The blockbuster mine rescue

It took 21 years for Parrados story to be told by Hollywood. For the miners,the speculation about movie rights began while they were still trapped underground. Movieline.com proposed several suitable directors,including Ron Howard ,Danny Boyle and Kathryn Bigelow . Whom to star? How about Javier Bardem or Gael Garcia Bernal or Benicio del Toro?

For better or worse,the miners story now becomes one of calculation,of who gets paid,and who controls the manipulation of the story in the popular culture. The story will pass onto Hollywood,which will try to create artor at least a summer blockbusterout of real life. News reports suggested that the men,even before being rescued,had agreed to share in any possible Hollywood gold.

Some might like the exposure,some might not, said Parrado. Everyone will behave differently.

Movie producers have their own reputations to protect. I think dealing with Hollywood for any normal person is scary, said Will Jimeno,a retired police officer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who was buried during 9/11 and whose story was told in the 2006 Oliver Stone film,World Trade Center. Jimeno and another officer,Sgt. John McLoughlin,received about $200,000 each for their storiesnot big money by Hollywood standards.

Hollywood came to us, said Jimeno,who said he cried as he watched the miners being rescued. He advised the miners to trust their instincts in choosing whom,among the many that will come their way,to do business with.

Charles Randolph,a screenwriter whose credits include The Interpreter and The Life of David Gale,said the big Hollywood studios were likely to waitperhaps for a definitive book by a big-name author and not join in the initial rush to tell the story. The scrum on the ground will not be the major players, said Randolph. Years will go by before theres a big Hollywood movie.

Even without cooperation,there is nothing to stop a producer from simply using the story to make a movie. The event was so public that a filmmaker could probably just rip from the headlines and get away with itin the vein of The Social Network,the fictionalised creation story of Facebook .

But sensitivity to public relations will probably demand that Hollywood pay the miners something.

You can make a movie about Mark Zuckerberg ,who is worth $6 billion,and not buy his rights, said Michael Shamberg,a producer of World Trade Center. You cant make a story about 33 miners and not try to help them.

They are the national pride of Chile. If you dont do right by these people,youll have a nation pissed off at you. He added,In my opinion,this isnt a movie that I would want to make without the approval of the real people, a stance that would put significant leverage in the miners laps.

Over time,more details of their individual stories,and their time under the earthespecially during the 17 days without communication from abovewill be revealed. This is the material,producers said,that will provide the dramatic detail. But films dont accommodate 33 main characters,and even if the miners were paid equally,inevitably some would become greater characters,played by bigger actors.

Ben Sherwood,a former producer at ABC News and NBC News who founded thesurvivorsclub.org ,a social network and collection of resources for survivors of tragedies and disasters,said the first 17 days of the Chilean episode resembled a classic survival tale,but then became a high-stakes reality show,in which the miners remained in danger but enjoyed any number of creature comforts and communicated regularly with their families.

When we find out what really happened down there,Im confident there will be amazing stories that we cant even imagine, said Sherwood.