LOS ANGELES: It was hailed as the ultimate tale of triumph against the odds, a tribute to human fortitude that climaxed with a miraculous rescue that played out live on TV screens across the globe. But if you thought that the drama of the 33 trapped Chilean miners had safely run its course, think again.
“Los 33” now look set for a new lease of life, courtesy of a big-budget Hollywood motion picture. Reports from Chile suggest that Brad Pitt is in pole position to oversee the survivors’ trip from the shadows to the cinema.
The Santiago-based newspaper El Mercurio claims that Pitt’s production company, Plan B, has made a multimillion-dollar offer to secure the exclusive screen rights to the survivors’ tale.
According to Edgardo Reinoso, the lawyer representing the miners’ interests, several of the rescued men may also be given supporting roles in the picture. Reinoso added that the miners plan to set up a holding company to ensure that all proceeds from the sale of their story are distributed evenly between them.
In recent years, Pitt’s company has produced the likes of ‘Kick-Ass’, ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ and the fact-based drama ‘A Mighty Heart’, which focused on the kidnap and murder of the US journalist Daniel Pearl. Industry experts concede that the ‘Los 33’ story carries many of the hallmarks of a hit Hollywood movie.
“It’s a classic human story with a happy ending, so that bodes well,” said Mike Goodridge, editor of the trade magazine Screen International. “But it’s not necessarily a box-office slam-dunk. You’ve got to face the fact that this is a story that’s set in Chile and will presumably feature an all-Latin cast.
It all depends what price they choose to make it for. If it’s a big Hollywood movie, then you’re looking at a budget of about $100m, in which case you need an A-list cast and you have to make it in English. But if you go for authenticity, you need to shoot it in Spanish. That’s going to dramatically reduce your audience.
All the evidence suggests you can’t make a financially successful Hollywood movie in Spanish. Steven Soderbergh tried it with his Che Guevara biopic, and it just doesn’t work.” The workers at the San Jose copper-gold mine were trapped 700 metres below ground following a rock fall in August. After a 69-day ordeal, all 33 were successfully winched to safety on 13 October, watched by an estimated global audience of 1 billion.
In the wake of the rescue, the miners have been asked to endorse everything from chocolate bars to vitamin pills, with their lawyers claiming to be fielding up to 10 offers a day.
