Check Out This First Still From Ron Howard's 'Rush'

Oscar-winner hopes to bring heretofore unpopular F1 racing series to silver screen prominence

By Corwin Neuse Aug 13, 2012 6:19PM

Formula 1 racing might take a backseat in the United States to other, arguably lesser competitive series — like NASCAR and, uh, even "American Idol" — but anyone doubting its cinematic appeal clearly hasn't seen last year's gripping "Senna." Said documentary apparently caught the eye — and attention — of "A Beautiful Mind" Oscar-winner Ron Howard, at least in part inspiring him to direct the upcoming "Rush," which will tell the story of the 1976 Formula 1 season.

Why that season, over any other? A good question, to which we have no readily apparent answer. Whatever. The film will find erstwhile "Avengers" hunk Chris Hemsworth playing dashing Brit racing legend James Hunt. (Which we suppose is a good-enough justification for the film's subject matter in and of itself.) Almost 40-year-old spoiler alert: the 1976 season found Hunt coming from behind to overtake Austrian Niki Lauda ("Inglourious Basterds'" Daniel Bruhl) in the last race of the season to win the championship.

Hmm, fast cars, beautiful women, near-death experiences... Will this F1 racing thing ever catch on? "Rush" will not be Hollywood's first effort to immortalize the sport, after all. (See also: James Garner's "Grand Prix.," which — as directed by the legendary John Frankenheimer — is actually kind of awesome. In a sorta boring, nearly three-hour long, Hollywood golden age-y type of way. We'd advise avoiding Sylvester Stallone's "Driven" if at all possible. In fact, forget we even mentioned it. It's actually based on CART racing, which... Never mind. Just never mind.)

[via THR]

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