Ron Howard thinks THIS actor is Thirteen Lives’ ‘heartbreaking’ element

Straight from the house of cult classics like A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code, Amazon Prime Video’s survival series Thirteen Lives has a lot of intense moments to offer to the audience. But one revelation that has left everyone gasping for breath is about an actor who, the director feels, is the "secret weapon" of the show.

Director Ron Howard’s latest is a terrifying but accurate depiction of the flooded Thai Luang Cave in 2018, told from the standpoint of the Thai soccer team, which was trapped in the cave for almost three weeks.

Howard dealt with the re-telling of the tragedy with the utmost sensitivity towards the Thai people and their culture.

Actor Pattrakorn Tungsupakul, who was from around the area and was hired by the maker to lend authenticity to the script, said Howard always let her decide "what she wanted to do or say".

In a statement, she said, "Because he trusted me so much, I had to prepare myself and work harder."

Although the actor couldn’t meet any of the survivors in person, she thinks it was not really a bad thing as she did not have to deal with the heartbreak and had to rely on her own research instead.

Since she is the closest to the story, Howard compared her role to that of a mother whose child is undergoing surgery. "She’s the most broadly relatable person in the film. Dramatically, she’s the most heartbreaking," he pointed out.

Tungsupakul got emotional about her father, who is not around to watch her tell the story of their land in an international project.

For the unversed, Thirteen Lives is a survival drama streaming on Amazon Prime Video. It has Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton, Tom Bateman, Sukollawat Kanarot, Thiraphat Sajakul, Sahajak Boonthanakit, and Vithaya Pansringarm Nophand Boonyai, along with Paul Gleeson, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, U Gambira, and Teeradon Supapunpinyo playing central characters in the show.