"The closer you are to death, the more alive you feel."
That's the kind of quote you'd expect to hear from a guy who lives by putting his life on the line, and that's the kicker moment of this new trailer (via MSN UK) for Rush, the drama from Ron Howard and his Frost/Nixon screenwriter Peter Morgan. Chris Hemsworth tries a British accent on for size in a non-Thor role as James Hunt, the Formula One racing driver whose rivalry with Austrian Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) makes up the core of the film. The injury you see midway through the trailer was a real accident at the 1976 German Grand Prix, which left Lauda with extensive facial scarring and took away much of his right ear.
Howard has said the film will be as much about the rivalry as the thrill of the race, and Hemsworth and Bruhl look like apt rivals here, each of them insanely talented and charismatic actors bringing a lot of intensity to their roles. Howard is clearly a fan of the work Hemsworth is doing, with plans to reunite with him in the whaling drama In The Heart of the Sea, and Bruhl has already moved on to a huge role opposite Benedict Cumberbatch in The Fifth Estate (you can get a look at the two of them in costume here).
Rush is coming to British theaters on September 13, and a week later in the United States, on September 20.
