a flat early in their careers and were good friends), others downplayed (like Lauda's wife's shock at his disfigurement), and others invented (like Hunt beating up a reporter on Lauda's behalf due to Lauda's marriage being questioned after his disfigurement, or the Nürburgring nickname being "the graveyard"; in fact Jackie Stewart had nicknamed it "the Green Hell"). Other inaccuracies include the British F3 battle at Crystal Palace, which in reality was between Hunt and Dave Morgan, and Hunt's overtake on Regazzoni for 3rd place in the Japanese Grand Prix when in the actual race he passed Alan Jones. The starting grid for the 1976 German Grand Prix is also incorrect, showing Jacques Laffite in P3, whereas it was actually Patrick Depailler. Another error in the Japanese Grand Prix is that Regazzoni and Laffite finished fourth and fifth, while in the actual race, it was Jones and Regazzoni who finished fourth and fifth. In the end scene, an incident is described where Hunt, while being a TV broadcaster, comes to a meet-up with Lauda on a bicycle with a flat tire. In reality, this incident happened while Hunt ran out of money and fell into alcohol addiction. On this day Lauda gave him money to rebuild his life, and Hunt got his life back on track and got a job as a television broadcaster.

Accolades

Notes

References

References

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