First trailer for Ron Howard’s 1976 F1 film Rush

Rush

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The first trailer for Ron Howard’s forthcoming film Rush has appeared.

The film tells the story of the 1976 F1 season and the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda. The two drivers are played by Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl.

Among the locations used for filming was the Nurburgring Nordschleife, where Lauda’s near-fatal crash during the German Grand Prix was recreated. Original cars and replicas created to look like them were used.

See pictures of the cars being filmed here:

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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129 comments on “First trailer for Ron Howard’s 1976 F1 film Rush”

  1. Been a long time coming. Can’t wait!

    1. Spoiler alert though, James Hunt wins the world championship.

    2. At last an F1 movie.. Looks great to me, cant wait till September.. Will definitely watch it.. People might find lot of flaws in this, but please remember, this movie is mainly aimed at non-fans… We fanatics dont need to be wooed…

      1. @jjjj I only hope this comes out in Malaysian cinemas. Senna didn’t, as far as I can recall :'(

  2. I really like the fact they used actual cars for the film; that was an excellent decision

    1. Yeah, they used Rob Austin’s Surtees for the crash scenes. I think whats impressed me most is that, given he apparently wasn’t mega into F1 before hand, Ron Howard’s treatment of the subject matter and detail is phenomenal.

      1. @bendana – I seem to recall Howard saying that he wasn’t really interested in doing the film when Peter Morgan approached him about it. But he’d worked with Morgan on Frost/Nixon, so he read the script and began to realise the depth of potential in the material, and got hooked on the sport. Rush was really his vehicle for getting into Formula 1, and so that’s how he approached it, trying to draw audiences into a world they might know nothing about. It tallies nicely with Morgan’s fly-on-the-wall approach to storytelling, where the audience doesn’t actively participate, but instead becomes an unseen spectator. It’s more about characters than it is about plot and themes, which is not an approach I’m particularly fond of, but I do think it will work well in conjunction with Howard’s approach to the material.

        1. Conversely, its actually one of my favourite approaches to storytelling – showing rather than telling.

    2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      8th April 2013, 20:59

      I always thought those cars would look cheesy in a modern movie and I was hoping they’d be clever in shooting them to convey the raw speed, noise and overall danger of driving one of those cars. From the trailer it looks like they managed to capture that but we’ll have to wait for the movie to see it.

  3. SO. MUCH. WANT.

    Hemsworth looks scarily convincing, as does Daniel Bruhl.

  4. Cant wait to see this !

  5. More than a little sceptical that an F1 car, even of that era, would get air going over a rise at any speed! Still looking forward to it, though :)

    1. @mdbooth Oh they very much did at the Nordschleife! Maybe not quite as high as shown in the trailer but they definitely got air.

      1. You say that, but theres a photo of Jackie Stewarts F1 car getting higher than that with a crashed touring car in the background.

          1. If that kind of air happened today, we would get this message from Race Control- “Incident involving car no 1 (Nikki Lauda) for showing off will be investigated after the race.”

      2. Here’s Lauda catching some air in 1976 at the Nordschleife :

        http://www.yallaf1.com/2011/07/21/nurburgring-a-tale-of-two-circuits/

      3. Wasn’t the place called Flugplatz even?

        1. One of them was; in total, there were I think 13 different places on the Nürburgring where cars took off

          1. More correct number is three (where you were guaranteed some airtime if you arrived there at proper speed): Flugplatz (or Quiddelbacher Höhe, depending what map you follow), Pflantzgarten and the back straight (before 1970).

        2. thatscienceguy
          8th April 2013, 14:18

          Nothing to do with the track itself though, that section was named Flugplatz because there was an airstrip next to the track, not the track itself.

      4. I remember, what could have been a ‘salto mortale’, of Manfred Winckelhock in F2 on the nordschleiffe, wich was even higher then in the trailer. And he got out without any injuries!

        http://youtu.be/WarahOS2GJ0

    2. Ok, so I think that your question about the possibility of those cars getting airborne at the Nordschleife are answered with all those picture links @mdbooth!

  6. It looks worryingly Driven-like in the trailer but hopefully the trailer is just all the cheesy Hollywood bits to attract non-F1 fans.

    1. Cannot agree less. They reconstructed Niki’s crash pretty accurate in my opinion.

    2. I think that might just be the camera angles and quick-cut editing of the trailer.

    3. Unfortunately at times it looked like that. Hopefully this is definitely just a “Hollywood trailer” and the finished product is more, well, realistic.

