From director Ron Howardthe biographical dramatic thriller Thirteen Lives, due out in theaters and streaming at Prime Video later this year, tells the real-life story of the rescue mission in Thailand to get a group of young boys and their soccer coach out of the underground caves they were trapped in. The 2018 event that went on for 18 days demonstrated a remarkable strength of spirit and showed that you can sometimes accomplish the seemingly impossible, against all odds.
During a global press conference to discuss the upcoming release, Howard talked about why he wanted to tell this story, what was most important to him in achieving the necessary authenticity, exploring all the themes, the deep emotion in this real-life event, what he learned from his research, recreating the caves and the dive sequences, and what he hopes audiences take away from seeing the film.
Question: What made you want to tell this story?
RON HOWARD: Like a lot of people, I was aware of what was going on. My wife, Cheryl, was really glued and paying attention, and of course, the outcome was a relief to the world. It was one of those tremendous moments. When I had a chance to read William Nicholson’s script, it not only delivered on everything I had recalled, but it suggested so much more. There were more levels and dimensions to the heroics and to the people involved, especially the Thai people, and there were surprises in the story. I just felt like I could make something really visceral and immediate, and do what a scripted version of a telling of a true story is supposed to do, which is to make it more engaging and engage the nervous system of the audience, in addition to trying to give all the information. It was a really exciting creative opportunity for me, and I knew I would learn a lot about Thai culture.
What was it like to explore all the themes within this story?
HOWARD: I’ve had a lot of experience working on stories based on real events, and I’ve now also begun making documentaries as well. I also knew that by getting really granular and personal and emotional, that this could be a very extreme version of my favorite kinds of films, the ones that prove that remarkable outcomes are not the stuff of fiction. When people pull together, incredible things can happen. This is just a tremendous case study. As a director, I also knew it was gonna be an exciting challenge. The drama in the cave, I knew that was gonna be a cinematic challenge that I was excited to meet. I knew that the acting opportunities were gonna be very emotional and focused. And I also knew that a large percentage of this story was gonna be in Thai, and it would need to reflect a culture and these characters in very nuanced, very connected, contemporary, thoughtful ways. And I knew there was a lot of entertainment value and power in that, if we could get that right.
What’s it like to take on a real-life story, and make it true and authentic?
HOWARD: That’s where a lot of my experience came in handy. I’ve learned to trust the collaborative process in all of this. I’m not only doing my own research, seeing everything I can see, and reading everything I can read, but I was also able to engage with Rick Stanton, John Volanthen, Jason Mallinson, and Chris Jewell, who are the divers who actually executive the rescue. Also, I was able to deputize not only a couple of co-producers who could come in, who are producer / writers and a writer / director, and there was the cast. This story is very, very important to Thai culture, understandably so. It’s a story they should be incredibly proud of because of the way the Thai government and Thai leadership actually made this rescue possible. The more I learned about it on a very emotional level, I realized that the epicenter of this was the caves, the boys, the coach, and the intensity and focus of that rescue. That’s very cinematic, intense, and suspenseful, and I wanted to capture that.
There was also incredible involvement in other places. There were people taking real physical and emotional risks, as the stakes kept getting higher and higher. They were up on the mountain, trying to divert the water. They were trying to keep the system going. The parents were trying to do everything they could, on a spiritual and emotional level. The more I learned about the story, the more dimensional I felt it could be and the more entertaining I thought it could be. I also kept going back to the strength of William Nicholson’s original draft, which did a great job of distilling this story into something that was a movie that’s suspenseful. It had all of the things you’re looking for in a great movie story, and we could tell it with honesty and integrity. That was our goal, and everybody on the production felt that and shared it. It was one of those really joyous situations where you just knew. You did not have to an extreme effort from people, they were just giving it. What distinguishes it from other rescue films is the fact that people were doing what they were trained to do, but in this case, you had this tremendous group of volunteers, who did not have to be there, and yet they were, and they were making a huge difference.
What is something that really stuck with you, when it came to what you learned about this story?
HOWARD: It’s important to understand that, while volunteer divers who are expert cavers did tremendous work extricating the boys and the coach, the Thai Navy SEALs, who had begun the effort before the volunteers could get there, had imbedded with the boys to help them. survive and navigate. One of them was a doctor. So, as the rescue went through this gauntlet of three intense days, they were there, and they had been there many days prior to that. They insisted that they had to be the last ones out. They needed every child and every volunteer to be out before they would be out. That was their commitment. With the monsoon rains coming and the flooding intensifying, their journey out was the most precarious of all.
How did you recreate the caves and the dive sequences?
HOWARD: Rick, John and Jason were incredibly valuable because there’s not much video footage of that. There were some schematics that we were able to get. Nat Geo loaned them to us because Brian Grazer and I have done a lot of work with them, but they were schematics made of the cave when it was dry. The trick in condensing this to get a movie, and making it something visceral, entertaining, and suspenseful, is to find those key points and those breaking points that really were do-or-die, physically or emotionally. We went through the caves and the guys would just point it out and say, “This was particularly difficult. Here’s where a mishap happened. There was a surprise here. This is the way the current changed. This is how the visibility shifted. ” We just kept taking notes and building sequences around that. And then, through the research, I started learning more and more about what was going on, up on the mountain, with the village elders and the volunteers there, and that was another aspect of exploration.
That was something I did not know anything about, and with that water diversion program, people got injured. The stakes were just as high for them, as for anyone functioning around the cave. I thought it was very important to convey that, as well. And then, it was about trying to connect with the most relatable set of characters in the entire film, the parents. We all wonder what it would be like, to go through that. Last but not least, the northern dialect was a real challenge. I certainly can not determine the nuances, but the boys were from the north. That’s why we cast them. They weren’t professional actors, but they could ad-lib in the dialect. It’s not just an accent, it’s also phrasing. It was just vitally important that we tackle those things. The experience reminded me a little bit of working closely with the astronauts on Apollo 13. It’s all driven by my curiosity, to be honest. I do not go into this, knowing much about it, whether it’s space, Formula-1, math, or diving and cave rescues.
What impact do you hope this film will have on audiences?
HOWARD: Based on the screenings that we’ve had, 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. I’m very gratified by the response and by the support. We’re all just really grateful to have tackled the story with a point of view and a set of reasons, in that it hopefully does remind us of what is possible when we come together unified and work. I put on my script, “Anatomy of a Miracle.” As simple and as corny as that sounds, that’s what I was always trying to build, in the most granular and detailed way, but also to understand, in a very clear-eyed way, the price of that, and the emotional, career and physical risks involved in doing the right thing. Here’s an example of where it came together, and it worked. 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. I learned so much. I’m just grateful to have done it, and I’m excited to share the movie.
Thirteen Lives premieres on July 29. Check out the trailer below: