Thor to play James Hunt, Nazi sniper to play Nikki Lauda for Richie Cunningham...

I hope this actually makes it to the big screen... 1976 was a fantastic classic racing year. however I really wonder how they will get the tracks to look like they did back in the day? there will be a lot of Green screen - digital on the cameras!

 

But I'm cringing already at what the out come will be.

The only good film that was ever made where speed or racing was involved is "The Worlds Fastest Indian", ever other one including the fairly good Le Mans has to have some romance (between characters) involved. Pathetic.
Pete

 

LeMans is fantastic, IMO.

 

It's a great film, but why polute it with the completely unnecesary BS about the girls husband dying and then her latest partner getting injured.

We RACE because we want to RACE. There is nothing more to it. Just like "The Worlds Fastest Indian" film states, he did it because he wanted to top the old girl out. And I have to say, what is wrong with that!!! .

We don't race to get a fnck, attract a girl at all ... in fact most of us loose out because we race, ie. we give the racing too much attention.

It really pisses me that people outside the sport think all sports people do any sport to get a fnck. That is not true. A professional baseball player did not fall in love with the game to get a root. Most likely this happened before he was even doing it for himself. Ayton Senna even divoiced Miss Brazil so he could concentrate fully on his first love, ie. racing cars.

I guess the Le Mans film is/was trying to say this, but from my perspective there was many minutes of film wasted on looking at a girl and conversations with her ... we could have been watching and listening to 917's and 512's racing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pete

 

I agree but keep in mind they had to market the film to a wide audience. There had to be some sort of backstory element. There are plenty of extended racing scenes.

Have you ever seen Vanishing Point?

 

Daniel Brühl is absolutely brilliant. He is one the great technicians in the acting field. Looking forward to this one.

 

I have not seen world's fastest indian... Grand Prix to me is a great movie with just enough story and great racing scenes.

 

It's off to a good start then. Ron Howard directed Apollo 13.

 

While perhaps tangential to the racing for the driver, the anxiety and suffering the driver's spouse or girlfriend feels is real and palpable for them. I think it's an element of racing. If you race, the one that loves you will always be worried. Moreover, it can cause them to leave a driver. This is part of the life-and-death bargain a race-driver accepts, so it is a part of the story. At least back then. It's still possible (and does happen) these days, but far more infrequently. Back then, if you were a serious driver, there was a very good chance your wife would eventually be a widow.

CW

 

This is going to be great.
Ron Howard is one of the best and weaves an interesting tale yet stays on the lines of truth.
Nikki and playboy James were/are two of the most interesting figures in F1 EVER.
One of the best seasons ever with a "twist" ending. Perhaps my favorite season.

Cant wait.

 

No.

Well then they can go watch a film that covers this. I want a film about motor racing, about the racing and why WE love it.

TifosiUSA hits the nail on the head. They dilute the film to appeal to a wider audience, which for people like me pollutes it with very boring bits. If I want to watch a movie about a beautiful women I don't go to a motor racing film (or to spectate at a motor racing event for that matter). If I want to watch a budding romance I don't go to a motor racing film, I let my wife choose a film and we go and watch and enjoy that.

Thus why can't other people accept that a motor racing film is just going to be about motor racing ... and enjoy the story that is simply "I want to be the fastest and win for winnings sake?". That is a good story and needs nothing else. This is why I liked the Worlds Fastest Indian. The whole film centres around this mans drive to build, get his bike to the salt lakes and top her out. Yes it covers the trip from New Zealand to the salt lakes, but his reason for continuing on stays strong. There is no mention of his family (he has children), there is no mention of the possibility of dying because he does not care. This drive within him is more important to him than that. This film actually made my wife sort of get the point of motor sport ... that is what a film about motor sport should be doing.

Hopefully Ron Howard (he is a good director) can see that the 1976 season was a strong enough story on it's own, but I assume they will wank on about the emotional trauma of Lauda's accident and 75% of the film will we wasted on that, asking the question about why he continued ... when ALL motorsport fans fully understand and know the answer, thus weakening the film for that audience.
Pete

 

Based on Mr. Howards work this will be epic in the world of "Racing" movies.

Why this story has not been previously told is beyond me.