    4. Hope so too, it does make sense to do that, after all, what F1 fan wouldn’t go and see it even if it promised to be only a tad better than driveln :-)

    5. Driven is great American cinema and I will hear no opinion to the contrary…

      Ok, no, seriously, but… can’t lie – guilty pleasure film.

  7. Let me be the first to say it looks bloody awful.

    1. and I’ll be the first to point out that you left out a reason…

      1. It’s one opinion. No film will be to everybody’s tastes.

    2. I agree. Looks like something I wouldn’t watch if I weren’t interested in the subject.

    3. It’s all about compromise.
      Pitching a film entirely to an F1 Fan’s standards would eliminate the majority of the market.
      To me, this very much has an Apollo 13 vibe to it, which makes sense.
      It’s a fairly accurate depiction of the events that unfolded with slight embellishment of the story and the drama that unfolded. The astronauts in Apollo 13 didn’t see the explosion or the sparks in the oxygen tank or any of the exciting special effects stuff the audience gets to see.
      I believe they’re choosing certain shots for the trailer to build that excitement and action that, in the context of the movie, makes sense. There will be small things that mainly fans of F1 will pick up on, and I’m sure not every astronaut or NASA believed every little bit of what happened in Apollo 13. But after watching Ron Howard’s movies I’m confident that the compromises made for the sake of Hollywood and revenue won’t taint the overall experience for us F1 fanatics.

    4. Why does it look awful? From what I can see it looks good, and Hemsworth and Bruhl look pretty convincing in their respective roles.
      Rush is and always was going to be Hollywood, it’s a movie, not a documentary. Hardcore F1 fans would always argue the sport doesn’t need to be spiced up. But this is about attracting the F1 hardcore, moderate fans and ‘not normally interested in F1’ type of film fan, therefore it’s got to have added impact and visual appeal.
      I’m not expecting anything as stylish as ‘Le Mans’, because I think this has cost too much money and they need to appeal to a wide audience to recoup that. Personally I can’t wait though, this trailer has made me more enthusiastic, not less.

      1. That’s just my impression. I don’t have any particular reason and I won’t try to convince you, it’s just my reaction.

  8. Looks good!

  9. Well I think it looks fantastic! I didnt realise it was going to be Thor playing James Hunt but it looks like a brilliant choice! Great trailer, I can’t wait for this.

    1. Yes, Thor playing James Hunt, pretty sure some girls got hammered.

    2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      8th April 2013, 21:08

      Well, I hope the accident in this movie isn’t caused by lightning from his Mjolnir hammer – although that would make for quite a scene. It’d be quite funny if he referred to Lauda as “You puny midguardian! You dare challenge Thor?”

  10. As a fan of Formula 1, I’m naturally excited for this.

    But as a fan of film in general, I’m very hesitant about it. I don’t know who the cinematographer is, but some of those shots look particularly over-exposed to make the colours more vibrant, but the colour palette doesn’t need that over-exposure; it’s bright enough as is. The end result is that the on-track action looks like a cartoon in places, whilst the off-track stuff has bland colours to it that make it look muddy when over-exposed.

    Still on the cinematography, I get the feeling that some of the racing has been shot by someone who had never actually seen a race. Some of the angles are simply too close to the cars, so you only get about 90% of the car in the frame at any given time. Others are awkwardly positioned, like that camera mounted on the McLaren as it tries to weave between three or four crashing cars – you can’t see anything.

    I can’t help but feel that this film is going in the wrong direction. It’s being billed as a true story, following Niki Lauda’s recovery from his accident, but that just seems like a retread of other sporting film cliches. Ordinarily, it’s a great story, but to me, the real appeal of the 1976 season lies in the way Hunt and Lauda were both equally-deserving of the title, and both equally-capable of winning it, but both of them approached it from opposite ends of the spectrum. That offers a whole lot more in the way of themes to draw on, which is the essence of storytelling. Which is unusual, because Peter Morgan – the screenwriter – followed this tack with Frost/Nixon and The Queen, so I suspect this might be the studio pitching the film on the wrong level. It wouldn’t be the first time it has happened.

    1. The problem is, if you pitch the film to F1 fans specifically, you’re going to cut out a lot of the filmgoing audience who just go “F1 is boring.”

