Hollywood has turned its attention to the North Sea as Woody Harrelson’s Last Breath is set to hit cinemas, however, the story would have never been picked up if it wasn’t for a chat in an Aberdeen pub.
In 2012 North Sea diver Chris Lemons plunged to the depths of the North Sea when his lifeline became tangled.
Lemons was diving beneath the Bibby Topaz when the vessel’s dynamic positioning computer failed, causing it to drift in high winds and rough seas.
The diver’s umbilical became tangled in the Huntington Manifold, around 127 miles off the coast of Aberdeen, leading to a daring rescue attempt befitting of a Hollywood blockbuster.
The line, which was supplying heat, oxygen and communications to Lemons snapped leaving him stranded 300 feet below the water’s surface with five minutes of oxygen.
Lemons’ fellow divers Duncan Allcock and Dave Yuasa sprang into action, saving him and forging a North Sea legend.
It took 40 minutes for the team on the Topaz to regain control of the vessel, return to the location and pull Chris from the icy depths of the North Sea.
‘It’s those who witnessed it who suffered the trauma more than we did’
During this time Lemons lost consciousness as those onboard the vessel watched on in horror.
He recounted: “I often say that when you mention trauma it’s those who witnessed it who suffered the trauma more than we did.
“I think partly because you know all that footage you see of me twitching and lying on the bottom, I’m unconscious for all of that so I feel disassociated from it in many ways, unlike anyone else looking in on that wondering if he’s going to make it.”
He explained: “100 odd people on the vessel that night had to watch that in real-time on screens all around the boat and it goes on for 40 minutes.”
© Supplied by BibbyThis life-or-death tale did not deter Lemons from work beneath the waves. He continued to dive and even returned to the site of the incident soon after.
“People find it strange that we went back,” said Lemons.
“Three weeks later it was, after we were shut down by the HSE, obviously for the investigation and to put the root cause of the accident to bed.
“I don’t think it was something I considered that much at the time. We came out of it, I say we I mean the three of us in the water, almost euphoric that we’d got away with this.
“We certainly, and I think I can speak for the other two, don’t feel we suffered any trauma and I think that’s partly because we did get away with it.”
Despite Lemons’ renewed confidence in safety training, some of those onboard the Bibby Topaz were discouraged and subsequently left the industry.
He added: “We had people who decided never to work with divers again and left the industry and people who’ve had sleepless nights. It’s amazing how trauma effects those who witness it as much, if not more, than those who are directly involved.”
Hollywood and a chat in an Aberdeen pub
The events of this daring rescue were immortalised in a Netflix documentary in 2019 which featured Lemons, his loved ones and those he shared a diving bell with in 2012.
However, the idea for the documentary came from a chat in an Aberdeen pub and a chance encounter.
The diver explained how before the Netflix documentary there was a short film that can now be watched on YouTube that broadcast his experience.
“There was a sort of precursor to the documentary that was made by Richard da Costa. It was really him who found the story if you like,” he explained.
“As all these things happen, I met him in a pub in Aberdeen and I told him the story and he said ‘Has anyone ever made a film out of this?’ and I said no.”
Following this chance encounter a film called ‘Lifeline’ was produced.
As a result, entertainment behemoth Netflix turned its attention to Lemons’ story.
“Richard had worked in as an actor for Alex [Parkinson] at some point, and they bumped into each other on Brighton Pier, or something like that, and exchanged the story.”
© Supplied by thinkPRAlex Parkinson has become well acquainted with Lemon’s tale as he worked on the 2019 documentary and has returned to the director’s chair for Focus Features’ dramatic retelling starring Woody Harrelson.
“Alex wasn’t cited as the director originally for the for the feature film,” Lemons added.
When the studio settled on Parkinson as the film’s director Lemons was “delighted for him”.
“That was the best thing that came out of the film coming together for me was that Alex was going to get this big Hollywood break, I guess.”
Speaking on his involvement in the Hollywood production, the North Sea diver added: “To some extent, it’s the same as the documentary, they’ve kept us at arm’s length, really, I think it’s so we don’t meddle more than anything else.”
He said that the trio of divers were made aware of the coming cinematic adaptation “not long after the last breath documentary came out”.
“It was one of those things that you think is never going to happen. It seemed ridiculous at the time that they even made a documentary to us. It was slightly surreal and the thought of that becoming a fictionalised version, which is how they presented it at the time, seemed a bit remote,” Lemons added.
No helium voices?
He explained that the three divers depicted in the film have all been to see the movie-making process “at separate times”.
“I went over during pre-production so I don’t think they had actually started filming. They were building all the sets and I spent a week out there with a couple of the actors, with Finn Cole, who’s playing me, and Simu Liu who’s playing Dave.”
During his time on set he spoke about “the production design and then spent time with the actors, talking through the incident and talking about the world because, obviously, it’s this strange world that people don’t know too much about,” he explained.
© Supplied by Chris LemonsLemons has yet to see the film, which premiers on 28 February, and the first time he saw the trailer was when it got released to the public.
Despite this, Lemons is confident that the big-screen rendition of this true-life event will be faithful.
He said: “It very much follows the story, it uses our names (obviously) and in terms of the incident it’s a pretty close representation.
“There are several elements in it that are that are fictionalised, little things like dive control and the bridge and ROV, they’re all on the bridge, I think just to facilitate conversation and dialogue between the actors and things like that.”
In addition to this, the divers “don’t have helium voices,” Lemons commented. However, that may have taken away from some of the film’s more dramatic moments.
Who’d play you in a movie?
Lemons is played by Cole of Peaky Blinders fame, a casting decision that prompted the diver to get caught up with the Birmingham-based crime series.
It is a common conversation many people have “Who would play you in a movie of your life”, now Lemons has a definitive answer.
Speaking on Cole’s casting, he joked: “He’s a young, good-looking lad with a full head of hair, it wasn’t a stretch for me really.
“Woody Harrelson is playing Duncan and looking at him as you see me now is probably a better fit, isn’t it? It’s a younger version of me, it’s great and it’s really flattering the thought of anybody playing you is amazing.
“It was really lovely to meet him. Obviously, he’s from Peaky Blinders, which I hadn’t really seen when I met him, but I’ve since watched a bit.”
Lemons continues to share his story
Lemmons now does public speaking, sharing his experience and delivering safety talks.
“It’s sort of grown arms and legs and it’s not something I’ve sought out much in the past, but it seems to come to me quite a lot,” he said.
“I do the speaking more and more now and I’m at that point almost where because of all the publicity surrounding the films, I’m thinking of transitioning into doing that quite a lot more really.”
However, he added “I still love my day job” so he’s faced with a difficult decision.
Lemons travels the world to deliver his talk and notably hosted an evening for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Young Professionals section in Aberdeen a couple of years ago.
He has also delivered speeches in Australia, Malaysia, Canada, Brazil and France as well.
He said: “I use it in industry quite a lot, but I also use it outside of our industry, you know outside of oil and gas to all sorts of companies all around the world.”
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