Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (called “Sayo”) has distinguished himself over the past two decades as the prized cinematographer to directors Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me By Your Name,” “Suspiria”) and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (a Palme d’Or winner in Cannes “Uncle Boonmee who can remember his past lives”).
And while the works of these filmmakers are famous for their beautiful evocations of nature, be it a sun-dappled field or a dense, mist-shrouded jungle, Mukdeeprom faced one of the greatest challenges of his career with “Thirteen Lives,” his first collaborations with the Oscar winner. Ron Howard.
Dramatizing the implausible 2018 story of 12 boys and their soccer coach who were trapped deep in a flooded cave, “Thirteen Lives” is set entirely in Mukdeeprom’s native Thailand, though the movie was actually filmed, apart from a few opening shots, on sets created on Australia’s Gold Coast.
“Actually, it was all a set that had been built for us,” Mukdeeprom told TheWrap. “Which was an amazing thing to see. So we set the mood and put all of our actors as extras in it. It was all a controlled situation, including the rain, which was all done with machines. At first, I told my camera crew to expect to get really wet. We needed the feeling that we were really in the rain, since it was the rain that caused the cave to flood.”
The film depicts the massive effort that was organized to rescue the boys and their trainer. As in real life events, the rescue was greatly aided by British cave divers, optimistic John Volanthen (Colin Farrell) and taciturn Richard Stanton (Viggo Mortensen), along with an Australian anesthesiologist (Joel Edgerton). . (If he isn’t familiar with the real story, he won’t want to know why an anesthesiologist was needed.)
Volanthen and Stanton discovered the children alive, nine days after they entered the cave. For the numerous scenes of the two divers slipping through small, dark passageways, both Farrell and Mortensen became SCUBA certified in order to perform during the underwater scenes.
We asked Mukdeeprom if he did the same. “No, no, no, no, no,” he said, smiling and waving. “When I was younger, I worked as an underwater camera assistant, but I gave it up for 30 years. We have camera operators who were able to do those things.”
However, there were certain shots in the film during which the space in the cave was so tight that another camera operator could not enter the scene. “Then the actors operated the camera as if they were in space,” Mukdeeprom said. “This happened many times. The spaces were small enough that we could only fit one or two people inside.”
The cinematographer mentioned that he would talk to Farrell and Mortensen about what the job required. “Mostly I told them simple things, like too much to the left, too much to the right,” he said. “We all had the feeling that the camera should not exist in the film. We wanted to let the action drive the story, but not the camera, so I would tell you that. For the most part, we had some fun conversations with each other every day, just like colleagues do. Making movies is a long process.”
Mukdeeprom also praised Howard for the professional relationship the director fostered. “Ron is a great storyteller but at the same time he is a great leader. He is like a chef. He listens to everyone on set to make the best movie. And he loves to talk about movies, which is always a great conversation.”
After completing his work on “Thirteen Lives,” Mukdeeprom reunited with Guadagnino for the Italian director’s next film, “Challengers,” starring Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor. “We’ve already finished shooting and color correcting the film,” he said. “But I don’t know when it will come out. I hope soon.”
As a Thai national, Mukdeeprom felt privileged to photograph such an inspiring story in the country’s recent history. “As it happened in the country where I live, the emotional effect was quite large,” he said. “In life, hardworking people can do many things that seem like a miracle.”
He added: “Things that look like a miracle are often made by human hands.” Farrell and Mortensen would probably agree.
“Thirteen Lives” is available to stream on Amazon Prime.