In the Heart of the Sea (2015) on Netflix
PG-1320152h 2mActionAdventureBiography
In 1820, Owen Chase sails as first mate of the whaler Essex under Captain George Pollard, though he had wanted the command himself. A whale of mammoth size turns on the ship.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb6.9/10160,704 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes42%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1850, Herman Melville seeks out Thomas Nickerson, the last living survivor of the whaleship Essex, and offers him money for the story of the sinking. Nickerson's account returns to 1820, when the Essex is fitted out at Nantucket for a whaling voyage, a fourteen-year-old Nickerson signs on as cabin boy, and veteran whaler Owen Chase takes the post of first mate. Chase had wanted a command of his own and chafes under Captain George Pollard, an inexperienced mariner who resents his mate's skill. The two clash, then agree to set aside their differences, and the crew kills its first bull sperm whale. Months pass without further success. In Atacames, a Spanish captain tells them of rich grounds to the west and of a white whale that wrecked his ship.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about In the Heart of the Sea (2015)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- To look convincingly starved for his role as Owen Chase, Chris Hemsworth went on a diet of just 500 to 600 calories a day, dropping from 215 to 175 pounds, and called it the most physically and emotionally demanding shoot of his career.
- A real storm off the Canary Islands turned into a rare flash flood during filming, forcing the cast and crew to retreat and shutting production down for a day and a half.
- For the elderly version of survivor Thomas Nickerson, filmmakers appear to have mistakenly based Brendan Gleeson's look on a photograph of a completely unrelated man of the same name, a Massachusetts railroad executive.
- The story is based on Nathaniel Philbrick's book about the real 1820 sinking of the whaling ship Essex, an event that partly inspired Herman Melville to write Moby-Dick.
- The film was one of two major Warner Bros. flops in 2015, alongside Pan, grossing $93.9 million worldwide against a $100 million production budget.
