Due to lack of work, the rescued miners took roles in the production of the movie being filmed about its history in Copiapó, Chile.
The idea for this movie was already a concern for the miners when they were trapped underground, realizing that they were celebrities on the outside. In order to ensure an equal share of the profits of any copyrights from their story, they agreed on publishing one official version of their ordeal. After they were rescued, they hired a law firm in Santiago to represent them overseas. This led to a talent agency in New York City, who chose an Hispanic American journalist and novelist, Hector Tobar, who undertook a thorough research of the events and held extensive interviews with each of the miners, their families and some of the authorities involved. The final book, Deep Down Dark, is the inspiration for the movie.
Mario Sepúlveda, one of the real 33 Chilean miners, met Antonio Banderas in Colombia during the first days of filming. Sepúlveda became supervisor of the extras for the movie.
Final film (by release date) with a musical score composed by James Horner, who died less than two months before the release of the film. His final film composition was for Southpaw (2015).
Even though the President of Chile is mostly depicted watching the events unfold at the Presidential Palace, located 800 km (500 miles) from the mine, he shows off to the media a note confirming that all the miners are safe, only moments after the rescuers find it attached to a drill. While this might seem "convenient" for a movie's dramatic purposes this was, in fact, true. The President had been already warned that there was a chance the drill had broken into the shelter, and was flying from Santiago to Copiapó when the note was found.
Anderson Cooper: covering the rescue for CNN. He would later pay tribute to the Chilean miners from New York in CNN Heroes (2007).