Viggo Mortensen 'Couldn't Breathe' While Filming Underwater Scenes For 'Thirteen Lives'

Viggo Mortensen implemented a 'Dangerous Method' on the set of Ron Howard's 'Thirteen Lives'

Three-time Oscar-nominated actor recalled barely being able to breathe while filming 'Thirteen Lives', telling the story of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue of 12 youngsters footballers and their assistant coach who were trapped after a rain storm. Mortensen portrays real-life hero Richard Stanton, with Colin Farrell as fellow rescue diver John Volanthen. Joel Edgerton, Tom Bateman and Paul Gleeson also star in the film, which hits theaters July 29 before launching worldwide on Prime Video on August 5.

"All of a sudden, I couldn't breathe," Mortensen said. “It seemed long, but it was only a matter of seconds. I panicked."

At this point, Mortensen recalled Stanton's training to switch from the mouthpiece to the oxygen tank and to breathe using the second tank. "It's not that complicated," added Mortensen. "But right now it's hard to think clearly."

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The cast of 'Thirteen Lives' trained with real divers to accurately portray the rescue mission that found all 13 people alive approximately 2.5 miles from the cave entrance after surviving for 18 days without rescue. The rescue involved over 10,000 people from around the world and took two days to get all the boys out of the flooded cave.

Director/producer Howard led his team to recreate the caves, reminiscent of the true analog fires of "Backdraft" and the weightless filming of "Apollo 13".

"It was another one of those kinds of physical filmmaking challenges," Howard told The Hollywood Reporter. "It was definitely an achievement."

IndieWire's David Ehrlich wrote in his C+ review of "Thirteen Lives" that the film was "at its best when it navigated the narrow gulf between a miracle and a fiasco and saved a life from there." terminate".

Ehlrich continued, "The more practical aspects aren't as well articulated. While the rescue itself is shot with a straightforward intensity that emphasizes the risk involved, and the immersive sound design helps to conveying the alien hostility of Earth's deadliest environments, Howard is sometimes reluctant to let his audience share in the panic-inducing claustrophobia that has made it so difficult to extract children from this cave."

Yet "Thirteen Lives" wasn't the only horrifying underwater experience for Mortensen. While filming "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" in 2002, the actor was dragged to the bottom of a river.

"I remember thinking, 'This is it. This is the end,'" he said. Mortensen also "barely survived" a sailing trip from England to Denmark in the 1970s after his "little canoe" capsized.

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