      If we go back to Senna, while a different Genre, its key was focusing on Senna’s story – thats what led to its overall success, the mechanics of F1 were almost sidelined.

      To be fair, I don’t think they’ve played their whole hand here in relation to the script – I think this trailer is too early to judge.

      1. The problem is, if you pitch the film to F1 fans specifically, you’re going to cut out a lot of the filmgoing audience who just go “F1 is boring.”

        Oh, I’m not suggesting anything of the sort. I just think the themes of “the closer you are to death, the more alive you feel” are wrong. I’d be more interested – and I think audiences would be more interested – in exploring whether James Hunt’s notoriety was a result of his success, or whether his notoriety was what led to his success. It opens up some interesting thematic territory that hasn’t really been explored in this kind of film before. But going by the trailer, I think the film may have erred by observing the tropes of the genre a little too closely.

        1. Also, from a purely technical film-making standpoint, this trailer is a mess.

          1. Also, from a purely technical film-making standpoint, this trailer is a mess.

            @prisoner-monkeys

            What about the trailer made it a mess?

            Just asking cause I have a background in sound engineering and film post production.. and I wouldn’t call this the best trailer ever, but it was a pretty solid (yet chilche) hollywood trailer.

            Also thought the masses would relate more to a cheesy statement like “the closer you are to death, the more alive you feel” than being introduced to the notoriety of a character in a sport they know nothing about.

            You’re speaking purely from the point of view of an f1 enthusiast

          2. You’re speaking purely from the point of view of an f1 enthusiast

            No, I’m not.

            I might not have your background in sound engineering, but I do teach film and film-making. It’s one of the subject areas I specialise in. And when I look at this trailer, I see a jumbled mess of sloppy editing, poor cinematography, and a bland score.

        2. that would make a very good film, but the problem is that its not specifically a James Hunt film – which in a way is a pity, because he’s a very interesting character in and of himself. Wierdly, all of the early material I read in relation to Rush seemed to indicate it was going to be biased in Lauda’s favour rather than Hunt’s, but this trailer seems to belie that.

          In terms of your criticism of the trailer, from someone who wen’t through a filmmaking degree, I can see where your coming from. Pulling out of that, though, and looking at it from a none-technical point of view, it does a good job of making the content look exciting. It’s quite a story driven trailer, and that quick-cut style tends to work quite well with that. It’s on of the downsides of having done any kind of film-making/film analysis work that it can be quite jarring when you look at some trailers.

          Spot on on the score though – it is a bit crap. We’ll have to wait and see what the full result is on that, I guess.

    2. Just as the old saying is “Never judge a book by it’s cover”
      The same thing applies to film trailers. The trailer is often developed by the studio’s own department, not the Director/DP, so any critique of technique based on the trailer alone is baseless.

      Also, I don’t see any severe instances of overexposure. I think that’s just a symptom of the film being processed to look like it was shot using contemporary film stock. The DP on this film is the same guy that did Slumdog Millionaire and The Last King of Scotland, so it would seem that they are going down the super vibrant route.

      Also, saying that it looks like the film will be full of cliches is ignoring what trailers are about. They are meant to engage the audience quickly, so cliches are used because they aid that process.
      Just look at the treatment the official trailer did to other Ron Howard movies:
      Frost/Nixon
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibxs_2nDXUc

      The Queen (perhaps the worst of all, because it almost looks like the movie is about the Queen being a murderer)
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8nD2KB0a_E

      I think it’s best to reserve judgement of a film until you actually see it, because trailers are notoriously unreliable.

      1. The Queen is not a Ron Howard film. Perhaps you’re confusing the screenwriter with the director.

        1. I was going to post the trailer to Apollo 13, but watched the Queen one, and it was much worse.

          Proof reading fail.

    3. some of the racing has been shot by someone who had never actually seen a race

      Some of the close-quarter racing shots seem to have come out of the “two virtual Red Bulls race each other neck-and-neck in the track preview” school of unrealistic, contrived computer animation wizardry. The crash and burn scene looks a bit too computerish, as well.

      I also don’t understand why drama in such movies needs to be captured through shouting, angry gestures and big words said in a grimly determined, messianic tone.

