De 20-jarige acteur Alex Pettyfer (I Am Number Four) heeft getekend voor de hoofdrol in de boekverfilming van Shunt: The Story of James Hunt, een biografie van de beruchte Britse Formule 1-coureur James Hunt (1947-1993).

Hoewel Hunt vooral herinnerd wordt voor zijn vriendinnetjes en zijn wilde privéleven, maakte de man toch indruk op het F1-circuit. Zo pakte hij in 1976 zes overwinningen voor het team McLaren. Tijdens een verregende Japanse Grand Prix pakte hij dat jaar ook zijn enige wereldtitel. In 1977 won Hunt nog drie races, maar daarna ging het snel bergafwaarts met zijn carrière.

De officiële synopsis van het boek:

James Hunt is remembered more for his girlfriends and wild personal exploits than for his skills in a race car. But the excesses of his glamorous life cannot hide the fact that he was, in many people’s opinion, the fastest driver on the Formula One circuits in the 1970s. In an era dominated by the likes of Emerson Fittipaldi, Niki Lauda and Ronnie Peterson, Hunt stood out in terms of raw speed and his seemingly effortless ability to plant a Formula One car on pole position. In this full and comprehensive account of the life of James Hunt, the author and his researchers have examined every detail of the driver’s life – from his very earliest days to the last hours of his existence – as well as the lives of the people he left behind. It is the story of a man who started his racing career penniless, earned millions in a lifetime of success, but, in an astonishing twist of fate at the end of his life, died exactly as he had begun – penniless. It is a story many have tried to tell – but never in such a complete way. This is that story.