The turning point of the 1976 season was the German Grand Prix on August 1 at
the notorious Nürburgring, already considered the most demanding circuit in
the world. Conditions around the 14-mile track that day were treacherous,
due to an earlier rainfall. Lauda tried to have the race postponed but was
overruled by the other drivers. On lap two, his Ferrari lost control,
swerving off the track and catching fire, before hurtling back on, where
Brett Lunger’s Surtees-Ford slammed into it. Trapped inside the flaming
wreckage for several minutes, Lauda sustained horrific burns to his head and
face and inhaled toxic gases which damaged his lungs and his blood.
Lauda in hospital after crash, 01 August 1976 Popperfoto/Getty Images
At the hospital, the last rites were administered. Miraculously, six weeks
later Lauda was back behind the wheel (wearing a specially adapted helmet to
prevent too much discomfort) and racing in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza,
where he finished fourth. This extraordinary result took the title fight to
a final race decider at a rain-lashed circuit in Fuji, Japan. It’s a tale so
unbelievable you couldn’t make it up.
While Morgan has made a career out of transforming the lives of the famous
into compelling drama (The Deal, The Queen, Frost/Nixon, for example), he
admits he is no motor-racing fan. Two years ago, an agent called to say a
producer wanted to speak to him about writing a film about Formula One in
the 1970s. Morgan didn’t think he was interested, but did some research,
quickly latching on to the Lauda/Hunt rivalry, and berating himself for not
having thought of it – ‘I know Niki Lauda, I live in Vienna, and he’s an old
friend of my wife’s.’
Immediately Morgan could see the dramatic possibilities, eventually conceiving
the script as a series of overtaking manoeuvres. ‘Even about their private
lives. I wanted each one to continually overtake the other, so they become
locked in a series of manoeuvres which propel them both forward to an
inevitable conflict in Fuji.’ When the producer rang, he wanted Morgan to
write a film about Jackie Stewart. After failing to convince him that Hunt
and Lauda was the better story, Morgan said, ‘I hope you don’t mind, but I
am going to do this.’
A little later, in Vienna, during the filming of another of his screenplays,
the ensemble drama 360, Morgan broached the idea with that film’s producer,
Andrew Eaton, who said yes immediately. Back in London they partnered with
Eric Fellner, who had produced the Formula One documentary Senna, and hired
Paul Greengrass as director. When he moved on to direct the Somali pirate
drama Captain Phillips, the two-time Oscar-winning Hollywood stalwart Ron
Howard was brought on board for what is, essentially, an independent British
film, albeit one with a $50 million budget – a huge amount by UK standards.
‘That was always our dream, to have at the heart of it a director focused on
making a big picture, but for it not to feel old-fashioned. So Andrew
surrounded Ron with the most progressive, brilliant crew,’ Morgan says.
What appealed about Rush, Howard says, was ‘the combination of those
characters, that era and the sport. I love sports. I love sports stories.
The drama is inherent and often intensifies what’s going on in their lives.’
Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt and Daniel Brühl as Niki Lauda in Rush,
2013. Courtesy of Studio Canal
In the past Morgan has made a point of not meeting the people he’s writing
about. ‘Niki bucks the trend completely. He was generous and never vain and
brutally honest about himself and others, and made Formula One and cars and
engines interesting for me. He has a really remarkable, brilliant mind,
which condenses everything to such an essence.’ Although Lauda didn’t have
script approval and visited the set only twice – ‘Niki’s not interested in
the filmmaking process’ – Morgan ran scenes by both him and his ex-wife
Marlene (played by the Romanian actress Alexandra Maria Lara), and showed
them rushes. ‘I wanted to give full disclosure of what I was doing. A lot of
my portrait is pretty unflattering; there’s no beautification of the way
Niki Lauda behaves in that script.’
James Hunt died of a heart attack in 1993, aged 45, and while the production
had no official obligation to seek permission from Hunt’s family to make the
film, they felt a moral duty to obtain its co-operation and blessing. Andrew
Eaton met with Hunt’s manager/older brother Peter (since deceased) and
younger sibling David, as well as his sons Freddie and Tom. ‘[Initially]
they were deeply opposed,’ Eaton says. The family had been hurt by a number
of books published about Hunt. ‘We had to be quite clear we weren’t
interested in just telling a shagging story,’ Morgan adds. ‘They were
reassured it was being told in tandem with the story about Niki. So the
process of courting them for their trust was prolonged, protracted. But we
had in Ron not only a perfect diplomat, but a decent human being.’
Not that Rush shies away from Hunt’s womanising ways or liking for liquor. ‘I
don’t think we have undersold James’s personal flamboyance or his
psychological complexity,’ Morgan continues. ‘When I met [the Hesketh Racing
team manager] Bubbles Horsley, the first thing he said to me was, “You do
know James had a black dog?” If you were to tell the darker story of James
Hunt – and there is a darker story to be told about James – it wouldn’t be
the ’76 season. It would be what happened in the aftermath of that. I hope
we indicate such a thing exists without labouring it.’
