Before he came known to film fans on this side of the ocean for his turn as Fredrick Zoller in Quentin Tarantino‘s “Inglourious Basterds,” savvy cinema lovers already knew that Brühl was an actor of incredible talent. He broke out with the one-two punch of “Goodbye Lenin!” and “The Edukators.” He followed that up with a solid turn in the WWII drama “Joyeux Noel” and in the indie “2 Days In Paris,” but Hollywood finally came calling, as he landed a role in “The Bourne Ultimatum.” But the actor doesn’t seem to be in any rush, nor particularly interested, in bagging roles in U.S. just for the sake of it, but when Ron Howard comes calling with a project as tantalizing as “Rush,” you take the call and check your calendar.
Penned by Peter Morgan, “Rush” centers on Austrian Niki Lauda’s rivalry with English racer James Hunt. In 1976, Lauda nearly died when his Ferrari swerved off the track in only the second lap of the German Grand Prix and crashed, causing him to lapse into a coma and lose his right ear—Hunt won the race. Six weeks later, Lauda was back behind the wheel chasing Hunt at the Italian Grand Prix and followed him to the Canadian and U.S. Grand Prix as well. Hunt would finally earn enough points during 1976 to take the World Driver’s Championship title away from Lauda. Chris Hemsworth is ready to get in the driver’s seat as Hunt (apparently impressing the filmmakers with a video audition as the hard partying driver) and Screen Daily now reports that Brühl is in talks to play the nemesis role as Lauda.
All we can say to this is, bravo Ron Howard. This is easily his most interesting project since “Cinderella Man” and it’s exciting to see him take on two younger actors, rather than just pal around with Tom Hanks and Vince Vaughn in big budget, but empty pictures. This sounds like some great material with a fascinating story at the core and when was the last time we saw a movie centered around auto racing? It’s definitely a great development from a project that continues to be full of pleasant surprises. And it looks like it’s revving up to shoot soon.
The plan is for cameras to role as early as late this year, once Hemsworth wraps up his duties with “Snow White And The Huntsman” which begins shooting this fall. Production on “Rush” will take place in Germany and the U.K. And as a parting gift, we leave you with a video of Brühl watching the Germany vs. Argentina match from the 2010 World Cup.
