Thirteen Lives star, Viggo Mortensen, 63, revealed about his harrowing experience playing real-life hero "Rick Stanton" in director Ron Howard's new movie chronicling the dramatic "2018 Tham Luang cave rescue".
Mortensen need to learn to dive in order to play real role in film which demands several complicated underwater sequences in which his character and other cave divers risk their lives to save 12 members of a soccer team trapped inside a flooded cave after venturing inside to explore.
Stanton, as a technical advisor during the production of the film sharing his experiences with Mortensen. He offered guidance and, it turns out, life-saving advice to the actors.
At one point while making the movie, Mortensen was diving in one of the Australian sets built to look like the Thai cave. When he wriggled through a narrow spot, the valve of one of his oxygen tanks switched off, a scenario not uncommon in those kinds of conditions.
Mortensen recalls,
"All of a sudden I couldn't breathe, It seemed like a long time, but it was only a matter of seconds. I panicked."
"It's not that complicated. But at the moment, it's hard to think clearly,"
Thirteen Lives is playing in select theaters beginning July 29 and streaming on Prime Video Aug. 5.
