Obi-Wan Kenobi star was surprised by real-life story behind new movie

Obi-Wan Kenobi star Joel Edgerton has shared his surprise upon learning the full story of the real-life drama that inspired his upcoming movie Thirteen Lives.

The Ron Howard-directed project, which lands on Prime Video on August 5, tells the incredible true story of the cave rescue of a Thai soccer team that gripped the world in 2018.

Speaking to Digital Spy and other media at the Thirteen Lives press conference, Edgerton – who plays diver Richard Harris – opened up about the "shocking and surprising" rescue effort that brought together the expertise of more than 10,000 people.

"I thought I knew a lot about the story and then once I got involved in the project, there were things that were not really available to the public that had become available to the public afterwards that were very surprising to me," the actor explained.

Related: First trailer for Star Wars and The Batman stars' new movie Thirteen Lives

"There were elements to the rescue that I think were quite shocking and surprising to people, particularly the way that the children were anesthetised to be taken out of the caves."

Discussing his character Richard Harris, who goes by the name Harry, Edgerton admitted that he was "humbled and impressed" by his story.

"I have played real people before, but it's rare being that humbled and impressed because he's such an impressive person, a real national hero in Australia as well," he said.

"Harry, until the first day of the rescue and even into the second and third day, thought that he was participating potentially in the death of children."

Revealing the "emotional" struggle of Harry and the other divers, Joel continued: "It went against everything that he really believed in, except that he knew that if he didn't give it a try, that the chances were that all the kids would perish anyway.

"The fact that Harry was willing to take that risk and was successful in doing it, I found it incredibly emotional."

As well as recreating a story that was followed across the world, Thirteen Lives will deliver "so many more details" than the original news reports shared.

"We all watched it on the news and the great chance of this film is you get to see the points of view of so many different people that all participated and joined together to help in the rescue," Edgerton explained.

"You learn so many more details than maybe were evident in that initial news push."

Thirteen Lives will be released in select cinemas on July 29 and on Prime Video on August 5.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is streaming on Disney+. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the entire Skywalker Saga are available on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K now, as well as on Disney+.

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Rianne Houghton

Rianne Houghton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy.

Ian Sandwell

Movies Editor, Digital Spy  Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor.  Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world.   After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.