9 Films "Based On True Stories" That Missed Out The Best Part

3. Niki Lauda's Wife Struggled With His Disfigurement - Rush

As a general rule sporting biopics tend to twist more of the facts than your usual dramatisation, exploding slight disagreements into all out rivalry and omitting plenty of events that work contrary to the film's argument. Rush, Ron Howard's F1 movie that looks at the James Hunt-Niki Lauda rivalry, is no different. Obviously the central conflict, which was played up massively by the press coverage at the time, is exaggerated for dramatic effect (although not as extreme as in some cases) and the scene where Hunt beats up a reporter is obviously fabricated (it works narratively, but feels rather out of character), but that's all in service of the story. And when the film so perfectly replicates the thrill (or rush, badum-tish) of racing its inaccuracies that are easy to overlook. One element that would have surely improved the emotional punch of the movie that was ignored was a further look at Lauda's relationship with his wife, Marlene. Not only is their divorce after the film's end completely skirted over, but in real life she initially struggled with the disfigurement Lauda received after his famous crash at Nürburgring. Given how much focus was put on the personal lives of the two protagonists it seems like an odd thing to cut out. Maybe it was to give film Lauda more of a happy ending.