The Whale (2013 Film)
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''The Whale'' is a British television film that was first broadcast on
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
on 22 December 2013.
Terry Cafolla Terry Cafolla is a Northern Irish screenwriter. Early life Terry Cafolla was born in Armagh in 1969. He left Armagh to study at Queen's University, where he completed a degree in Philosophy and Russian studies before subsequently obtaining an ...
wrote the film about the ''Essex'' incident in 1820, which also formed the basis of
Herman Melville Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...
's 1851 novel ''
Moby-Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael (Moby-Dick), Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Captain Ahab, Ahab, captain of the whaler, whaling ship ''Pequod (Moby- ...
''. ''The Whale'' was also broadcast on
Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily dev ...
in the United States during the summer of 2014.


Plot

Thomas Nickerson Thomas Gibson Nickerson (March 20, 1805 – February 7, 1883) 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 i ...
(
Martin Sheen Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...
) recalls his past as a
cabin boy ''Cabin Boy'' is a 1994 American fantasy comedy film, directed by Adam Resnick and co-produced by Tim Burton, which starred comedian Chris Elliott. Elliott co-wrote the film with Resnick. Both Elliott and Resnick worked for '' Late Night with Dav ...
on the ''Essex ''
whaling ship A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...
.


Cast

*
Martin Sheen Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...
as old
Thomas Nickerson Thomas Gibson Nickerson (March 20, 1805 – February 7, 1883) 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 i ...
* Charles Furness as young Tom Nickerson *
Jonas Armstrong William Jonas Armstrong is an Irish actor known for playing the title role in the BBC One drama series ''Robin Hood''. Career In 2003, Armstrong appeared in ''Quartermaine's Terms'' at the Royal Theatre in Northampton as Derek Meadle. In 2004 ...
as
Owen Chase Owen may refer to: Origin: The name Owen is of Irish and Welsh origin. Its meanings range from noble, youthful, and well-born. Gender: Owen is historically the masculine form of the name. Popular feminine variations include Eowyn and Owena. ...
*
Adam Rayner Adam Chance Abbs Rayner (born 28 August 1977) is an English actor. He is known for television roles including: Dominic Montgomery in ''Mistresses'', Dr. Steve Shaw in ''Hawthorne'', Aidan Marsh in '' Hunted'', Bassam "Barry" Al-Fayeed in ''Tyran ...
as Captain George Pollard *
Jolyon Coy Jolyon Coy (born 9 March 1985) is an English actor and writer. He won a drama scholarship to Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, then trained at LAMDA, graduating in 2007. Theatre credits *Toby Maitland in the premiere of POSH at the Royal Cou ...
as Benjamin Lawrence *
Jassa Ahluwalia Jassa Singh Ahluwalia (born 12 September 1990) is a British actor, director and radio presenter. He acted in the BBC television series ''Some Girls'', the film ''The Whale'' and presented the Disney Junior TV show ''Art Attack''. Early life ...
as
Owen Coffin Owen Coffin (August 24, 1802 – February 2, 1821) 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. ...
*
David Gyasi David Kwaku Asamoah Gyasi (; born 2 January 1980) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles in ''Cloud Atlas'' (2012) and '' Interstellar'' (2014), as well as the lead role of Lex Carnahan in The CW miniseries ''Containment''. Early l ...
as Richard Peterson *
John Boyega John Adedayo Bamidele Adegboyega (born 17 March 1992), known professionally as John Boyega, is a British actor and producer. He first rose to prominence in his native Britain for his role as Moses in the sci-fi comedy film ''Attack the Block' ...
as William Bond *
Ferdinand Kingsley Ferdinand James M. Kingsley (born 13 February 1988) is a British actor. He is known for portraying the roles of Hamza Bey in the film ''Dracula Untold'' (2014), Mr. Francatelli in the television series ''Victoria'' (2016–2019), Irving Thalberg ...
as Obed Hendricks *
Paul Kaye Paul Kaye (born 15 December 1964) is an English comedian and actor. He is known for his portrayals of shock interviewer Dennis Pennis on '' The Sunday Show'', New York lawyer Mike Strutter on MTV's '' Strutter'', Thoros of Myr in HBO's ''Game ...
as Matthew Joy


Production

''The Whale'' used underwater shots and specialist equipment to create storm scenes for ''
Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
'', the
whaleship A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...
the film is based on. The television film was made by
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
Factual Productions with
Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily dev ...
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 Debbie Wiseman, OBE (born 10 May 1963) is a British composer for film and television, known also as a conductor and a radio and television presenter. Biography Wiseman was born in London. She studied at Trinity College of Music Junior Depart ...
. The producer is Mike Dormer. Around the time of the first
read-through The read-through, table-read, or table work is a stage of film, television, radio, and theatre production when an organized reading around a table of the screenplay or script by the actors with speaking parts is conducted. In addition to the ca ...
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 Posh is an informal adjective for "upper class". It may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Posh'' (album), a 1980 album by Patrice Rushen *" Posh!", a 1968 song from the musical ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' * ''Posh'' (2006 TV series), a 2006 Philip ...
''. Filming began in
Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
on 8 April 2013 and ended on 12 May 2013. In Malta, filming took place in
Gozo Gozo (, ), Maltese: ''Għawdex'' () and in antiquity known as Gaulos ( xpu, 𐤂𐤅𐤋, ; grc, Γαῦλος, Gaúlos), is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After t ...
and the Mediterranean Film Studios with the help of Latina Pictures. The set was visited by
Emmanuel Mallia Emmanuel Mallia is a Maltese politician. He was the Minister for Home Affairs and National Security of the Republic of Malta. Following an alleged "cover-up" within his ministry, he was removed from office by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on 9 ...
, Minister for Home Affairs for Malta, and Malta Film Commissioner Peter Busutill in May 2013. On 16 April 2013, the set was visited by Anton Refalo, the Minister for
Gozo Gozo (, ), Maltese: ''Għawdex'' () and in antiquity known as Gaulos ( xpu, 𐤂𐤅𐤋, ; grc, Γαῦλος, Gaúlos), is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After t ...
. Jassa Ahluwalia said re-recording took place on 11 October 2013. The
production budget Production budget is a term used specifically in film production and, more generally, in business. A "film production budget" determines how much will be spent on the entire film project. This involves identifying the elements and then estimatin ...
was £2,213,684. On 25 November 2013, the BBC announced that the television film would be part of
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
's Christmas schedule.


Reception

Writing in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 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. ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'' Michael Hogan gave it three out of five stars and called it "gripping and gory".


See also

* ''In the Heart of the Sea'' (book) * ''In the Heart of the Sea'' (film)


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whale (2013 film), The British television films English-language television shows Films shot in Malta Films based on Moby-Dick 2013 films