    4. Can’t say that I agree with your second point. Wide shots would take out some of the action from these most dramatic moments for people who aren’t fans of motor racing already. And although I appreciate a wide shot of an exciting overtake, that is partly because I know it is real and has actual significance. Also, we don’t know just how much of the racing will be shot like this. I’m sure there will be greater variety, but this is only a trailer- putting in some of the most exciting and chaotic shots seems like exactly the kind of thing that studios do. Also, I’m not sure I mind the occasional shot where what’s happening isn’t completely clear- those shots exist mostly to shows you how chaotic and dangerous something is, and they work wonderfully in some films such as the Bourne Ultimatum.

      1. I can agree with that, actually. they aren’t making a film to look like a reproduction of a race – otherwise, why not just look at archive footage of the race?

      2. Wide shots would take out some of the action from these most dramatic moments for people who aren’t fans of motor racing already.

        They’re not just limited to wide-angle shots and tighter shots. There’s something in between that would have been a bit wider than what has been used, without losing any of the excitment, but avoiding the problems of being too tightly-shot.

        1. As I said, maybe there will be a greater range in the actual film.

  11. Looks great and sounds awesome. Hope it’s not all that “flashy-Hollywood”… like “let’s make it interesting because normal people don’t give a …. about F1 and just like fast cars going sideways and people changing gears all the time, while making angry face, cuz that obviously makes you go faster”.

    1. @fer-no65 Don’t forget the close ups of people’s feet pounding the accelerator pedal to the floor…Hollywood loves that.

      1. @geemac yeah… and don’t forget people, only floor it AFTER you’re overtaken…

    2. or the classic crunching through gears…

      ….whilst in reverse

    3. Given that all road cars in action films seem to have 10 forward gears, I would expect F1 cars in the movies to have at least 20 gears.

  12. I can’t wait for this film to come out. Like many I hope that it tells the story of 1976 properly and doesn’t go down the “Driven” route (which seemed to be “When in doubt make everything fly through the air and explode”). 1976 remains one of the most infamous seasons in the history of our great sport. It is a compelling story, one which needs to be told, but it also involved incredibly complex characters. I honestly don’t think that it is possible to condense a season which was filled with so much drama, intrigue, tragedy and politicking, AND which had two larger than life characters like Hunt the Shunt and The Rat as its main protagonists, into a 90 minute feature film without missing out heaps and heaps of important details.

    1. @geemac

      I hope that it tells the story of 1976 properly and doesn’t go down the “Driven” route (which seemed to be “When in doubt make everything fly through the air and explode”).

      Would you be surprised to learn that Driven was directed by Renny Harlin, who is also known for directing other explodey nonsense such as Die Hard 2: Die Harder (until very recently, the worst Die Hard film), Deep Blue Sea, Clifhanger and The Long Kiss Goodnight?

      1. Wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest!

  13. So what if it is a bit Hollywood? Re-enacting an f1 season might appeal to the more devoted f1 fan, but its not going to make this film a success- it’ll just leave people who dont have any previous knowledge of the event lost. I say appealing to the masses is brilliant, hopefully it can lead to some more people becoming interested in the sport. After all, most f1 fanatics will go watch it regardless

  14. This looks amazing. ‘Nuff said.

  15. Chris and Daniel are the men. I am big fan of both.

  16. Is it just me or do all Hans Zimmer soundtracks sound the same?

    1. Yes, they do: a lot of percussion, chords, epicness… practically everything except music itself

      1. You pretty much summed it up right there. I still absolutely love the Pirates of the Caribbean Soundtrack, but I can’t help seeing Zimmer as the Britney Spears or Lady Gaga of soundtracks = commercialized crap.
        Batman soundtrack is pretty awesome, but I’m sure it would have been the same old Hans crap without James Newton Howard.

        1. agreed and the social network would have been boring too if it were not for trent reznor.

  17. I can’t wait to see this film, but i don’t know why i didn’t felt exited like i was when i watched the “Senna” trailer
    maybe because i’m a big fan of Ayrton or maybe because it was based on true footage

    1. @tifoso1989 – I think the two movies definitely appeal to different audiences: Senna is a documentary with archive footage as you said, so it is telling the story with the events themselves. Rush however is much more of a drama, with reinactments and Hollywood casting.

      I get the same feeling as you though: as I wasn’t around to see the 1976 season but have read so much about it, I would like a more realistic approach taken to it – that was definitely the case with Senna, but I’m not so sure about Rush. I just hope it’s less out-and-out Hollywood action and more of a compelling drama.

