Hunt & Lauda

A development project currently making the rounds of  Hollywood studios, “Rush” tells of the 1970s F1 rivalry between the late playboy British driver James Hunt and his nemesis, Austrian champion Niki Lauda. The movie is being shopped with veteran director Ron Howard (“A Beautiful Mind,” “The Da Vinci Code”) as the filmmaker. It aims to shoot this year in Europe and could command a budget as high as $50 million.

Lauda and Hunt would make compelling movie subjects. Archrivals who dominated their sport in the 1970s, their most storied square-off came in 1976, when Ferrari’s Lauda went out in middle of the season after suffering a massive accident at the Nürburgring, with serious burns. That allowed McLaren’s Hunt, who had lagged behind Lauda, to make up ground and eventually eke out a championship win in the year’s last race in the rain at Japan’s Suzuka Circuit.

A Formula One movie steps on the accelerator — with Ron Howard | latimes.com.