'Woody Harrelson playing me in a film is surreal'

BBC News

14-03-2025

"The Hollywood movie and seeing Woody Harrelson play me, is totally surreal."Duncan Allcock is still in disbelief at witnessing the dramatic deep-sea emergency he was involved in more than a decade ago being turned into a blockbuster.The Last Breath tells the tale of a group of deep-sea divers working on an oil installation on the North Sea bed who race to rescue a stranded teammate following an accident.Mr Allcock, from Derbyshire, told BBC Radio Derby said it felt "amazing" to be portrayed by Harrelson.
Mr Allcock, who lives in Chesterfield but was originally from Bradford, said he had met the actor twice. "We went on set in Malta for four days and had a really good chat. He was trying to get my background and my feeling," he said."The first thing he said was 'I'm not doing the Yorkshire accent'."
Recalling the 2012 near-disaster recreated in the movie, Mr Allcock said his two colleagues - Chris Lemons and Dave Yuasa - had been diving on the seabed, inside a large metal framework, about 100m (300ft) below the surface.He explained they were attached to a "diving bell" by "umbilicals" - large cables providing breathing gas, communication and warm water. The diving bell - which Mr Allcock was inside as the safety diver ready to rescue a colleague if needed - was then attached to the boat."So wherever the boat goes, the bell goes," said Mr Allcock.
He said the boat's computer suddenly stopped working, the vessel lost power, and started drifting off. Mr Allcock said: "Diver two - Chris - got his umbilical caught on the top of the structure, and that changed everything."He said the cord "stretched like a rubber band" and he heard "a massive almighty bang, like a shotgun, then Chris's umbilical goes limp". "I thought I was going to go with it out the hole," he said."I pinned myself to the roof like Spiderman because if I had gone out the hole, I couldn't have rescued anybody."He said Chris Lemons was left in total darkness, and his emergency tanks on his back only had enough oxygen to last about 10 mins.
He said he and the other diver Dave Youasa - who had made it back to the diving bell - could not do anything to help Mr Lemons until the boat was up-and-running again."It ended up at 38 minutes," he said.He explained Mr Youasa went down to rescue him and "had to clip Chris on, and climb back up his own umbilical". Once the pair were on a framework under the diving bell, Mr Allcock said he was able to pull Mr Lemons inside using a set of pully systems ropes.He had stopped breathing and was hypothermic but went on to make a full recovery, including resuming his diving job and marrying his fiancee.The three men attended the film's New York premiere in February, with the movie due to hit UK cinemas this month.