Thai Cave Rescue Movie ‘The Cave’ To Be Directed By Tom Waller
The Cave,the first of at least six Thai cave rescue movies, is heading to production with half-Thai filmmakerTom Wallerset to direct.
The package was a hot property at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was unveiled for buyers looking to distribute the film based on the inspirational real-life story of 12 young soccer players trapped in a cave.
Deadlinereports that Tom Waller is attached to write and direct an adaptation of the Thai cave rescue calledThe Cave.
The film will adapt the harrowing true story of 12 boys between the ages of 11-16 and their soccer coach who entered the Tham Luang cave in Thailand and became trapped after heavy rains flooded the cave. The world watched with bated breath for 18 days as efforts to save the team proved extremely difficult, and one rescuer — a former Thai Navy SEAL — died of asphyxiation. However, thanks to a rescue team of thirteen international cave divers and five Thai Navy SEALs, they were finally rescued.
The rescue proved to be such an inspirational story, aided by the 24/7 media coverage from around the globe, that Hollywood immediately jumped at the chance to adapt it — insix different projects.One of which was a project byCrazy Rich Asiansdirector Jon M. Chu, who begandeveloping his versionin order to prevent efforts to whitewash the story.
But fears at whitewashing can likely be alleviated with Waller’sThe Cave. Waller is a half-Thai, half-British filmmaker born in Bangkok whose last few films,The Last ExecutionerandMindfulness and Murder, were both Thai productions that won numerous awards.The Cavewill also be a Thai production produced by Thailand-based De Warrenne Pictures. The drama will begin shooting this November, Deadline reports.
International sales will be handled by Wild Bunch and IMR, which introduced the project the buyers at TIFF. There’s no news yet on whether a distributor has picked upThe Caveyet.
