Hollywood producer Mike Medavoy will turn the epic story of the 33 men trapped last year deep inside a Chilean mine for 69 days into a movie, representatives for the miners said Tuesday.
The miners signed an agreement with Medavoy — the man behind such hits as “Black Swan” and “Shutter Island” — to produce “the only official and authorized film on the accident and rescue,” read a statement from the law office representing the rescued workers. Medavoy, president and chief executive of Phoenix Pictures, said he was captivated by the story of the miners.
“In his heart, this is a story of the triumph of human spirit and a homage to the courage and perseverance of the Chilean people. I cannot think of a better story to film,” read a statement from Medavoy included in the statement from the law office.
Medavoy, who has worked in Hollywood since the 1960s, was born in China and spent 10 years as a youth in Chile. Juan Illanes, one of the rescued miners, said the movie will include previously unpublished information.
Puerto Rican screenwriter Jose Rivera, who won a 2005 Oscar for his work on the “Motorcycle Diaries” — a film about the young Che Guevara — will write the script.
The movie will be based on a book being written by Pulitzer-prize winning Los Angeles Times reporter Hector Tobar based on notes taken by Victor Segovia, one of the trapped miners. While the names of the movie’s director and main actors have not been announced, production is scheduled to begin in 2012.
The miners were trapped on August 5, and on October 13 were rescued in a dramatic operation followed on live television by millions of people around the world.