ZCZC
BFF-51
THAILAND-ACCIDENT-CAVE-MEDIA-FILM
Thai film company to retell cave boy saga
BANGKOK, Sept 11, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A Thai-based film company has joined
the scramble to retell the dramatic story of the 12 young footballers and
their coach who were freed from a flooded cave, one of the producers said
Tuesday.
Since the ‘Wild Boars’ team were extracted from Tham Luang cave in northern
Thailand two months ago, there has been a frenzy of media interest in the
feel-good tale that captivated the world for weeks.
Documentary makers and Hollywood producers have tussled to get films off
the ground, with journalists also spinning book deals from the real-life
rescue mission.
A Bangkok production company called De Warrenne Pictures are the latest to
agree financing to make their version called “The Cave” with shooting planned
for November.
“The project is already set,” producer Katrina Grose told AFP, of a movie
that will be directed by Tom Waller — a Bangkok-based filmmaker of mixed
Thai-Irish descent.
The operation to save the boys, who wandered into the cave after a football
training session and became stuck as floodwaters surged in, involved expert
cave divers from across the world.
They were found after 11 days huddled on a muddy ledge without food or
fresh water, floodwaters lapping ominously below them.
An ex-Thai Navy SEAL died in the run-up to the daring extraction of the
group, who were heavily sedated as they were carried, pulled and dragged free
from deep inside the cave.
Initially after their rescue officials imposed a blanket ban on coverage,
fearing for the boys’ mental health with the world’s media camped up in rural
Thailand.
But efforts to shield the team have crumbled with TV networks jostling for
interviews and the Thai junta organising a seemingly endless stream of media
events.
In one of the most bizarre, last Thursday, the boys were encouraged to
crawl through a mock-up tunnel in a recreated cave in a Bangkok megamall,
where a zone has been dedicated to the rescue.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1703 hrs