• Antonio Banderas as Mario Sepúlveda, public face for the group of miners, who made daily video logs to assure the public that they were all right.
• Rodrigo Santoro as Laurence Golborne, the Minister of Mining of Chile.
• Juliette Binoche as María Segovia, Darío's sister.
• James Brolin as Jeff Hart, a driller who supervises the drilling operation to save the miners.
• Lou Diamond Phillips as Luis "Don Lucho" Urzúa, the shift foreman, who took a leading role while the miners were trapped and helped make more accurate maps of the cave for the rescue crews.
• Mario Casas as Álex Vega, a miner who suffered from kidney problems and hypertension.
• Gabriel Byrne as André Sougarret, the mining engineer who masterminded the escape operation.
• Bob Gunton as Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile.
• Paulina García as Isabel Pereira, assistant to president Piñera.
• Adriana Barraza as Marta Salinas.
• Kate del Castillo as Katy Valdivia de Sepúlveda.
• Cote de Pablo as Jessica Vega, the wife of Álex Vega.
• Juan Pablo Raba as Darío Segovia, drill operator and son of a miner.
• Jacob Vargas as Edison "Elvis" Peña, the miners' song leader, who requested that Elvis Presley songs be sent down the mine.
• Naomi Scott as Escarlette Sepúlveda Valdivia, Mario and Katy's daughter.
• Marco Treviño as José Henríquez, the miners' pastor, who led daily prayers within the shelter.
• Oscar Nunez as Yonni Barrios.
• Alejandro Goic as Franklin Lobos.
• Cristián Campos as Hurtado, a drill expert engineer
• Tim Willcox as himself.
• Federico Luppi
• Tenoch Huerta as Carlos Mamani, a Bolivian miner who moved to Chile a decade prior to the events.
• Pedro Calvo
• Macarena Pizarro as herself, news announcer
• Mario Kreutzberger (Don Francisco) as himself.
• Gustavo Angarita as Mario Gómez.

The film is based on the events of the 2010 Copiapó mining accident, also known as the "Chilean mining accident". It is directed by Patricia Riggen and written by Mikko Alanne and José Rivera. Producer Mike Medavoy, who also produced Apocalypse Now, worked with the miners, their families, and those involved to put the film together. On 13 August 2014, it was announced that The 33 would be the first film to receive the Colombian Film Commission's incentive, which includes 40% for film services and 20% for film logistics services of the amount spent in the country.
Antonio Banderas, who portrays "Super" Mario Sepúlveda, is the public face for the miners who sent videos to the rescuers to update them on the miners' condition. The actual Sepúlveda expressed his enthusiasm and approval towards having Banderas in the role. Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro plays Laurence Golborne, Minister of Mining. On 17 June 2013, it was announced that Jennifer Lopez had joined to lead the cast of the film, but later left due to scheduling conflicts with American Idol. She was replaced by Juliette Binoche.

On 10 January 2014, Cote de Pablo joined the cast of the film; she plays the wife of one of the trapped miners. On 27 January 2014, Gabriel Byrne joined the cast of the film, to play the role of Andre Sougarret, the engineering genius who masterminded the miraculous rescue of the 33 trapped miners. Next day on 28 January, Bob Gunton joined the cast of the Chilean miner filming, then shooting in Colombia; he plays the role of Chilean President Sebastián Piñera.
Principal photography began in December 2013 in Colombia. Before shooting began, Riggen interviewed each of the miners and their families. After the shooting wrapped up in Nemocón, Colombia in January, crews started filming again in Copiapó, Chile on 5 February 2014, which was the actual place of the incident. On 18 February 2014, news told that more than half of the filming was done in the salt mine of Nemocón, Colombia, and rescue scenes were being filmed in Tierra Amarilla, Chile. Filming wrapped up on 20 February 2014.
In October 2014, James Horner was hired to compose the music for the film. It was the second of two scores he had completed in 2015, before his death on 22 June of that year.

The 33 was released across Latin America through 20th Century Fox starting from 6 August 2015 in Chile. It debuted in Colombia on 20 August 2015, along with the rest of Central America. Brazil was the last, where the film was released on 29 October 2015. Its United States and Canada theatrical releases were handled by Warner Bros. on 13 November 2015. The premiere in Santiago was attended by most of the leading cast, in addition to several of the miners, former President Sebastián Piñera and former minister Laurence Golborne.
On 28 April 2015, Alcon Entertainment acquired North American and the majority of international distribution rights to The 33, with Warner Bros. to distribute it. On the same day, Warner Bros, where Alcon has its output deal, set the film's release date for 13 November 2015.