Pattrakorn Tungsupakul on ‘Thirteen Lives’ and the Rescue

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When Ron Howard got down to retell the story of the dramatic 2018 rescue of a younger soccer group from a flooded collapse northern Thailand, he knew he must grapple with underwater pictures, hordes of extras and a handful of surly protagonists within the type of the British divers who efficiently saved the boys by extraordinary strategies. However he additionally knew that, as an American director tackling a particularly Thai story, authenticity could be essential — and that any deviation from verisimilitude would come at his peril.

So for the brand new movie, “13 Lives,” which debuts Friday on Prime Video, Howard and his producing accomplice, Brian Grazer, employed the Thai cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (“Name Me by Your Title”), employed the producers Raymond Phathanavirangoon and Vorakorn Ruetaivanichkul, and relied on actors from the area to function his guides.

One such actor Howard got here to belief was the 33-year-old Pattrakorn Tungsupakul, a petite tv star from northern Thailand who performs Buahom, a single mom compelled to attend helplessly on the entrance to the cave for an excruciating 17 days. Timid and afraid for her son, Tungsupakul’s character serves because the movie’s emotional middle.

The entire expertise was refreshing — and unusual — for an actress who has spent near a decade working in Thai tv, an setting that Tungsupakul says has not at all times been very collaborative or encouraging.

“Ron, he at all times requested me, ‘What do you wish to do?’ ‘What do you wish to say?’ And he listened,” she mentioned in an interview in Los Angeles, the place she was accompanied by her older sister, Rugeradh Tungsupakul, a lawyer who served as her interpreter. “As a result of he trusted me a lot, I needed to put together myself and work tougher. I needed to carry my expertise to this mission.”

She may be the movie’s secret weapon.

“She’s probably the most broadly relatable particular person within the movie,” mentioned Howard, who in contrast Tungsupakul’s character’s seemingly infinite wait outdoors the cave to being caught within the ready room whereas your little one is in surgical procedure — if the process lasted 17 days. “Dramatically, she’s probably the most heartbreaking.”

Tungsupakul hails from Chiang Mai, a metropolis not removed from the Tham Luang Cave the place the boys have been trapped. Howard was initially drawn to Tungsupakul for her visceral connection to the character, however when he found she was additionally from the realm and wouldn’t must be taught the very particular dialect, he knew she was the fitting lady for the job.

Tungsupakul, who goes by the nickname Ploy, grew to become an integral a part of the manufacturing group. She improvised traces, researched particular cultures and traditions of her hometown, chosen her personal wardrobe and even urged plot factors that made it into the movie.

Getting particulars proper was particularly difficult as a result of Covid restrictions prevented Howard from coming into Thailand in any respect. As an alternative “13 Lives” was shot in Queensland, Australia, and Howard remotely oversaw a movie crew taking pictures exteriors in Thailand.

“That was a problem,” Howard mentioned in an interview. “And there’s actually the danger of underachieving in that manner.”

For the reason that producers didn’t have life rights to the boys or their households, Tungsupakul wasn’t capable of meet with any of the survivors or their dad and mom. As an alternative, she studied information footage of the rescue, significantly the reactions of the dad and mom when journalists peppered them with questions every day. “The reporters saved asking ‘How do you’re feeling?’ ‘How do you’re feeling?’ ‘You should be unhappy,’” she mentioned. “It was horrible. However for me, it was good as a result of I’ve to do analysis, and I wish to see the true reactions.”

Tungsupakul’s character is a poor working mom who carries super guilt for not being dwelling sufficient for her son. She can also be stateless, a latest immigrant from Myanmar who isn’t sure her little one shall be rescued together with the others as a result of she doesn’t have the right citizenship.

Her character’s arc entails discovering her voice within the quiet moments: She challenges the governor straight (“How are you going to perceive? Is your individual son going to die?”) — a second very uncharacteristic for a tradition predicated on politeness and respect. In a single scene, she asks a well-known native monk to bless a handful of conventional northern Thai bracelets. She then provides the bracelets to the divers (performed by Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen, amongst others) earlier than they plunge again into the depths.

Tungsupakul introduced the thought of the bracelets to the manufacturing as one other instance of listening to the native customs. “I requested my buddy who research northern tradition at Chiang Mai College, and he mentioned this can be a must-have merchandise,” she mentioned. “It’s a signature of passing good luck to an individual, giving him a blessing that when you’re happening a harmful mission, you can be protected.”

Tungsupakul can also be considered one of a handful of feminine characters in a male-dominated solid — an element that Ruetaivanichkul, one of many producers, mentioned was essential to creating steadiness throughout the manufacturing, which is considered one of a spate of display tasks, together with the 2021 documentary “The Rescue,” in regards to the mammoth effort to save lots of the stranded soccer group and its coach. (The producer P.J. van Sandwijk labored on each “13 Lives” and “The Rescue.”)

“She introduces femininity and the mushy facet of vitality,” Ruetaivanichkul mentioned. “She reveals the empathy throughout the group. That’s what Ron emphasised from the very starting, as a result of in any other case it’s not going to be completely different from the story within the documentaries that target the rescuers. We are attempting to do the world-building of Thai tradition.”

Tungsupakul and her sister have been raised by dad and mom who ran a small enterprise buying and selling development supplies. She graduated from regulation faculty, however as an alternative determined to maneuver to Bangkok to pursue a profession in performing. Early success on a 2013 collection wherein she performed a rural woman compelled to maneuver to Bangkok after her father is murdered made her a star in Thailand. When requested if she was well-known, Tungsupakul demurred with a quiet “Yeah,” earlier than including, “But when I say ‘sure’ then possibly ‘Oh, I’m an excessive amount of.’”

“13 Lives” is her first worldwide manufacturing, one she discovered difficult when it got here to modulating her feelings. She remembers Howard telling her at one level, “‘Ploy, on this scene, please don’t cry. No extra tears,’” she mentioned with fun. The tears got here so simply as a result of the world the manufacturing group had recreated in Australia felt so near dwelling. Tungsupakul was in Bangkok when the rescue was underway, however she remembers being glued to the tv, watching the story unfold, constructive that no little one was going to outlive.

“I instructed Ron, there was simply no hope,” she mentioned. “It’s desolate. They haven’t any mild. It’s moist. Scientists say folks can starve inside three days. There are simply some ways to die.”

On the time of the interview in July, Tungsupakul had but to observe the film with a Thai viewers, although she had considered the hyperlink she was despatched seven occasions. Her sister, for one, is a fan. “I really feel proud,” mentioned Rugeradh Tungsupakul, who goes by Waen. “I understand how onerous it’s been for her to get the place she is at the moment.”

Tungsupakul’s largest remorse is that her father isn’t alive to witness her success. He died earlier than her first tv present ran and had not been pleased when she deserted regulation for the unpredictable lifetime of an actress.

“If there may be any want that I might make,” she mentioned, “I need Prime Video to be obtainable the place he’s now in order that he can watch me in ‘13 Lives,’ too.”

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