A deep-sea dive, a deadly accident, and an impossible rescue. 

Last Breath isn’t just a thriller that will make you gasp as they race against time, it’s also the true story of an extraordinary act of heroism.

The heart-stopping thriller, as much about human resilience as it is about survival, brings to life one of the most daring rescues in deep-sea diving history. The film stars Woody Harrelson, Simu Liu, and Finn Cole.

In 2012, three deep-sea divers were working on the seafloor, hundreds of feet below the surface, in what was supposed to be a routine mission. But in an instant, everything went horribly wrong.

Chris Lemons, a saturation diver, was suddenly cut off from his oxygen supply when his umbilical cord, his literal lifeline, was severed. Stranded in pitch-black waters, he had mere minutes of breathable air left in his emergency tank.

The only thing standing between him and certain death? His crewmates, who had just minutes to execute an impossible rescue.

Portraying Duncan Allcock, the seasoned deep-sea diver leading the mission, is Woody Harrelson. Allcock, a man with decades of experience, knew the stakes better than anyone. This was supposed to be his last dive before retirement, but it turned into a battle against time and fate.

“He’s all heart,” Harrelson says of Allcock. “When I watched the documentary, I got quite emotional. Duncan was not going to allow his friend Chris to die. He was going to make sure to do it.”

Harrelson brings that raw emotion to the screen, capturing the sheer determination of a man who refused to let his friend’s life slip away.

If Chris Lemons had any hope of surviving, it rested on the shoulders of Dave Yuasa, played by Simu Liu. Tasked with retrieving his friend from the depths, Yuasa had no time to process fear or doubt, his only option was to act.

“If I were stuck at the bottom of the sea, I wouldn’t want anybody other than Dave to come and get me,” Liu says. “He’s not gonna get distracted, he’s not gonna lose focus. He’s just there to do the job.”

Yuasa’s precision and calm under pressure proved to be the difference between life and death. Liu’s portrayal captures that steely resolve, making every second of the film pulse with tension.

At the heart of Last Breath is Finn Cole’s portrayal of Chris Lemons, the diver left stranded in the abyss. With only minutes of oxygen and no way to help himself, Lemons had to face the terrifying reality that he might not make it back.

“One thing that’s always nice about doing a job like this is it’s all practical,” Cole explains. “We’re down in the waters, pitch-black. There’s you and a camera down there.”

But it wasn’t just about recreating the physical experience, it was about understanding the mental and emotional toll of being trapped, alone, with time running out.

“Being able to talk to Chris, to hear him describe what he remembered before passing out, was invaluable,” Cole says.

Directed by Alex Parkinson, who also helmed the 2019 British documentary of the same name, Last Breath doesn’t just tell a story of survival. It immerses audiences in the harrowing reality of deep-sea diving, where every decision can mean the difference between life and death.

To its cast and filmmakers, Last Breath is a reminder of what’s possible when people refuse to give up.