      1. The senna film was realistic in terms of using real footage, but it left out many things that happened. Many import events and incidents were just left on the cutting room floor. For any F1 fans (that havent got the old rose tints on) & have a knowledge for the time it was very one sided and not fair on certain parties involved.

        But that a side its was beautifully put together film.

  18. I’m gonna trust Ron Howard on this one – his track record speaks for itself. Yes, some of the effects in the trailer may be a bit off-putting, but the details shown in the trailer look reasonably accurate. They also featured a bit more of the crash in the trailer because they’re going for a different audience to us. After all, we’re definitely gonna watch this whatever happens. The trailer isn’t even so much for the casual fan. It is for the non-fan – someone who could be interested to see Thor drive a racecar.

    As far as I’m concerned, if it’s good enough for Niki Lauda, it’s good enough for me.

    1. Good enough for Hunt’s son as well!

  19. Awesome!

  20. I didn’t think you where aloud porn on this site? !!! Wicked!

  21. The trailer looks good, let’s hope we can have a good F1 action movie after Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix in 1966…

  22. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
    8th April 2013, 12:59

    I have to say, I have been skeptical regarding this film. I have known for a while now that I will inevitably go to the cinema to see it, but I don’t really enjoy Ron Howard’s directorial style. Also there’s something uncomfortable in seeing an actor playing an individual that is not only a real person, but is still very much alive in Lauda’s case. I could not stand Apollo 13 for that very reason; it felt synthetic. That was the brilliance of Senna in that it was uncompromisingly, gloriously, wonderfully, magnificently authentic. Pouring emotion onto old tapes of F1 footage is much harder than simply telling an actor to say the line in a certain manner. And then there is the problem of Howard himself. Here is a man that has openly stated that he does not enjoy F1 making a film about F1, and here is a man that is very much a product of Hollywood, of America. So essentially what I was expecting of ths film was a highly sensationalized, American’s take on F1, that exhaustively analyzes familial issues regarding the danger of motor-racing (Apollo 13 was essentially a monotonous series of shots of wives and children worried about astronauts) whilst skimming over any actual racing and instead focusing on the cavalier nature of Hunt’s love life. Oh, and of course the German speaking Lauda would become the film’s antagonist. How wrong was I. OK, there is a degree of the effect I just described in the trailer, but in the trailer whilst we don’t see authenticity, charm or realism, there is something else. Innovation. The cinematography in that trailer is some of the best I have ever seen, and the CGI enhanced camera shots are the best I have ever seen. There is a new style to this film, a new ethos, the likes of which I haven’t seen in films before. So now that trailer has thrown away my skepticism and replaced it with something else; curiosity.

    1. @william-brierty When did he say he didn’t enjoy it? I thought he had thrown himself into F1 having not been a fan before, and had become entirely appreciative of the sport. At least that’s the press line I’ve heard. To be honest, even if he has an appreciation for the history but still doesn’t enjoy it, as long as he had advisors who do and he’s listened to them, then I’m not sure whether concern is necessary or not. Also, I didn’t really see Lauda as the antagonist, although of course that might just be because I know the actual story already.

      1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
        8th April 2013, 14:15

        I can’t remember what he said exactly, but he said something along the lines of, “I am a sports fan, but I don’t really enjoy motor-racing”, at the 2012 Autosport Awards. However, I completely agree that this hasn’t really impacted the film’s quality. With regards to Lauda, if you’d read my comment in full you’d have noted that that was what I expected from the film, because of Hollywood conventions, but this is seemingly not the case in the trailer. The quote, “I am better than all of you” does point to a slightly conceited presentation, although that wouldn’t be all that inaccurate. What we apparently will get in this film is a refreshing third-party perspective on a great two man duel. Can’t wait.

        1. @william-brierty That’s interesting, I thought he’d been saying in interviews that he didn’t used to be a fan but was converted when was doing research. And I did read your comment in full. You said you saw a degree of that in the trailer.

          1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
            8th April 2013, 16:05

            No I thought I was suggesting that there was a degree of the sensationalism, or if you pardon the expression, “Americanism”, that I was talking about prior. My bad. Howard probably did say that, but that nothing more than a crude device aimed at endearing himself to F1 fans. I remember that Howard was interviewed by Brundle on one of his grid-walks recently, and in the interview he clearly showed that he knew nothing of F1 when he tipped Schumacher to take the win, and he clearly demonstrated his disinterest at the aforementioned Autosport Awards. However, this seems to have had little impact on the film itself, so that’s issue resolved as far as I’m concerned.

