‘Thirteen Lives’ Production Designer Molly Hughes On Recreating A Treacherous Flooded Cave System
For Thirteen Lives, production designer Molly Hughes was tasked with building a set based on the Tham Luang cave system in Thailand. The challenge was creating a flooded cave system tight enough to be realistic, but large enough to fit the actors and cameras. Directed by Ron Howard, the film is based on the true story of the Thai soccer team trapped in a flooded cave, and the brave volunteer rescue divers who saved them. Although the event was highly documented, there was little documentation of the cave system, so Hughes instead focused on what would work best for the story. Early on in the production, the actors decided that they wanted to do the dives instead of stunt doubles.