“Rush” is a blockbuster film chronicling the rivalry between F1 drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt.
Rush is a biopic directed by Ron Howard released in 2013 which tells the parallel story of two Formula 1 champions, Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) and James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth). But these two car stars were rivals both on the racetrack and in their private lives. A film that won over car racing fans, but not only them.
But Rush Is it faithful to the reality experienced by these two F1 stars? However, there are real elements in the film, such as the fact that Niki Lauda, nicknamed “the Rat”, had a terrible car accident that burned his face, or that James Hunt was indeed disqualified from a race on May 2, 1976, for the Spanish Grand Prix.
The greatest exaggeration of Rush However, it would directly concern the rivalry between Lauda and Hunt. Niki Lauda revealed that the film took great liberties with this, and that he was friends with James Hunt long before the accident, and that they had respect for each other. So, while the former was able to confirm or deny certain aspects of his life depicted in the film, this is not the case with the latter. James Hunt died on June 15, 1993, following a heart attack, “too early, too young,” Niki Lauda told the Telegraph. “I wish he had seen the film, it would have been great.”
Other liberties taken with reality
Other changes have been made in RushThe scene in which Hunt punches a journalist was notably invented. The real Niki Lauda told the Telegraph that he was “not as strict as the film shows, but I was definitely more disciplined than James Hunt”, who was indeed considered an extremely hard-partying and aggressive driver on the racetrack. Lauda also confirmed that at no point did he consider retiring after his car accident, and his wife Marlene never asked him to, they revealed in an interview.
Errors and changes were also made to the results of some races and some actual technical decisions were changed for dramatic reasons. For his part, James Hunt’s son, Freddie Hunt, believes that the film is not faithful to reality and tackled Chris Hemsworth’s interpretation and the changes made by the film in a podcast in 2023.
Synopsis – In the 1970s, two Formula 1 champions, Niki Lauda and James Hunt, put on a show. Rush traces the lives of the two champions, rivals on the racetrack and in the city. In a fast-paced film, Ron Howard tells the story of two men who are complete opposites, set against the backdrop of the golden years of Formula 1.