          2. My mistake. That is interesting, as I assumed that whether he genuinely liked it or not he would have still learnt enough to sound informed.

  23. Is this film going to showcase either driver as a hero and the other as villain? “Senna” had too much of that..
    Looking forward to the film….

    1. @wsrgo

      The Senna was a documentary painting him as a holy hero. :(

    2. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
      9th April 2013, 12:00

      @wsrgo and @ivano – Every narrative needs a protagonist and an antagonist, even a documentary. The magic of Senna was that a team picked up a few hundred rolls of old tape and breathed life onto them, with the ultimate goal of the piece being to express the sheer tragedy that was the death of this great individual. And the catharsis that just about ever audience member felt during the film’s depiction of Senna’s death was only achievable by presenting Senna favourably throughout, and in order to do that, Prost had to become the documentary’s antagonist. Senna was not just a biographical documentary, it was so much more than that. The documentary listens to, and builds on the modern nostalgic attitudes regarding the posthumous Senna, and in doing so creates an artistic and fantastically relevant perspective of Senna, that it is not concerned with the one-dimensional purpose that comes with simply telling an audience about Ayrton’s life in an accurate and cogent manner, more as the film’s constant search for audience catharsis. In short, Senna’s portrayal in the documentary was perfectly justified. With regards to Rush, I would imagine that assignment of good and evil to Hunt and Lauda is a given bearing in mind that Howard is a product of Hollywood and all of its conventions. Hunt, the charming, dashing and crucially English speaking champion of 1976 will inevitably become the hero in his campaign to beat the conceited, clinical and German speaking Lauda. Now whilst I think that there is no call for this, and it would be nice to have a third-party perspective on a great two man duel, this will almost certainly be the case in a film that is seemingly aimed at a depressingly mainstream audience.

      1. @william-brierty You’re right about Rush, it is too Hollywood-ish. More than motorsport fans, it is aiming at a general audience. I’ll be sad to see if Lauda does become the antagonist, because he was clearly the better driver of the two.

      2. @william-brierty
        @wsrgo

        My issue with the Senna documentary, is that as a documentary, it had the obligation of telling the full side of the story. All it did was saintify Senna as a religious symbol in the sport, and that was aided by leaving out his lust for women, most of them were his pitgirls or from Playboy and Penthouse magazine, which was even obvious by shading his last fiancee, a Playboy model, because the director aimed as making him holy, and this is more evident by omitting how he admitted taking out Prost in 1990, as left out all his driving blunders. Senna was great driver but was also still human. On top of that, the documentary left out his most noble racing acts, giving victory to Berger in Suzuka 1991. The documentary also excluded his nasty humour and pranks onto fellow drivers. I love Senna, my dream was for him to win that 1994 title, so could finally embark to Ferrari with that number 1 to close his career, but I didn’t like that documentary for leaving out his human side, and instead made him a god of the sport, which is insulting especially how the director torn apart Prost to do that.

        As for Rush, well I don’t think it’s at all Hollywoodnized. It’s a movie so it needs to go deep into the characters with music and camera angles, otherwise they might as well slap narration and turn it into a documentary. Also, I don’t think it will be turning Lauda as an antagonist. If anything it will turn him as the true champion of that year for returning, just as Hunt said, that championship should have been shared by them.

        And this film will only bring more fans to the sport, and hopefully Todt and co will realize how exciting the racing was then, and perhaps, bring new rules to revert the designs to then for greater racing.

        1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
          9th April 2013, 20:18

          @ivano – Your comment is one the most one-dimensional perspectives on genre I have ever heard. Being a documentary does not “oblige” Senna to tell “the full side of the story”, because how on can a text be obligatory, more than that it is “obliged” to make a commercial profit for its creators? I would even question those that call Senna a documentary. When have you heard director, Asif Kapadia, say the words, “this is a documentary”? And in no way does it “saintify Senna as a religious symbol” more than it mentions the fact that Senna was religious. The fundamental idea over which the narrative of Senna is draped is that here is a great racing driver, but also a great man, of whose death was a tragedy. If you saw the scene in which a mortified Senna is interviewed regarding the grievously injured Martin Donnelly and still concluded that he presented in a inhuman manner, then I would question whether you have actually watched Senna. The fact that there are a few significant moments in his life that are not included is more of an illustration of the frantic nature of Aryton’s life as apposed to any kind of directorial subjectification. And so what if Senna is portrayed in a skewed manner? As I have already said this is so much more than a bullet pointed chronology of Senna’s life, it builds on modern nostalgia regarding Senna and creates a cathartic emotion experience for the audience, and does so using a rather rosed tint to history. Frankly, if you want to know what happened in Senna’s life, then go on Wikipedia, but if you want an excellently artistic and emotional explanation as to why Aryton Senna was the greatest F1 driver ever, then watch Senna.

