As io9’s Germain Lussier can attest, the first footage from director Brian Duffield’s Whalefall, based on the 2023 novel of the same name by Daniel Kraus, lit CinemaCon on fire back in April with its visceral depiction of a diver getting swallowed whole by a sperm whale and having to fight his way out of the belly of the beast. And for those of you, like me, who find the very concept of this film soul-shatteringly terrifying, Duffield has some even worse news, for which he can only apologize: “…We did our best to make [the film] as scientifically accurate as possible, and I’m so sorry for people that are going to be scared about that,” he told the Hollywood Reporter.
Scared doesn’t even begin to cover it, Brian. I’ll be sending you my therapy bill for even insinuating that my greatest fear, which I had always told myself was fully irrational, is actually possible, albeit only under a very specific set of conditions.
“Yeah, you can get swallowed by a sperm whale. It’s funny, I think the things that will get dinged for not being accurate are actually accurate,” said Duffield. “Of course, there are liberties that we had to take for movie-making purposes, but we really tried to be as accurate as possible by working with a lot of whale experts.”
Apparently, only sperm whales have throats that are big enough to swallow a person whole, and they don’t chew their food, so that’s only one species that you truly have to worry about getting lost inside. Plenty of other types of whales can still ruin your day by, say, capsizing your boat or attempting to swallow a kayaker before spitting them out, though, so there’s still lots of whale-related horror to go around.
For the crew of Whalefall, that horror came in the form of trying to shoot inside of the whale. “Every crew member said that it was the hardest thing they’ve ever done,” said Duffield.
Watching that trailer was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, so I can totally relate.
Whalefall hits theaters on October 16. I will very much not be seated on opening night, but good luck to those of you who will be.
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