About ten minutes in to Thirteen Lives, Boy came in and asked me whether it was any good. I said: ‘Well, it’s quite interesting, actually. I think they’ve got the actual cave divers playing themselves, so the acting is really dull and uncharismatic and a bit unconvincing but at the same time it gives the drama a sort of echt documentary feel…’
Boy, peering at screen: ‘But that’s Viggo Mortensen. You know, Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. And Colin Farrell, who you liked in In Bruges.’
Me: ‘Oh.’
Does your main duty lie with the drama or with the truth? Director Ron Howard has opted for the latter
What I still can’t work out is whether my gut response reflects well or badly on the finished product. If you’re making a movie about a real-life event such as the rescue of 12 boys and their football coach from a flooded cave system in Thailand in 2018, does your main duty lie with the drama or with the truth?
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David Butterfield
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Director Ron Howard has opted for the latter, with mixed results.
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