Sneak peek: 'The 33' digs into miracle rescue
Antonio Banderas recalls being swept up in the euphoria when 33 Chilean miners were miraculously saved after being trapped underground for 69 days following a massive mine collapse.
A worldwide audience monitored every development in the 2010 rescue with full coverage on CNN as Pope Benedict XVI joined the prayers. President Barack Obama called their improbable emergence a "thrilling moment," witnessed live by an estimated 1 billion people.
So when Banderas was asked to star in a film about the miners, known simply as "The 33," he wondered what direction the story would take.
"We all know the beginning and we know the end of this story," says Banderas. "What I discovered was another story, one not told. It's the story we tried to do here. We tried to put a magnifying glass on human behavior that comes out in situations like this, when death is right in front of you."
The upcoming film The 33 (opens Nov. 13, with the U.S. trailer out Wednesday), stars Banderas as the mine leader "Super" Mario Sepúlveda and shines a light on what happened 2,300 feet underground with the men seemingly hopelessly trapped.
For 17 days, there was no word from the miners, who strictly rationed their three days of emergency food and kept their spirits up in the face of growing hopelessness. Banderas dropped weight during the film shoot to mirror Sepúlveda's own weight loss below ground. The 54-year-old actor also welcomed signs of fatigue from the shoot to better look the part.
"When I saw in the mirror that my tummy was very reduced and the bags really growing under my eyes, I thought that I could pull this off," says Banderas.
When rescuers were able to drill to the miners to allow communication and supplies, the mining crew found they had turned into celebrities during the prolonged international effort to free them.
"They realized how their status changed in the exterior world. Many things started happening: book deals, rights for telling this story for money," says Banderas. "They started confronting each other in a way. They had to make peace in order to get out of there united."
Director Patricia Riggen cast a wide net for actors to play the Chilean miners, which ended up being an international team including Banderas (Spain); Lou Diamond Phillips (USA) as Luis Urzua, the last miner to leave the mine; Rodrigo Santoro (Brazil) as a government minister sent to oversee the operation; Juliette Binoche (France) as the sister of a miner; and Chilean-born NCIS star Cote de Pablo as a miner's wife.
Riggen says the Chilean people welcome the worldwide cast portraying this story of great national pride. The miners also "completely understood" why the tales of 33 were condensed into 10 major characters onscreen.
"We had to compress all that happened to them in an hour and a half," says Riggen. "They think it was very fair to what they lived."
Ultimately, the story told deals with 33 men having their humanity tested below ground while the world came together to save them above ground.
"This movie is about that humanity," says Riggen. "It shows what human beings can accomplish when we all work together. That's always very attractive to me as a filmmaker and that's why this touched everyone. This is an example to the world of how people should react in these circumstances."
