Designing the Remarkable Underwater—And Aboveboard—World Of Last Breath

Alex Parkinson’s Last Breath recreates a remarkable real-life event experienced by a team of saturation divers—Chris Lemons (Finn Cole), Dave Yuasa (Simu Liu), and Duncan Allcock (Woody Harrelson)—while diving in the North Sea in 2012. Cut off from their ship during a violent storm, the divers must race against time to save one of their own.

In adapting his 2019 acclaimed documentary Last Breath into a feature film, Parkinson turned to production designer Grant Montgomery to recreate the complex, technical diving world with accuracy and style. Nominated twice for a BAFTA for his work on Peaky Blinders series, Montgomery had a keen sense for how to showcase the epic reality of saturation divers.

We spoke with Montgomery about getting the technical design right, using space stories as inspiration, and the inspiring message of the film.

Last Breath is in theaters on February 28 — so get your tickets now!

What did you see as your biggest challenge as the production designer?

First off, I made a decision not to see the documentary. I thought it might color how I approached the film. I worked from the script, which I think is always important. From the script, I became aware of just how technical the story was. We were going to have to create this world by never actually going out to sea. Everything would have to be built on a stage of some sort. Originally, one of my ideas was to build 1/10th scale models, but eventually, we just built everything—the saturation chambers, the bell, the bridge—at full scale. In addition, we were going to have to connect all the different locations in various ways. We would be building everything separately, yet it would have to join up.

There was also the scale of everything. Early on we visited the original ship, The Topaz, which was in Aberdeen. I was quite surprised at how big it was. We were building things that were bigger than most studio spaces. I realized that we would have to build a gimbal to get the bridge to pivot correctly. That was going to be a mighty feat because the set and the gimbal have to work together. The weight of how that's going to move and how much pitch that's going to give you—that was going to be quite extraordinary. To design the bridge, we needed some practical solutions that didn’t rely on CGI. And we would have to build them to guarantee the safety of the actors.

How did you go about designing the sets?

Originally, I built white-card models. They weren’t technical models. It was just going back to basics. We built the saturation chamber as white card models so we could plan out the camera movement with our DP, Nick [Remy Matthews]. Then we taped it all out in the studio to understand the scale and how the camera crew could go in and out. We turned to a lot of tried-and-tested technical approaches. After we built the models, we had structural engineers check them all and then create their drawings from them. When we got the steelwork for the deck, we then had to clad it all in timber to get the look right. To be honest, all the blinking lights and buttons on the bridge are just for show.

The saturation chambers that the divers have to live in for days to get pressurized to be able to dive so deep were quite extraordinary.

We kept the dimensions exactly the same as the real ones, which was a bit daunting for everyone because they were so claustrophobic. In designing them for filming, however, I took a page from the film The Great Escape and treated them as tunnels. We constructed saturation chambers as long tube-like structures where the sides could come off. Every side came out in sections so that it never felt that claustrophobic. Also, the floor came out, and there was a top run above which we could take out so we could shoot the actors from above.

Everything had to be quite precise to match the original. How did you change the designs for dramatic effect?

When you read the script, it felt like you were in outer space. The action may be taking place underwater, but the story felt more akin to being in space. So, I pushed things just a little with that idea. With the diving bell, for example, we tweaked it just a touch to feel like a lunar landing module. And I put extra piping everywhere, especially in the saturation chamber’s ceiling, to create a sense of pressure. And I lowered the ceiling in the ship’s deck to heighten the feeling that everything is pressing down on them. There was only about 6-8 inches above their heads, which increased the drama. When the cameras move along the deck, capturing all the navigational computer screens flickering with flashing graphics, there’s a real drama to it. The design simulates that widescreen ratio in a set.

In addition to designing the ship and the saturation chambers, you had to create the underwater world where the divers interact.

Yes, that was quite an enterprise. We shot all the underwater scenes in a huge outdoor tank in Malta. All the objects in the sea—the bell, the manifold, the gas pipes—had to sit on the floor. But you can't drill into the basin of the tank, so we had to weigh it all. The bell was a huge enterprise. It had to be made from steel and was hung from a 40-foot crane so that it could swing and move underwater.

One of the biggest challenges was that the tank was filled with seawater from the nearby Mediterranean, and saltwater reacted in a brutal way to raw materials. The paint you use can disintegrate and the residue goes into the water and infects the tank, making it more difficult for the divers to work in. So everything had to be constantly checked.

What do you want audiences to take away from the film?

Never give up. When I read the script, I felt the underlying message is that the human spirit can—and does—surmount incredible odds.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.