In Rush, Daniel Brühl plays Niki Lauda, an Austrian Formula One racecar driver who was severely injured in a 1976 crash at the Nürburgring during the German Grand Prix. The film focuses on the story of the rivalry between Lauda and another driver, English playboy James Hunt. Hunt is portrayed in the film by Chris Hemsworth.
The portrayal of Lauda’s post-Nürburgring disfigurement required much time in makeup with Academy Award-winning prosthetic makeup designer Mark Coulier. “Of course, we needed prosthetics and that made me nervous at first,” Brühl says. “The funny thing was that after the first test, Mark’s assistants said he might get nominated in a half-hour for an Oscar for The Iron Lady. Mark started making the prosthetics while some other guys got bottles of champagne. We sat there following it through the Internet while I was half-burnt. He got the Oscar and I knew I was in good hands.”
The actor extends his good words to the director of photography, Anthony Dod Mantle. “It’s incredible that Anthony comes in so close with his cameras to the prosthetics and you still can’t see it. You still believe my face is totally burnt. Amazing work.”
As with every detail of the film, director Ron Howard strove for authenticity on Lauda’s disfigurement. “There’s a section of Niki’s scarring that the general public didn’t see,” says Emmy-winning makeup and hair designer Fae Hammond. “Ron really wanted to make a very big point of those. So there are a couple of scenes when we really feel the pain, the agony and the horror that went on. Mark was very clever. We probably had about eight stages of the makeup. It was very important to get it as correct and accurate as possible.”
The makeup and prosthetics team was also tasked with the more subtle challenge of making the actor look like the young, unscarred championship driver whose distinct image was well known. “We added some false teeth for Daniel to give him that sort of ‘ratty’ shape,” Hammond explains. “Daniel sports a rather fine set of teeth, which we had some fun with. There are physical elements of Daniel that are so strongly there in the real Lauda, but Daniel’s head has a slightly different shape, so you can’t just put Lauda hair on Daniel. You have to find a space that balances the rest of his face and body shape. I think it worked really well.”
Rush is available starting Jan. 28 on Video On Demand. Check your cable system for availability.