          I have no problem with your “Hollywoodnization” of characters with music and camera angles, but being a film buff and knowing Howard’s style, he will certainly attempt to assign good and evil to the drivers. The man is so obsessed with the balance between good and evil that the film might as well be made by Disney. Mark my words, Hunt will be waltzing around with a halo whilst Lauda will probably be seen living in a dark cave with a dragon.

          On a separate note, I agree that had Senna not died he would have won the WDC in 1994, however I strongly doubt that he’d have ever gone to Ferrari. Senna was a famous Ferrari cynic and controversially said that Enzo Ferrari had created an F1 team that was “not all that great” after his death in 1988. Senna would have stayed at Williams for the remainder of his career, winning in 1994, before probably coming second to Schumacher in the genuinely faster Benetton in 1995, but dominating in 1996 and 1997. Senna would have hung his helmet up after 13 years and 6 World Championships, not fussed by the prospect of the 1998 Meccachrome engines at Williams or that of entering contractual negotiations after such a long time in F1.

          1. @william-brierty

            The Senna peice, was a documentary, anything that has interviews and narration of real events is a documentary. FACT! And for the director to say otherwise, even proves how more clueless he is.

            And wow, for saying mine is the most one-dimensional perspectives you’ve encountered, because while I’m saying the film wasn’t broad enough of Senna’s life, you’re only looking at the one thing, and that’s very hypocritical of your arguement. I’m now questioning if you’ve ever seen it?

            And again, you’re only seeing it from your chosen perspective. As Italy adored him eventhough he was in the other red suit, and Senna said to his Italian fans, once he had certain numbers, championships and race wins, and Ferrari was in position to offer a team capable of building a winning car, he would consider it. If you ever went to Imola and Monza towards the end of his career, the Tifosi had banners that said “We’re waiting for you!”, and he waved at them saying maybe soon. And how do I know, well, I’m Aryton Senna book and video collection both in English and in Italian.

          2. Whoops, meant *My* Aryton Senna book and video collection

          3. Ivano is right here. Great comments.

            The Senna film makes out its fact by the nature of how its portrayed and put together. But by leaving out many important moments it isnt factual at all.

            Bit like when you watch a highlights show of a football match or a race and they cut out a huge moment and your ‘like hang on its like watching a different game’

            That said great film..as a film. But again its continued to give a incorrect view of senna as a racer. So frustrating when myths become fact. Reading a book or watching a film is great but no sub for seeing it at the time.

  24. ‘Rush’ looks immense!
    as much as I love ‘Senna’ it would have been great to see the film had it been made from this POV

  25. It’s quite a long wait until September :-/

  26. Well, “Senna” was brilliant simply because of the subject material. As a documentary it didn’t especially blow me away. Not significantly different from something the BBC could have cooked up.

    This on the other hand is also brilliant because of the subject material – however I expect it to try and recoup its costs (at least) at the box office and therefore be quite the spectacle in ‘hollywood stylee’. Something the BBC are not so good at cooking up (for all the right reasons.)

  27. IMHO it looks ridiculous. Based on this trailer it’s like if they (the director) found a hero in Hunt (Chris Hemsworth a Hollywood young rising star) opposed to an anti-hero (evil) Lauda portrayed by an unknown actor. The truth is another…they both were good guys and excellent drivers but Lauda was overall superior and he’d never ever lost the championship without that terrible accident, end of story.
    I don’t think I’m gonna see this rubbish anyway…

  28. september 20th 2013 official release date cant wait… its gonna be somewhere in october before I see it probably

  29. had goosebumps watching the trailer. september 20th 2013 official release date cant wait… its gonna be somewhere in october before I see it probably…too long!!!

