Alongside Viggo Mortensen and Joel Edgerton, Farrell takes the lead in film inspired by a real-life rescue mission in the Thum Luang caves in Thailand.

The trailer for Colin Farrell’s new film Thirteen Lives, based on the true story of cave diver Richard Staunton’s rescue mission to save 13 people trapped in a Thai cave, has just dropped.

Slated for release in July, the film boasts an impressive cast of Viggo Mortenson (The Fellowship of the Ring, Captain Fantastic), Joel Edgerton (It Comes at Night, Boy Erased) and Ireland’s very own Colin Farrell (Intermission, The Killing of a Sacred Deer). From directing legend Ron Howard and a script from William Nicholson, the trailer teases a gripping, if not claustrophobic, survival flick.

“Takes a certain mindset for the deep cave diving. You have to be a bit…nuts.”

Farrell initially struggled in preparation for the role, revealing last minute to director Ron Howard that he struggled with his fear of tight spaces.

“I’m claustrophobic so I struggled pretty much every day but I still vividly remember the last dive was one of my last days and I loved this experience very, very much but my God I was happy to get out of that,” he told the Press Association.

The real-life rescue mission made international headlines in 2018 as the diving team found themselves in a race against time to save the team from the flooding caves of Tham Luang during an unexpected rainstorm.

Initially set for release in April of this year, the release date was pushed back in lieu of Sony Pictures’ buyout of MGM. The film is now expected to hit theatres on 29 July with a later release on Amazon Prime on 5 August.

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