Two-time Academy Award^® winner Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind), teams once again with fellow two-time Academy Award^®  nominee, writer Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen), on RUSH, a spectacular big-screen re-creation of the merciless 1970s rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda, it was announced today. The film recently began principal photography and is co-financed and produced by Exclusive Media and Cross Creek Pictures, in association with Imagine Entertainment. Working Title Films, Brian Grazer and Revolution Films are also producing.

The epic action-thriller stars Chris Hemsworth (The Avengers) as the charismatic Englishman James Hunt and Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds) as the disciplined Austrian perfectionist Niki Lauda, whose clashes on the Grand Prix racetrack epitomized the contrast between these two extraordinary characters, a distinction reflected in their private lives. Also starring Olivia Wilde (TRON: Legacy) and Alexandra Maria Lara (The Reader). RUSH is produced by Andrew Eaton (A Mighty Heart), Eric Fellner (Senna, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Ron Howard, Academy Award^® winner Brian Grazer (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind), Peter Morgan and Brian Oliver (Black Swan) and executive produced by Exclusive Media, Cross Creek Pictures and Todd Hallowell. Universal Pictures will distribute the film in North America.

Set against the sexy, glamorous and spectacular golden age of Formula 1 racing, RUSH portrays the exhilarating true story of two of the greatest rivals the world has ever witnessed — handsome English playboy James Hunt (Hemsworth) and his methodical, brilliant opponent Niki Lauda (Brühl). Following their personal lives on and off the track, RUSH follows the two drivers as they push themselves to the breaking point of physical and psychological endurance, where there is no shortcut to victory and no margin for error. If you make one mistake, you die.