Hard to believe that last month marked the two-year anniversary of the mine collapse that trapped 33 Chilean miners for more than 60 days. Few events captured the world's attention quite like it, and the extraction itself saw more than 1 billion people watching it on television. And with so many people captivated, the miners had barely brushed the dust off their suits before a movie deal was in the works.
Now the film, which we previously learned would be titled The 33, has taken a significant step forward as Patricia Riggen has come aboard as director. Riggen made her big splash a few years ago with the excellent Mexican drama, Under the Same Moon, which had the best opening for a Spanish-language film in U.S. history. She recently directed Eva Mendes in the indie drama, Girl in Progress, which also performed well in limited release.
Riggen is currently in Chile meeting with the miners, as the script was written with their collaboration. Jose Rivera(The Motorcycle Diaries) was previously announced as writer, but it's unclear if that's still the case. He's not mentioned in today's report, so it's possible he dropped out along the way. The film is expected to give us some insight on things that were never reported on, such as the miners' first 17 days before contact could be established. They had apparently made a "pact of silence" in regards to those early days, a pact which could only be broken by the promise of big fat paychecks. They agreed long ago that the proceeds from the sale of their story would be split amongst them, so no single individual could capitalize on it. Casting is currently underway with plans for production to kick off in Chile early next year. It'll be interesting to see how The 33 plays worldwide, and what kind of approach they take in finding stars for it. Will they aim for a big name South American actor to be the face of it? Or avoid distraction by targeting lesser known stars?
