Will "Rush" be an Oscar contender? The Toronto Film Festival audience seems to think so.

Deadline's Pete Hammond was on the scene at the premiere of the Formula 1 racing drama, which received standing ovations on Sunday night. Hammond writes that the audience applauded director Ron Howard and Niki Lauda, the real-life subject of the film. "Rush" is based on the extreme rivalry of race car drivers Lauda and James Hunt, which lasted one racing season in the 1970s.

"Rush" stars Daniel Bruhl as Lauda, Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt, Olivia Wilde ("House," "Tron: Legacy") and Natalie Dormer ("Game of Thrones"). Its director Howard is responsible for directing "Apollo 13," "Cinderella Man" and the Oscar-winning "A Beautiful Mind." He also produces, narrates and acts in "Arrested Development."

Hammond writes that film will appeal to everyone, and that it has Oscar potential.

"I first saw it early in the marketing process in May and thought then, and still now, that the pure  emotion of the story of the rivalry between these racing icons would have great appeal way beyond the partisans of the sport," he writes. "I also think it has Academy potential with no-brainer nominations for Anthony Dod Mantle's superb cinematography, the editing, sound, Hans Zimmer's score and Daniel Bruhl's stunning supporting turn as Lauda, who endures a horrific accident on the track. That's all in addition to possible directing, writing and picture considerations."

Peter Debruge of Variety praised the film's story, visual effects and the performances of Bruhl and Hemsworth.

"To witness this level of storytelling skill (applied to a subject only a fraction of the public inherently finds interesting) is to marvel at not only what cinema can do when image, sound and score are so artfully combined to suggest vicarious experience, but also to realize how far Howard has come since his directorial debut, 1977's bang-up 'Grand Theft Auto,'" Debruge writes. "The technique is so cutting-edge, it's impossible to tell where the practical photography ends and visual effects begin - and besides, the two leading men are so enthralling, audiences' minds have little time to drift away from the human-interest story at its core."

For those that want to see for themselves, "Rush" will be released in theaters on Sept. 13.