British actors Nicholas Hoult and Felicity Jones have starred in three of Hollywood's biggest franchises. He was in Mad Max: Fury Road and the recent X-Men prequels, playing Beast. She just took the lead in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, as the intrepid Jyn Erso, who steals the plans for the Death Star. Now they're together in the rather more home-grown – though no less pulsating – affair, Eran Creevy's thriller Autobahn.
A love story with a twist, Hoult plays Casey, a young American drug dealer working the nightclub scene in Cologne, who gives up his lucrative profession to be with his new girlfriend Juliette (Jones). But when he discovers she’s terminally ill, needing money for a kidney transplant, he returns to the only life he knows to help her.
“He’s a nutcase,” laughs Jones. Hoult, however, sympathises. “If you’re in love with someone…and someone said: ‘There’s a chance’, then of course you would take it.”
The touchstone here appears to be action films from the late 1980s and 1990s. "Eran's a big fan of Tony Scott, that era of movies," says 27-year-old Hoult. "He wanted to make something along those lines." In particular, Scott's 1993 lovers-on-the-run classic True Romance, which starred Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette.
"I loved True Romance and it felt like there's a bit of a homage to that film in the work we do [here]," says 33-year-old Jones.
Certainly, those old-school movies featured larger-than-life performances (remember Christopher Walken in True Romance?), and Autobahn is no different, with "the Sirs", as Hoult calls them – Sir Ben Kingsley and Sir Anthony Hopkins – both chewing the scenery. Kingsley plays the flamboyant Turkish gangster Casey works for; Hopkins is the drugs kingpin he later steals from (if you've ever wanted to see the Welsh legend do an impression of Sylvester Stallone, this is the film for you).
“There’s a scene towards the end of the film where it is the four of us, and that was a pretty extraordinary day, where you have these two greats literally going head-to-head in a scene,” recalls Jones.
“What’s fascinating about them is they have very different acting styles, but…they never rest of their laurels. They never take it for granted and even from take to take, you don’t know quite what they’re going to do at any one moment.”
What really impresses, however, are the driving sequences. Creevy already proved his mettle on his 2013 movie Welcome to the Punch, another British-made action-thriller with all the chutzpah of a Hollywood studio movie. And it was the lure of high-velocity stunts that drew his leading man in.
"I grew up loving cars and action movies," admits Hoult, who knows a thing or two about stunt driving after starring in the Mad Max: Fury Road.
On Autobahn, the stunt team were "very inclusive", he says, in letting him perform some of the behind-the-wheel scenes. With scenes shot on a yet-to-open section of autobahn in Germany, Hoult reports that on the very first day he was careering around the set, leaving the real drivers impressed. "They said they could tell I was fairly capable or stupid, depending how you look at it."
For the more dangerous stunts, Hoult’s car had a “pod” on the roof, with a stunt driver controlling the actions of the vehicle and the actor simply miming the driving. “It’s like being on a rollercoaster without the rails – you’re not sure what’s going to go next,” he says.
“Then there would be other times when it was me flying along, weaving in and out of cars – living the dream for every boy essentially.”
He didn’t even get a speeding ticket.
• Autobahn opens in cinemas tomorrow
artslife@thenational.ae
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
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6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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'Munich: The Edge of War'
Director: Christian Schwochow
Starring: George MacKay, Jannis Niewohner, Jeremy Irons
Rating: 3/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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The specs
Engine: 8.0-litre, quad-turbo 16-cylinder
Transmission: 7-speed auto
0-100kmh 2.3 seconds
0-200kmh 5.5 seconds
0-300kmh 11.6 seconds
Power: 1500hp
Torque: 1600Nm
Price: Dh13,400,000
On sale: now
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RESULTS
Catchweight 82kg
Piotr Kuberski (POL) beat Ahmed Saeb (IRQ) by decision.
Women’s bantamweight
Corinne Laframboise (CAN) beat Cornelia Holm (SWE) by unanimous decision.
Welterweight
Omar Hussein (PAL) beat Vitalii Stoian (UKR) by unanimous decision.
Welterweight
Josh Togo (LEB) beat Ali Dyusenov (UZB) by unanimous decision.
Flyweight
Isaac Pimentel (BRA) beat Delfin Nawen (PHI) TKO round-3.
Catchweight 80kg
Seb Eubank (GBR) beat Emad Hanbali (SYR) KO round 1.
Lightweight
Mohammad Yahya (UAE) beat Ramadan Noaman (EGY) TKO round 2.
Lightweight
Alan Omer (GER) beat Reydon Romero (PHI) submission 1.
Welterweight
Juho Valamaa (FIN) beat Ahmed Labban (LEB) by unanimous decision.
Featherweight
Elias Boudegzdame (ALG) beat Austin Arnett (USA) by unanimous decision.
Super heavyweight
Maciej Sosnowski (POL) beat Ibrahim El Sawi (EGY) by submission round 1.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
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SPECS
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UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
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The specs
Engine: 5.2-litre V10
Power: 640hp at 8,000rpm
Torque: 565Nm at 6,500rpm
Transmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: From Dh1 million
On sale: Q3 or Q4 2022
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