  30. Looks promising, lets hope they do the sport fair. I have faith in Howard but you never know.

  31. Looks exciting and interesting! Can’t wait…

  32. So after Thor, Chris Hemsworh becomes a driving gods ;)

  33. Seeing the crash screen gave me shivers thinking back to the real accident… my sister was a big Lauda fan so it will always have strong memories for me. I just hope the personality conflicts are not too black and white; there are never just heroes and villains.

  34. It looks ok but i don’t know… feels not entirely what i expected.

    Also did i saw then racing in the rain? was it fuji? because i seriously hope they don’t change the end to a “Super exciting epic race where the 2 rivals clash in a fierce battle for the win” because yeah no, that didn’t happen

    1. Sure they won’t, that would miss the point.

      It won’t follow it 100% but that is a major detail that you cannot ignore!

  35. O.O Omg I’m literally crying

  36. Can’t wait for this movie!

  37. I’m jittering in excitemeny!!!

    What I really like is the attention to detail. Example in the early part of season Ferrari raced with the high air scope, then dropped it later on, and it’s in the movie!!!

    Also, well done in getting Marlboro on the cars! I may not smoke anymore, but always loved that name on the Ferraris and McLarens.

    1. Ferrari didn’t have Marlboro liveries on them at that time – old Enzo only excepted sponsors who are directly involved with motor racing. Oh yes, James Hunt was smoker, but not driving a Ferrari and certainly not a sponsor…
      But I agree, it looks great; it’s the real thing and I wonder how much Marlboro pays for that…

      1. @adysseus

        I meant in general I’ve always loved the Marlboro name on them. :)
        But, there is Marlboro on Niki Lauda’s helmet of then.

  38. Maybe you should take your “rational” or lack of it somewhere else, I’m sure there are plenty of anti-american or xenophobic forums out there for you. Also, subjective rhetoric and stuff your parents taught you doesn’t mean you or them are right. There are plenty of great american films, perhaps you being myopic is the issue.

    1. ^ directed @toutcur or whatever the name, glad to see Keith got rid of the lackluster posts

  39. So HD trailer?

    1. You can select HD from the bottom-right hand corner and then view it in full-screen mode.

      1. That’s not really HD. But thanks anyway.

  40. Cannot believe people are writing this off just from the trailer? Yes, it looks a bit ‘Hollywood’ – but isn’t F1 as glamorous a sport as it gets? Even going back to the 70s. This was an epic story, was it not? So make it epic. Yes it looks bright and colourful and hi-tech and full of special effects, but going from this alone it looks extremely tastefully applied if you ask me. And I’m not usually one for s a blockbuster..

    1. @electrolite

      I’m with you. And I’m glad it looks Hollywood as it’s meant to be a movie. Today this got my non-F1 friends interested in the sport! If people want a documentary there are plenty, I’m happy with this that has full visual and audio emotion!

  41. I’m so excited to see this, it looks like it could be amazing! The cinematography of it just looks mouth watering.

  42. This isn’t out for ages and I’ve only seen a tiny bit of it. I’m probably not going to see it in the cinema either.

    Therefore, I feel I’m the perfect candidate to weigh in with a nonsensically grave comment that assumes my opinion is the only correct one, and state that the film is going to be a bit of a film. There’ll be filmy bits in it, and other bits where people are talking. Some people will talk more than others, and some people will be more physically attractive than others. People will have differing degrees of interest in their character. The film will end after a period of time determined by the director following consultations with his team of professionals. Many people will eat loudly for the duration. Others will be dragged there unwillingly by a ham fisted significant other.

    All the comments above are wrong.

  43. Mark McDonald
    9th April 2013, 1:05

    For sure, I’ll be seeing this film. How I wish Ron Howard (or another A-list director) would have made a film about the tragic Villeneuve – Pironi rivalry of ’82.

  44. Abdurahman (@)
    9th April 2013, 1:40

    I agree with someone above, the trailer is making me more excited not less. My first reaction to seeing some of the still photos though on here, wow, Marlboro must be loving this and were they paying/being paid for any of this publicity?

  45. Looks like Hollywood crap to me.

  46. My Father took myself and my best friend 1976 Canadian Grand Prix (my first Grand Prix), have been following since.
    Needless to say I am really looking forward to this film

  47. Love those cars, I don’t like films based in actual events though, that’s the job for documentaries even so I don’t really like when people start messing with facts.

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