‘Thirteen Lives’ Composer Benjamin Wallfisch Debuts Main Theme For Ron Howard Film – Hear The Exclusive Track

Matt Grobar
·3 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has an exclusive track from Benjamin Wallfisch’s score for Ron Howard’s survival drama Thirteen Lives, which is slated for release on all major digital platforms via Milan Records tomorrow, as the film becomes available for streaming on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

The feature from MGM, Bron Creative, Imagine Entertainment, Storyteller and Magnolia Mae recounts the incredible true story of the tremendous global effort to rescue a Thai soccer team who become trapped in the Tham Luang cave network during an unexpected rainstorm in 2018. Faced with insurmountable odds, a team of the world’s most skilled and experienced divers — uniquely able to navigate the maze of flooded, narrow cave tunnels — join with Thai forces and more than 10,000 volunteers to attempt a harrowing rescue of the twelve boys and their coach. With impossibly high stakes and the entire world watching, the group embarks on their most challenging dive yet, showcasing the limitlessness of the human spirit in the process.

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Benjamin Wallfisch - Credit: Courtesy of Sven Doornkaat
Benjamin Wallfisch - Credit: Courtesy of Sven Doornkaat

Courtesy of Sven Doornkaat

Wallfisch spent three months working on Thirteen Lives‘ score, tapping some of the finest classical and folk musicians in Thailand for it, as well as cello and piano soloists from the UK, as a way to bring two musical cultures together in the spirit of international collaboration that was so essential to the rescue effort. The score is at times highly experimental, manipulating instruments to make them sound as if they are being warped under water, and with the percussion of the ticking clock being made from samples of the scraping, tapping, and air escape from oxygen canisters, alongside many other unusual score concepts.

Said Howard: “Music has always played a vital role in my films, often times serving as a character itself. It was important to us that the music in Thirteen Lives helped us to further embody the Thai culture and create that key element of suspense. My vision for the score was for it to set a tone that was chilling, while also subtle and distinctive. Ben delivers on all those elements, and his score for the film is remarkable. I’m thrilled for audiences to enjoy the experience of listening to it.”

Added Wallfisch: “The responsibility of finding a musical analogue for this story of unimaginable heroism, without over-dramatizing or trivializing the true events, and of course incorporating the complex and rich musical heritage of the region, was a unique challenge, and one I couldn’t have done without the incredible collaborative spirit Ron has. An honor of a lifetime.”

Wallfisch is a Golden Globe-, BAFTA-, 2x Grammy-, Emmy- and 5x World Soundtrack Award-nominated composer who has thus far worked on over 80 features, collaborating with such other notable directors as Ted Melfi, Andy Muschietti, Christopher Nolan, David F. Sandberg, Leigh Whannell, Gore Verbinski and Denis Villeneuve. Up next for the artist is Andy Muschietti’s DC film The Flash for Warner Bros. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, mentored by Dario Marianelli and Hans Zimmer, Wallfisch’s notable past projects include It and It Chapter Two, Blade Runner 2049 (with Zimmer), Shazam!, The Invisible Man, Mortal Kombat, Hellboy, A Cure for Wellness, Annabelle: Creation, King of Thieves, Hidden Figures (with Pharrell Williams and Zimmer), and music based on Elgar’s Enigma Variations for Dunkirk.

Thirteen Lives was released in select theaters on July 29. The film’s cast includes Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton, Tom Bateman, Paul Gleeson, Pattrakorn Tungsupakul, Tui Thiraphat Sajakul, James Teeradon Supapunpinyo, Sahajak Boonthanakit and Weir Sukollawat Kanaros  Howard directed from a script by William Nicholson, which was based on a story by Nicholson and Don Macpherson. The film was produced by P.J. van Sandwijk, Gabrielle Tana, Karen Lunder, William M. Connor, Brian Grazer and Howard, with Jon Kuyper, Carolyn Marks Blackwood, Marie Savare, Michael Lesslie, Aaron L. Gilbert and Jason Cloth serving as EPs.

Listen to Wallfisch’s main theme for the film, also titled “Thirteen Lives,” by clicking above.

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