Four divers who took part in the rescue of 12 Thai schoolboys and their football coach after they were trapped in a cave will play themselves in one of several films positioning themselves as the definitive account of the event that attracted worldwide attention last summer.
Dive instructors Erik Brown from Canada, and Mikko Paasi from Finland, Belgian rescue diver Jim Warny and Chinese cave diving instructor Tan Xiaolong will all appear in The Cave, one of half a dozen film and documentary projects dedicated to the 2018 rescue operation from the Tham Luang cave.
The independent film will be directed by Thai-Irish director Tom Waller, who said it will be “authentic” because it’s told from the point of view of “the unsung heroes” and will feature Chinese dialects, Thai, and English.
“I wanted the film to be an honest portrayal of the events that took place at the Tham Luang cave, and decided to go for a more authentic approach, taking the story from the point of view of some of the unsung heroes who took part in the rescue,” Waller said.
“Like the rescue itself, I wanted the cast to be made up of both local and international characters, speaking in their own tongue.”
Waller has previously spoken about the difficulty of making the film in Thailand, claiming that officials who were involved in the rescue have been reluctant to speak with him.
“You can get accurate information from the foreign participants because they’re not controlled by the Thai government,” he added. “That’s really where my story comes in. I’ve got firsthand information from a lot of the unsung heroes of the rescue, so my film really concentrates on their untold stories.”
In April, Netflix confirmed that Crazy Rich Asians’ Jon M Chu and the Thai director Nattawut ‘Baz’ Poonpiriya will co-direct its project – which could be a miniseries or a film – with Chu claiming it will be a “unique multilingual format” and show how “tragic human drama transformed into a beautiful, inspirational story of human beings saving other human beings”.
The question of whether Hollywood or local Thai filmmakers should tackle the retelling of the rescue has consistently come up when new films are announced, with some filmmakers calling for action to stop a “whitewashed” version of the event from being made.
“I refuse to let Hollywood #whitewashout the Thai Cave rescue story!” Chu tweeted. “No way. Not on our watch. That won’t happen or we’ll give them hell.”
Chu also claimed the involvement of Poonpiriya was vital because he understood “the nuances and details of the local community in which this story unfolds”.
Brown and Paasi were part of the team that rescued the final group of boys from the cave after the members of the Wild Boar football team were taught to breathe using scuba masks and how to move through challenging narrow tunnels.
Warny was one of the team who brought out Ekapol Chantawong, the boys’ football coach who will be played by Thai film star Ekawat Niratvorapanya in The Cave; while Xiaolong was part of the team who prepared for the three rescue dives that would eventually free the trapped boys in July 2018.
The Cave, which is released later this year, will compete with a film by Pure Flix, a Christian production outfit. A documentary by National Geographic about the rescue is also planned and there’s also a Universal film, which was announced after the studio secured the life rights for Chantawong, Dr Richard Harris and Dr Craig Challen, who played a key role in the rescue.
Shortly after the rescue, Thailand’s culture minister, Vira Rojpojchanarat announced the formation of a special committee to oversee the accuracy of the films and ensure minimal environmental impact.
