The claustrophobia-inducing Thirteen Lives (Amazon Prime) captures the real life challenges of rescuing 12 boys, aged from 11 to 16, and their soccer coach, who were on a fun jaunt in the inner caverns of a mountain – Doi Nang Non (the Mountain of the Sleeping Lady) – in Thailand, when a sudden monsoon hit, flooding so rapidly the outer-lying caves and their exit, that the thirteen were at risk from the rising waters and from compromised oxygen levels. Some of the children did not know how to swim. The underwater rescue route was miles long and so treacherous for even seasoned divers to navigate, that one Thai Navy SEAL perished in the process. It took ten days actually to reach the boys, but more days slipped away thereafter without anyone’s reaching a solution as to how to get the boys out.

Viggo Mortensen (Rick Stanton), Colin Farrell (John Volanthen), Joel Edgerton (Richard Harris) and Tom Bateman (Chris Jewel) star as the hobbyist cave divers who take on the tricky rescue. Ron Howard, no stranger to helming films of real-life events that capture the minds of the world, directs.

Howard’s much nominated film Apollo 13 (1995) shares some overlapping themes with Thirteen Lives in that both have a ticking clock as experts race to rescue people trapped with a depleting air supply against apparently insurmountable odds that require ingenuity and world co-operation in order to overcome.

That much of the action in Thirteen Lives takes place underwater added to the challenge of creating intimacy, which is generated by close-ups on actors’ faces so that the audience gets into the minds and experiences of the divers who are forced on a tortuous journey through stalactites, currents and darkness, swimming for hours before reaching the cave where the boys and their coach are trapped.

That problem was solved by the pro-active decision of Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell to learn the craft from actual cave divers so they could be adept enough to squeeze through the narrow confines required to replicate the 2018 rescue.

Colin admitted at the premiere that he had had to fight against claustrophobia and that there were some harrowing moments for him while shooting. Both Viggo and Colin became skilled at the technique of cave diving, which differs from regular diving in requiring skills to find routes through terrain that would and did cause other very skilled divers to turn back.

Mortensen shared with The Sunday Times that he urged Howard to let him do all his own underwater work. The commitment meant that the actors, who were unable to wear gloves so they could feel their way in murky water with near zero visibility, sustained injuries to their hands just as cave divers do.

Howard shared with Vanity Fair how they captured the underwater experience.

The replications had to work on a functional and visual level. Ultimately, the facsimile Production designer Molly Hughes (The New Mutants, Fantastic Four) exactly replicated the caves, making 3D renderings of the caves which allowed Howard to go to work designing the shots and choosing which parts of the cave to recreate.The ”‘caves”’ were treated with a hardy resin that sustained both the water and the divers as they haltingly collided with the “rock” in the restricted confines. Hughes’ work generated praise from the actual cave divers, Stanton – also a technical adviser on the film – and Volanthen, but, Howard jokes in a Vanity Fair interview, sparked “terror from the actors.” Cameras captured overhead shots but were wrapped in a protective covering to be able to plunge into the depths when necessary. There were also handhelds to zoom in on the expressions of exhaustion and concern as the actors overcame obstacles under water.

Because of Molly Hughes’ brilliance in mathematically recreating the dimensions of the area where the boys were trapped, and factoring in things like running water, drips, color and lighting, Howard had the ability to lower and raise the water level as needed. Invisible doors were built into the set for safety. Both Hughes and Howard repeatedly refer to approaching the caves’ design as a “haunted house” where anything can happen.

Howard deliberately didn’t allow the actors to ‘”get comfortable” before shooting. He had them do a couple of rehearsals and then shot, allowing their lack of ease to transfer onto the screen. That tension and the real “discovery” of navigating the narrow confines conveys the fraught situation to the audience, and was the reason the actors eschewed stunt doubles.

Howard’s other challenge was to maintain the integrity of the many cultures that took part in the actual rescue. In 2018 the international efforts incorporated diverse cultures. Australian cave divers were called in, Americans lent a hand, people from all over the world offered assistance, but a lot of the action was done by the Thai people themselves. More than 10,000 Thais were involved in the rescue in various capacities, from engineer Thanet Natisri who oversaw locals funneling the water away from the run-off that was feeding the rising cave waters, to those digging sand and filling sandbags, to the Thai Navy SEALS, politicians, and volunteers providing food, and looking after those who were working around the clock to create the miracle of returning the boys to their parents. In the script notes Howard affirms, “The community in Thailand made it possible to keep them alive and extract them. I knew I had a real sense of responsibility to the Thai people and their culture.”

It was important to Howard that the crew, too, reflect this internationalism.

Thai’s Raymond Phathanavirangoon and Vorakorn “Billy” Ruetaivanichkul were also amongst the co-producers ensuring cultural authenticity. Noted cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Call Me By Your Name) captured the documentary feel for the former child star (The Andy Griffith Show, Happy Days) turned director.   

The man who won the Best Picture Oscar for A Beautiful Mind, cast the boys’ soccer team from northern Thailand (where the rescue took place), to ensure the specific dialect and vernacular would be accurately captured.  Few of the boys had acting experience. ‘”James” Teeradon Supapunpinyo, who is a member of the former Thai boy bands, Nine by Nine and Trinity, was cast as Coach Ek. Digital technology helped create the malnourished images.

Despite not understanding or speaking the language Howard told the Hindustan Times that he wanted to get the Tham Luang cave rescue “right” – aiming at “authenticity, especially in depicting the Thai side” – which had not been explored extensively in the international news reports. Rather than have the Thais talk to each other in English, he had them speak Thai, bringing in the audience through subtitles.