One of the great stories of our time' Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Oscar-winning co-director of Free Solo Waters were so high that divers – and the boys - were at risk of crashing their heads in the cave roof.

How preposterous was it that there was a 57-year-old man flown out from England to take part in this rescue. It does seem a bit far-fetched.” Mortensen first learned about Stanton and his heroism when the rest of us did, glued to his television set watching the rescue unfold in 2018. When he first read the script, he was eager to portray a complex, brash man at the center of such an astonishing endeavor. And Mortensen knows how to fully commit to truthful portrayals of his characters. To become a Russian mobster in David Cronenberg’s 2007 film Eastern Promises, he traveled to Russia to read Russian novels and stayed in prison-gang-tattoo make-up while on set in London (and while frequenting a neighboring Russian restaurant, which, of course, completely freaked out all the diners). He got his open water scuba diving certification because of a single underwater scene in G.I. Jane, which eventually ended up on the cutting room floor. And he studied sword fighting so intently for The Lord of the Rings that legendary stunt coordinator (and former Olympic fencer) Bob Anderson said he was the best swordsmen he’d ever trained. Each chapter of Thirteen Lessons that Saved Thirteen Lives tells one part of the edge-of-your-seat mission from Tham Luang but also imparts a life lesson, gleaned from John’s previous rescues and record-breaking cave dives, that can be applied to everyday obstacles and challenges. I’m very proud of the fact that I was partly responsible for his – you know – his life, in a way,” Stanton said of Samon, according to ABC. “And to see him make the most of the opportunities he’s had.”The world held its breath in 2018 when the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach went missing deep underground in the Tham Luang cave complex in northern Thailand. They had been stranded by sudden, continuous monsoon rains while exploring the caves after practice. In the aftermath, many learned that Samon was one of the few boys on the Wild Boars who could speak English. Teammates also recounted how he emerged as a leader among them in the days that their fates hung in the balance. In a heartbreaking statement to i, he said: “As a personal recollection it was Dom whose unconscious body I swam with as I escorted him to safety on the second day of the rescue mission. What I heard about his work ethic – and who he was in the cave, and who he was before the cave and after, I knew that he was going to be just fine here,” Danforth said to ABC.

Elon’s engineers must have known it was not fit for purpose. I spoke to Elon on the phone and while I didn’t hang up on him, I told him, ‘I’ve got to go,’ which I don’t think he’s used to.” A definitive view of the rescue. You probably won't read a better-written book about diving this year. I just had to get to the end' DIVER MAGAZINE Stanton, a firefighter from Coventry who has earned a reputation as one of Britain’s top cave divers, was among those who went to the cave. He soon led a team which went on a mission to go inside the cave to explore it for signs of the Wild Boars.

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Samon later received a full scholarship from the Masters School to study there and he became the captain of its soccer team. With a team of divers relaying tanks of oxygen to colleagues deeper in the cave system, the rescue began on July 8 and would take two days. Thailand, July 2018. Twelve boys and their football coach vanish into Tham Luang caves just as the monsoon rains hit. A mile from the surface they are trapped by rising flood waters. All attempts to reach them fail. When it came time to film, Stanton was on set as technical advisor, working with designers, cinematographers, and the film’s dive supervisor, Andrew Allen, to ensure the cave and the rescue were depicted as accurately as if it had been filmed in Tham Luang (which wasn’t possible due to the pandemic). Though the set had to accommodate space for underwater cinematographers, director Ron Howard and his crew perfectly recreated the cave sections Stanton and his fellow rescuers said were the most difficult. Even the unshakable Stanton was in awe of the movie-making magic. “That is their craft, to be able to mimic what they see with uncanny accuracy,” he tells me. “The diving scenes, they do look like professional cave divers.”