'Whalefall' director hopes survival tale inspires awe of whales

Film turns its terrifying premise into a story about survival, grief

LONDON:

Director Brian Duffield hopes his new survival thriller 'Whalefall', in which a teenager is swallowed by a sperm whale, will inspire audiences to feel awe rather than fear towards the giant marine mammals that dominate the film.

Speaking to Reuters at the film's London premiere this week, Duffield described the movie as "the opposite of 'Jaws'", saying whale experts had welcomed the project and hoped it would encourage audiences to learn more about the animals.

Based on Daniel Kraus' 2023 novel, 'Whalefall' follows Jay, played by Austin Abrams, who dives off California's Monastery Beach in search of his late father's remains. During the dive, he is swallowed by a sperm whale and must find a way to survive and escape.

Hollywood actor Josh Brolin, who plays Jay's father, said he hoped the film would have a very different impact from Steven Spielberg's shark blockbuster 'Jaws', which famously helped fuel popular fears of sharks. "I hope people want to go home and hug their families and realise that we have a short time here and might as well utilise it the best we can," Brolin said.

Beyond its survival premise, the film explores grief and the complicated relationship between Jay and his father, themes that Brolin said helped draw him to the project. "I sobbed at the end of the book," he said. "Partially because of the father-son relationship, partially because it's truly a hero story."

To bring the story to life, filmmakers constructed large-scale interiors and exteriors representing the whale, using computer-generated imagery mainly to enhance the environments.

"Everyone who worked on this movie said it was the hardest thing they've ever done," Duffield said, adding that even sitting inside the whale set was an "incredibly dangerous stunt" for Abrams, known for his role in the 'Resident Evil' franchise.

Kraus, who co-wrote the screenplay with Duffield, said the idea originated from a viral video showing kayakers apparently ending up inside a whale's mouth. "Immediately, I had what I felt at the time was the best idea I've ever had," Kraus said. "Could someone really be swallowed by a whale?"

After consulting whale experts, Kraus said he was told that, under the right circumstances, a person could theoretically be swallowed by a sperm whale. Asked whether Jay's fate could actually happen to a human, Duffield joked that "a lot of things have to go very badly for you for it to happen".

"But sperm whales are designed to do one thing and one thing only, which is eat giant squid. And so if you're smaller than a giant squid, you can fit down that throat," he said. "Who knows what happens next?"

'Whalefall' will begin its global theatrical rollout on October 14.