Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1480624
brought out required close attention to detail. Thankfully, the film had the full support of a very experienced dive team, as well as the real divers Rick Stanton, Jason Mallinson and John Volanthen, who were readily available to offer precise details for masks, fins, belts, tanks and other dive gear. Both Art Director Brandt Gordon and I became scuba certified while making the film, which helped our perspective toward the whole process. Toward the end of filming, when it became clear that the crew was not going to be able to go to Thailand due to increased COVID cases, we found a beautiful location in the Numinbah Valley to tell the story of the water diversion efforts that greatly contributed to the rescue. Lek and Emma created damming and sandbagging techniques to teach the extras to help simplify the story of how the water was being diverted from the cave. We built a small workman's hut on the same site where the local rice farmers gathered to be asked to flood their fields. The visual effects team then added in the rice fields and flooding in post-production. In the end, as COVID cases began to recede, Ron was able to direct, via Zoom, a small Thai team led by Sayombhu to get some wonderful shots of the mountain, as well as beautiful wide shots of the kids on their bikes heading toward the cave. All of this was essential to selling the beauty and power of Tham Luang, and grounding a seamlessly authentic Thai story that was entirely fabricated in Australia. ADG A. DIVERS' CAMP. PRODUCTION STILL. B. RON HOWARD AND COLIN FARRELL REHEARSING IN CHAMBER 3. C. THAI FAMILY HOUSE. BUILT SET. SET PHOTO. D. FLOODED RICE FIELD, ILLUSTRATION OVER PRODUCTION STILL. E. WATER DIVERSION. PRODUCTION STILL. F. CHAMBER 1 TUNNEL. PRODUCTION STILL. A B