In addition to Horsley, Morgan spoke with Lord Hesketh, who funded Hunt’s
Formula Three career as well as his initial foray into Formula One. But the
best source proved to be McLaren’s then team manager Alistair Caldwell
(played by Stephen Mangan), who became a technical consultant on the film.
‘He’s a fantastic character and very garrulous. Once we had him, it was like
turning on the tap.’ Even so, Morgan found Hunt tough to write. ‘That caused
some problems on set because when the actors were asking for notes or
feedback or elaboration, I could do Niki by the yard. With James, it was
harder.’
The same proved true of casting. To play Lauda, there was only ever one actor
in mind. ‘Daniel is a chameleon. Perfect for it. He’s the right size, right
bone structure,’ Howard says. ‘And he was willing to go there and do what it
took, no vanity in that regard. And he was fully dedicated to get the
accent.’ Before filming, Brühl spent time with Lauda. ‘The first day we
spoke on the telephone. He wanted to meet me in Vienna. But in case we
didn’t like each other he said, “Just bring hand luggage,”’ Brühl says,
laughing. ‘But I think we liked each other. From the first moment he was
very open, would answer every question. We spent three days in Vienna and on
the last day he said, “Do you want to go to Brazil? In my own plane. I’m
flying.” He took me to the Grand Prix in São Paulo, which was a phenomenal
experience.’
Daniel Brühl as Niki Lauda and director Ron Howard, 2013. Courtesy of
Studio Canal
Hunt was more difficult to cast. The Australian Hemsworth, who came to fame
playing a hammer-wielding Norse god, was, according to Ron Howard, on the
shortlist purely for his physical presence.
‘I had seen Thor and he was really charming in it, but I told his agent I
needed to meet him.’ Stuck in Vancouver filming Avengers Assemble, Hemsworth
sent Howard an audition tape. ‘Peter and I looked at each other and said we
can stop looking and make a movie.’ Without the benefit of a real-life
counterpart to draw upon – Brühl would sometimes ring Lauda before a scene
to ask about his mindset at the time – Hemsworth had to rely on the script
and his own research. ‘I spoke to so many different people who knew him and
all of them had different opinions on him and different versions of how he
was,’ Hemsworth says. ‘[The role] became taking all of that, and giving as
many nods to this character, but working out a way to make it truthful to
me. I didn’t want to go in and mimic somebody.’
As with any reality-based drama, some degree of creative licence is required,
not least in terms of time compression as well as character and narrative
embellishments and changes. Howard, who has directed his share of true-life
tales (Apollo 13 and Cinderella Man, about the boxer James Braddock, among
them), says the aim with any film of this type is to be ‘as honest about
them as you can – but it’s an artistic interpretation, it’s not journalism.
And it’s something you have to provide your own litmus test for.’ For
Morgan, it is fine to change something for dramatic effect, as long as it
remains truthful. ‘The way Niki met his wife was not in the way I showed it,
but I said [to them], “Does it truthfully represent the nature of your
relationships, the atmosphere and the vibes between you?” And they both
signed off on it. So, wherever possible, I check it.’ If anything, Rush
over-eggs the extent of Hunt and Lauda’s rivalry. While both men were
ruthless in the pursuit of victory, they were good friends and shared a flat
in London at one time. ‘Niki is very unsentimental about the rivalry,’
Morgan says. ‘He’s like, “I wanted to beat him. I wanted to destroy him. But
he was the only person I wanted to hang out with in the evening.”’
Rush features just over two minutes of archive racing footage. The remainder
has been recreated using both visual effects as well as real cars racing on
real tracks. Working with the cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, Howard
shot with up to 35 cameras for the race scenes, some mounted on cars or
inside helmets, all with very close focus, which, Howard says,
‘differentiates it from the way you see it on television with deep focus,
where it’s more reporting, instead of feeling. So there’s an intimacy. A
macro shot of a vibrating axle or shock absorber or engine part can feel
epic.’
While the majority of those sequences involved professional drivers and
stuntmen, Hemsworth and Brühl did do some driving, even if it was mainly
pulling into and out of pits. ‘A few laps we do with helmet-cams on,’
Hemsworth says, ‘so there’s a close-up of the eye and the track flashing
by.’
Both visually and thematically, Ron Howard approached Rush more like a
rock’n’roll film than a sports movie, drawing inspiration from the Maysles
brothers’ groundbreaking documentary Gimme Shelter, which chronicled the
Rolling Stones’ Altamont gig in 1969, aiming for the feel of ‘an observed
story from the period’ rather than a slickly directed Hollywood movie.
Moreover, Howard was keen ‘to inform the racing with what we were learning
about the characters’ psyches and personalities in the scenes away from the
track’, with the result that each race, be it in Crystal Palace, Monza or
Fuji, has its own narrative and character. ‘That’s one of Ron’s brilliant
gifts as a storyteller,’ Andrew Eaton says. ‘He was really obsessed with
seeing their faces during the races. A lot of directors would go, “It’s just
a race.” But Ron was so pedantic and particular, to the point it would drive
us all crazy, but he was right. You can really feel we’re not cheating it.
It feels real.’
Rush opens on September 13
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