The Whale (2013 film)

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The Whale
BBC Whale.png
GenreDrama
Written by Terry Cafolla
Directed byAlrick Riley
Theme music composer Debbie Wiseman
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producer Mick Kaczorowski(Animal Planet)
ProducerMike Dormer
CinematographyDavid Raedeker
EditorJames Hughes
Running time90 minutes
Production companies
Budget£2,213,684
Original release
Network BBC One
BBC One HD
Release22 December 2013 (2013-12-22)

The Whale is a British television film that was first broadcast on BBC One on 22 December 2013. Terry Cafolla wrote the film about the Essex incident in 1820, which also formed the basis of Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick . [1] The Whale was also broadcast on Animal Planet in the United States during the summer of 2014. [2]

Contents

Plot

Thomas Nickerson (Martin Sheen) recalls his past as a cabin boy on the Essex whaling ship.

Cast

Production

The Whale used underwater shots and specialist equipment to create storm scenes for Essex , the whaleship the film is based on. [3] The television film was made by BBC Factual Productions with Animal Planet as co-producer, with Eamon Hardy and Ruth Caleb as executive producers for the BBC and Mick Kaczorowski as executive producer for Animal Planet. The director is Alrick Riley and the composer is Debbie Wiseman. [3] The producer is Mike Dormer. [3]

Around the time of the first read-through of the script, Joe Armstrong left his role as Lawrence. The role was later given to Jolyon Coy who had recently finished the theatre show Posh . [4] Filming began in Malta on 8 April 2013 and ended on 12 May 2013. [5] [6] [7] [8] In Malta, filming took place in Gozo and the Mediterranean Film Studios with the help of Latina Pictures. The set was visited by Emmanuel Mallia, Minister for Home Affairs for Malta, and Malta Film Commissioner Peter Busutill in May 2013. [9] [10] On 16 April 2013, the set was visited by Anton Refalo, the Minister for Gozo. [5] [11] Jassa Ahluwalia said re-recording took place on 11 October 2013. [12] The production budget was £2,213,684. [5]

On 25 November 2013, the BBC announced that the television film would be part of BBC One's Christmas schedule. [13]

Reception

Writing in The Guardian , John Crace said it "felt like a big-screen movie epic trapped inside a relatively small-budget TV programme" and was disappointed by the whale scenes. [14] The Daily Telegraph 's Michael Hogan gave it three out of five stars and called it "gripping and gory". [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Nickerson</span> American sailor and author (1805–1883)

Thomas Gibson Nickerson was an American sailor and author. In 1819, when he was fourteen years old, Nickerson served as cabin boy on the whaleship Essex. On this voyage, the ship was sunk by a whale, and the crew spent three months at sea before the survivors were rescued. In 1876 he wrote The Loss of the Ship "Essex", an account of the ordeal and of his subsequent experiences at sea. The manuscript was lost until 1960, and was first published in 1984.

<i>Essex</i> (whaleship) American whaleship from Nantucket, Massachusetts

Essex was an American whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts, which was launched in 1799. On November 20, 1820, while at sea in the southern Pacific Ocean under the command of Captain George Pollard Jr., the ship was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale. About 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km) from the coast of South America, the 20-man crew was forced to make for land in three whaleboats with what food and water they could salvage from the wreck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owen Chase</span> American sailor (1797–1869)

Owen Chase was first mate of the whaler Essex, which sank in the Pacific Ocean on November 20, 1820, after being rammed by a sperm whale. Soon after his return to Nantucket, Chase wrote an account of the shipwreck and the attempts of the crew to reach land in small boats. The book, Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex, was published in 1821 and would inspire Herman Melville to write Moby-Dick.

<i>Moby Dick</i> (1956 film) 1956 film by John Huston

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<i>In the Heart of the Sea</i> 2000 book by Nathaniel Philbrick

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex is a book by American writer Nathaniel Philbrick about the loss of the whaler Essex in the Pacific Ocean in 1820. The book was published by Viking Press on May 8, 2000, and won the 2000 National Book Award for Nonfiction. It was adapted into a film of the same name, which was released in December 2015.

Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick is a Japanese animated television series, based on Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick. However, this adaptation used futuristic outer space as the setting, with "whales" being large abandoned spaceships instead. It aired from 1997 to 1999, albeit with a suspension of new episodes from November 1997 to October 1998. The series ran for 26 episodes, which have been released on DVD in the US by ADV Films, spread across six discs.

Moby-Dick is an 1851 novel by Herman Melville that describes the voyage of the whaleship Pequod, led by Captain Ahab, who leads his crew on a hunt for the whale Moby Dick. There have been a number of adaptations of Moby-Dick in various media.

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Owen Coffin was a sailor aboard the Nantucket whaler Essex when it set sail for the Pacific Ocean on a sperm whale-hunting expedition in August 1819, under the command of his cousin, George Pollard, Jr. In November 1820, a whale rammed and breached the hull of Essex in mid-Pacific, causing Essex to sink. The crew escaped in small whaleboats, with sufficient supplies for two months, but were not rescued within that time. During January 1821, the near-starved survivors began to eat the bodies of those who had died. When even this resource ran out, the four men remaining in Pollard's boat agreed to draw straws to decide which of them should be killed, lest all four die of starvation. Coffin lost in the lottery, and was shot and eaten. The captain volunteered to take Coffin's place but Coffin refused, saying it was his 'right' to do so that the others might live.

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Philip Hoare is an English writer, especially of history and biography. He instigated the Moby Dick Big Read project. He is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton and Leverhulme artist-in-residence at the Marine Institute, Plymouth University, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2011.

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References

  1. Jeffery, Morgan (8 April 2013). "Jonas Armstrong to lead new BBC One drama 'The Whale'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  2. "Martin Sheen to Star in The Whale, Premiering Summer 2014 on Animal Planet". Broadway World. 25 November 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 "Multiple award-winner Martin Sheen stars in BBC One's The Whale". BBC. 25 November 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  4. Munn, Patrick (9 April 2013). "Joe Armstrong Exits BBC One's 'The Whale', Jolyon Coy To Assume Role". TV Wise. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 "Minister Mallia visits film studies for production of The Whale". Gozo News. 5 May 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  6. "Jonas Armstrong stars in BBC One's The Whale, a dramatisation of events that inspired Moby Dick". BBC. 8 April 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  7. Dowell, Ben (8 April 2013). "BBC plans whaling drama based on tale that inspired Moby Dick". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  8. Vincent, Alice (9 April 2013). "BBC start work on Moby Dick film The Whale, but there's no Ahab in sight". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  9. Goundry, Nick. "Malta Minister pledges filming support as BBC shoots The Whale". The Location Guide. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  10. Dalli, Miriam (4 May 2013). "Home Affairs Minister visits film set of BBC production The Whale". Malta Today. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  11. "Gozo Minister visits production of the BBC drama The Whale". Gozo News. 17 April 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  12. Ahluwalia, Jassa. "ADR morning for The Whale!". Twitter. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  13. "Christmas on the BBC – A selection of festive treats across the BBC this Christmas". BBC. 25 November 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  14. Crace, John (23 December 2013). "The Whale; The Ladybird Books Story – TV review". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  15. Hogan, Michael (22 December 2013). "The Whale, BBC One, review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 December 2013.