‘Incredibly emotional’: Ron Howard shares a first look at Queensland blockbuster Thirteen Lives

Actors Joel Edgerton, Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell have revealed the daunting and dangerous reality of recreating the 2018 Thai cave rescue for Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives, in a first look at the Gold Coast blockbuster.

Joel Edgerton has opened up about the overwhelming task of playing the hero Australian involved in the 2018 Thai cave rescue.

The Australian star plays anaesthetist Dr Richard ‘Harry’ Harris – who was jointly awarded Australian of the Year for his part in the rescue – in Ron Howard’s anticipated movie, Thirteen Lives, which was filmed on the Gold Coast last year.

Launching the first-look trailer for the film on Wednesday, Edgerton said becoming a father himself during the shoot in Queensland, quickly leaving the set to welcome twins in Sydney last May, heightened the responsibility of the role.

“I have played real people before, but it’s rare that I have been that humbled and impressed and therefore a little nervous about taking on a role, because he’s such an impressive person and a real national hero,” Edgerton said.

(L to R) Thira ‘Aum’ Chutikul as Commander Kiet, Popetorn ‘Two’ Soonthornyanakij as Dr Karn, Joel Edgerton as Harry Harris, Colin Farrell as John Volanthen and Viggo Mortensen as Rick Stanton in Thirteen Lives. Picture: Vince Valitutti / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures

“Harry, until the first day of the rescue and even into the second and third day, thought that he was participating potentially in the death of children and it went against everything he really believed in except that he knew that if he didn’t give it a try the chances were all the kids would perish anyway.

“The fact that Harry was willing to undertake that risk and was successful in doing it, I found just incredibly emotional hearing some of Harry’s stories and reading his book. I became a father during the shoot and then it just became even more of a responsibility.”

Edgerton was joined on the Gold Coast set by Hollywood actors Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell, who play Rick Stanton and John Volanthen respectively – the pair of British cave divers who found the soccer team in the cave system.

In this July 3, 2018, file image taken from video provided by the Thai Navy Seal, Thai boys are with Navy SEALs inside a cave in Mae Sai, northern Thailand. Picture: Thai Navy Seal via AP/File

They used their two-week hotel quarantine in Queensland to delve into the script and spent considerable time with the divers in preparation for filming.

They were trained in rehearsals and then on set daily by Stanton and fellow diver Jason Mallinson and, in a move led by Mortensen, ended up mostly forgoing their body doubles to film the additional diving sequences themselves.

During filming, the actors had a stunt performer attached to them as the child they were rescuing as well as two air tanks and camera equipment while they wove through the narrow cave in a bid to recreate the daring rescue that captured the world.

“There were several moments for all of us I think where you went, ‘oh wow what have I got myself into,” said Mortensen, whose air tank at one point switched off underwater and he recalled Stanton’s training about keeping his breathing calm.

“I was like, f**k, no air. I remembered what Rick said. I said, I have the other tank so try to get over here and reach it and switch to the other mouth piece, do it calmly. It seemed like it took forever.

Australian actor Joel Edgerton at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Picture: Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP

Dr. Richard “Harry” Harris who helped rescue the trapped soccer team in a Thai cave. Picture: Greg Higgs

“I really had a moment there where I started to breathe fast and then there was nothing.

“It’s very dark. You can easily get very frightened in a hurry.”

Howard built the sequences by going through the Thai cave system with the real divers and having them point out pivotal moments in the rescue.

“It was this ongoing process of creating the environment and the effort and then attaching the humanity to it,” the acclaimed director said.

While British actor Tom Bateman, who played cave diver Chris Jewell, suffers from claustrophobia, Farrell had a major hurdle coming into filming, admitting he is not a strong swimmer.

“They say don’t work with children or animals, throw water into that mix as well. I can’t really swim,” Farrell said.

“The technical aspect of it really was quite nerve-racking.”

He added: “The burden and also the honour were one in the same and that is that we were telling this tale of events that took place and also that we were representing lives that exist today.”

“It really was a great gift and we felt that spirit of collaboration, and spirit of harmony the whole way throughout the shoot and that was honestly a joy, apart from how nervous I was beneath the water every day because some of it was terrifying.”

Bateman said that the realism in the set helped the actors put the danger of the rescue into perspective.

Director Ron Howard on the set of Thirteen Lives, a Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film. Credit: Vince Valitutti / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures © 2022 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

“As if we needed any more affirmation of it, what these people did … when we go into those caves in the sets there is something haunting and truly sort of desperate and dangerous in everything,” he said.

“The design was incredible. There was constantly water coming in and we spent the whole shoot wet and cold and under water and you think we are doing this in these conditions, the guys doing it still I cannot believe what they did and to be a small part of telling their story is a real honour.

“But my god I was happy to be finished.”

Howard interjected with a laugh: “I notice you didn’t mention your claustrophobia in your audition”.

In response, Stanton said the diving scenes were “incredible”, which was a testament to the main cast’s acting abilities.

Some of the 12 members of the Wild Boar soccer team, who were rescued from the Tham Luang cave, make their first appearance to media in Chiang Rai province, Thailand, 18 July 2018. EPA/pongmanat tasiri

“Colin says he’s not a diver, but you put them in the equipment and … they just immaculately followed it. Their diving, you wouldn’t distinguish it from ours,” he said.

Thirteen Lives was lured to Queensland following a $13m cash injection from the Federal Government, with added support from the Palaszczuk Government’s production attraction program. It employed an additional 275 cast and crew and injected around $45 million into the Queensland economy.

Howard said he was inspired by the creative challenge of recreating the true story for film, knowing a documentary on the rescue was already underway.

“It had all the things that you’re looking for in a great movie story and yet we could tell it with honesty and integrity and that was our goal and everyone on the production felt this … You didn’t have to ask for an extreme effort from anyone, they were giving it,” he said.

“The reaction has been everything that I was hoping for and more in that people think they know the story but there’s so much more to learn and what there is to learn is suspenseful and emotional.

“It hopefully does remind us of what is possible when we come together.

“As simple and corny as that sounds that’s what I was always trying to build … but also to understand the price of that, the emotional risks, the career risks, the physical risks involved in doing the right thing.

“That’s why you choose these true stories, that are extraordinary and that are stranger than fiction, in a way.

“On a creative level, it was just a joy and an amazing life experience.”

Thirteen Lives premieres on Amazon Prime Video in Australia on August 5.

Originally published as ‘Incredibly emotional’: Ron Howard shares a first look at Queensland blockbuster Thirteen Lives