 

I don't think LeMans was diluted by the human side as I think at that time there were alot of deaths still so it added an element of the reality of racing.

 

Hope he doesn´t do the same he did with John Nash in "A Beautiful Mind".

Producing a racing movie probably is not easy, as it can be really expensive and there are not so many racing fans around there.

 

A friend of mine met Brühl some years ago in a club in Shanghai, rumours are she got more from him than his cellphone number. I however doubt if he'd be to happy if some stranger phoned him to ask about his new movie...

 

I liked a Beautiful Mind.
So did most audiences thats why it did well at the box office.

Hollywood exists to make money. They do that by telling interesting stories.
Dont want a story but a "racing" show ?
Go down to your local dirt track and watch racing.
Me, I'd really like to see F1 done well so the rest of the non-believers at least can find out about the sport.
If Hollywood has to take liberties then so be it.
The core of the story is there thanks to a fascinating 76 season.

 

I liked Beautiful Mind also.

Pete

 

It was a very professional job but as I knew the real story of Nash, I missed a lot of things. Probably because, as you said, the film was made to be attractive to most audiences.

I hope the same doesn´t happen with the story of Hunt.

 

Most of this film will be about his womanising. There will be very little motor racing because most people think it's boring and film people appear to be in the "non-fans" brigade.
Pete

 

Sorry PSK but I don't believe Steve McQueen decided to make LeMans with only you in mind!.

If you actually take the time to analyse the off track moments rather than simply writing them off as being boring, you'll find that they are actually quite cleverly done to highlight a number of things that affect the drivers and families when it comes to racing.

One part of it shows that for a driver, the LeMans 24hours is not just about being on track and racing, drivers have plenty of time to fill in between driving stints (hence the reason why these sections of the film seem to run so slow, to give a contrast to the speed of the actual racing).

The part with the "romantic" moments was a way of highlighting that for those around motor who are not drivers, racing is something that they can't just walk away from. Racing becomes such a big part of their life that they don't want to leave it, even if their partners are killed doing it. It is also in the film to try to purvey the fact that racing drivers wives and girlfriends struggle to understand why they are attracted to these type of men and sacrifice they're lives to a degree so their loved ones can pursue their other passion of racing. In the film, Lisa Belgetti's husband is killed in a racing accident involving Steve McQueens character and yet still she is strangely attracted to him.

Another part of it is to show some of the conflict that goes on in a drivers mind when it comes to incidents that have happened in previous races (hence the moody opening shots of McQueen staring at the new barriers). For a lot of drivers after an incident, they start to question what they do and why they do it (Think Michael Schumacher in '94 after Senna's crash and death. He seriously thought at the time about quitting the sport as the risks seemed too high but decided in the end to continue racing).

And lets not forget this fantastic scene:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9T6cVRVCrw&feature=related[/ame]

a load of romantic tosh?. To some maybe, but again, think about Schumacher and his retirement and subsequent comeback. Does the statement made by McQueen not sum up Schumacher's desire to race again rather nicely?.

Steve McQueen may have tried to explain everything about Motorsport that concerns drivers and their families in a clumsy way, but I for one think it works pretty well (and with a DVD you can easily fast forward if you wish).

If you want to watch films that are purely about on track racing then I'd suggest sticking to race footage DVD's for your entertainment.

 

I guess for me I already have the answer for why I would race tomorrow if I had the funds, thus there is no question to pond over.

So again he was trying to explain all these things to non-racing people, and yes did a fairly good job and yes nobody would have wanted to watch it (other than me) if it was just track time, and yes films have to make money.
Pete

 

I agree with you Pete. I like LeMans for its racing scenes, but the plot is contrived and dumb. A fascinating book on the making of LeMans is French Kiss with Death. In essence, the filming of the movie was a quasi-fiasco, and the plot was divined after production was already started.

BTW, several years ago Hollywood was considering making a movie about the life of Peter Revson. That would be an intriguing story too.

 

A few years ago Michael Mann intended to produce a film about Enzo Ferrari, with Robert De Niro as Ferrari, but I suppose the project is already dead and buried.

That would be a film I'd really want to watch!

I don't know what happened with that film about Von Trips with Tobey Maguire as Phil Hill.