“Solo: A Star Wars Story” director Ron Howard and “Gladiator” scribe William Nicholson are teaming for the new drama “Thirteen Lives” which deals with the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue.
The story follows the boys soccer team from Thailand who became trapped in a cave for more than two weeks when heavy rains partially flooded the cave, blocking their way out.
All twelve of the boys were rescued along with their 25-year-old coach, though the effort claimed the life of a retired Thai Navy SEAL, Saman Kunan, who ran out of air while saving the kids. Another rescue diver died a year and a half later as a result of a blood infection contracted during the rescue.
Nicholson will pen the screenplay which is said to have a ‘high-stakes drama’ with a tight suspensful tone akin to Howard’s “Apollo 13”.
There are several rival projects in the works including Jon M. Chu’s Netflix miniseries, a film by the team behind “Free Solo” who are making a narrative film for Universal, and “Touching the Void” helmer Kevin MacDonald is prepping a NatGeo documentary about it.
Source: Collider
