So far this year, Chris Hemsworth has been quite the busy actor when it's come to hitting theaters and filming future films. The star has already been a part of The Avengers, The Cabin in the Woods, and Snow White and the Huntsman with the remake of Red Dawn still to come around Thanksgiving. In the meantime he's about to reprise his famous superhero role in Thor: The Dark World as it starts filming, but he's also finished work as one of the lead roles in Ron Howard's Formula 1 racing drama Rush. As Hemsworth gets ready to speed up across the track, today not only have the first stills from the film been released but it has also been set for a release date early next fall.

Universal Pictures has set Rush to hit theaters on September 20th, 2013. As of right now, the drama is completely alone in that date with no other major releases to compete against. Furthermore, Universal successfully places the film in a gap between the 3D re-release of Disney's classic The Little Mermaid on the 13th and the Ben Affleck/Justin Timberlake crime drama Runner Runner on the 27th.

Set in 1976 in the golden age of Formula 1 racing, Rush portrays the fast-paced and exhilarating true story of two of the greatest rivalries the sport has ever witnessed – that of James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda and their illustrious Formula 1 racing teams, McLaren and Ferrari. A privileged, charismatic and handsome English playboy, Hunt could not be more different from his reserved and methodical opponent, Austrian born Lauda.

Rush follows their personal lives both on and off the track and charts their rivalry from its inception in Formula 3. Here they competed viciously against each other until Lauda’s business acumen and surgeon like precision behind the wheel propelled him all the way to Formula 1; eventually landing him the number one spot at Ferrari. However it was not long before rambunctious golden boy Hunt fought his way into Formula 1, and into the hearts of a nation, dramatically seizing the championship from Lauda and proving to the critics, and more importantly himself, that there was real substance beneath the stylish exterior.

Joining Hemsworth in the driver's seat will be Inglourious Basterds star Daniel Bruhl as he portrays Lauda in the film, while Olivia Wilde will be taking the role of female lead. Joining them will be Natalie Dormer, Christian McKay and others that have yet to be announced. From writer Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon), this will be Howard's first directorial effort since the failed comedy The Dilemma in early 2011.

Click on each photo for a larger look (via The Film Stage):






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