By “Whalefall”, the new adventure thriller from 20th Century Studios directed by Brian Duffield, is shaping up to be one of the wildest movie experiences of next summer — and the story of how it was made is almost as jaw-dropping as the film itself. Star Austin Abrams was literally dangled 40 feet in the air above a soundstage, strapped into a harness inside a rubber replica of a whale’s digestive system.
Austin Abrams (Credits: Variety)
The premise is a lean, terrifying idea, adapted from the novel “Whalefall” by Daniel Kraus. Abrams plays Jay Gardiner, a scuba diver who is accidentally swallowed by a 60-ton sperm whale while searching for his estranged father. What follows is his desperate attempt to escape the whale’s digestive tract before time runs out. It is a survival story unlike anything audiences have seen, and the production went to extreme lengths to make it feel real.
A Whale Built From Latex, Steel And Silicone
Rather than relying on digital effects, Duffield’s team constructed an anatomically plausible whale interior out of layered latex, steel, and silicone. Filming took place at Mediterranean Film Studios in Malta, where the crew built a recreation of the whale’s innards that insiders have described as a genuinely terrifying sight.
Duffield, best known for “No One Will Save You” and “Spontaneous,” clearly relishes a challenge, and the claustrophobic practical sets demanded exactly that. Shooting inside a convincing whale stomach is, as one might expect, extraordinarily difficult — but the commitment to practical effects gives the sequence a visceral realism that CGI could never replicate.
Austin Abrams Did His Own Stunts
On the final day of the Malta shoot, Abrams was strapped into a harness and hung 40 feet above the soundstage, performing extensive wirework, underwater breath-holding, and being swung around inside the rubbery whale-guts replica. The actor has said he likes doing his own stunts and enjoys being thrown around and scared a little in the process.
The result, according to Variety film editor Rebecca Rubin, is the kind of jaw-dropping practical sequence that demands audiences suspend disbelief — and it is being positioned as the centerpiece of the film. In a summer that also features Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and “Supergirl,” “Whalefall” is already being called the wildest ride of the season.
For a film built around one of the most primal fears imaginable — being trapped somewhere you cannot escape — the production itself became its own survival story. When audiences finally get to watch Jay Gardiner’s fight for life inside the whale, they’ll be witnessing one of the most ambitious practical set-pieces of the year.
Also Read: ‘Street Fighter’ Punches $4M In U.S. Previews, ‘You Can See Everything’ Earns $2M: Box Office Update
Source: Variety — read the full story there.
