Red Bull Motorsports
F1
Video: Rush with Ron Howard and Niki Lauda
Film director Ron Howard and the film subject's Niki Lauda discuss F1 movie Rush.
5 min
Ron Howard on the making of Rush
We spoke to Ron Howard to find out about his new F1 film Rush.
Check out film-maker Ron Howard's journey from interested spectator to avid F1 fan in the video above and below, Austrian F1 legend Niki Lauda explains how new movie Rush gave him a new insight into his 1976 title battle with James Hunt which became the fight for his life.
RedBull.com: How did the film come about from your perspective? Niki Lauda: I was approached by Peter Morgan, who wrote the script. He said “I want to write a movie about the 1976 season and would you help me,” and I said “certainly”. Ron Howard had no idea about racing but he asked me five million questions. He started blinking and suddenly became a fan of Formula One. I invited him to Silverstone I think two years ago and the whole movie just happened after that.
RB: How well is the drama of 1976 portrayed? NL: I’ll give you an example. [After the crash] when I went out in public again in Monza and everybody saw me, they [grimaced] and then looked at my ear. I said “look in my eyes if you are going to talk to me, why are you looking at my burns?” Be polite. I never understood people’s reaction – I always wondered why they were being so stupid. I put a wall around myself and stopped caring about it.
But when I saw the movie, when Daniel Brühl [who plays Lauda] turns around in Monza, I got a shock too. Now I understand the other point of view. I was too busy getting going again and I never saw myself as other people did.
There are quite a few other scenes in the movie where now I understand why people behaved the way they did. The whole movie is done very well because it is what really happened. It was a fight between James the playboy and me the serious guy.
Niki Lauda at the 1976 German GP
© Rainer Schlegelmilch/Getty Images
RB: Obviously there was a battle of opposites but was it a friendly rivalry? NL: I knew him from Formula Three times and we always had a kind of – I wouldn’t say friendship, friendship is wrong because Formula One drivers don't have friendships; they are enemies and want to fight each other – but James was one of the more sympathetic guys. I was hanging out with him and drinking beer and whatever. But even when we were on the road, we didn't care much about each other but he was a good guy in those days.
RB: There have been plenty of intense rivalries F1 over the years, why do you think your battle with James is still so compelling? NL: Maybe the accident. I think this is the key thing, because there have been a lot of battles and in the end there is always a winner. But I lost three races and nearly killed myself. Then I took the championship to the last race but lost in the end because I didn't drive.
Liam Hemsworth (Hunt) and Daniel Bruhl (Lauda)
© Studio Canal
RB: Back then things were incredibly dangerous. What do you think when you look at today’s cars? NL: Today it's nothing. Poor [Ayrton] Senna was the last driver killed, 19 years ago, so it's improved. You cannot compare it because we had to really ask ourselves: do we want to risk our lives or not? I said yes because I wanted to drive the car and win races. My ego and fearlessness at the time made me do this.
RB: Does watching the movie make you want to get back in a car? NL: No way, it's boring and I've done everything. I won everything, I nearly killed myself, so there's no more I can get out of it.
