An unforgettable new thriller is available to watch this week

JOE spoke to the two stars of the movie, which has a crazy premise.

A well-known figure in the local scuba diving community, Mitt had a strained relationship with Jay. The father's hyper-masculinity, domineering nature and all-consuming obsession with the ocean often clashed with his son, who is more sensitive and has other non-aquatic interests.

Jay believes retrieving Mitt's remains from the water will give him a sense of closure. As such, he ventures out early one morning in secret and goes deep-sea diving, searching for his father's body.

Below the water, Jay encounters and is consumed by a giant sperm whale. To survive, the teen must fight his way out of the powerful mammal's body.

This will involve Jay fighting to prevent himself from being digested by the whale's stomach's many chambers, all the while his oxygen supply dwindles.

Whalefall Review

Based on the 2023 novel of the same name by Daniel Kraus, who co-wrote the script for the adaptation alongside Duffield, Whalefall boasts one of the craziest premises of the year. That said, while the movie delivers the claustrophobic, freaky survival thrills you'd expect from the logline, the film feels more authentic and emotional than you'd expect.

Duffield has talked about trying to make Whalefall as scientifically accurate as possible, even going as far as building a recreation of a sperm whale's stomach for Abrams to act against. As bizarre as this is to write, the end result is a film that not only feels scarily immersive, but also realistic, as if it's giving the viewer tips on what they should do on the off chance that they ever find themselves in this specific, highly unlikely situation.

At the same time, Duffield and Kraus' narrative structure gives Whalefall an emotional heft. Seemingly taking inspiration from Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, the movie cuts between Jay in the whale's stomach and flashbacks to his relationship with Mitt, whose authoritarian and overbearing nature may have given the teen the skills to survive his present circumstances.

Viewers expecting an over-the-top survival tale in the vein of Abrams' other film currently in cinemas, Resident Evil, may be thrown for a loop at first by this more meditative, almost kaleidoscopic approach to the story.

That said, we ultimately believe this was the right creative choice. Whalefall delivers exciting in-the-moment terror and thrills, as well as a richer, emotional father-and-son tale that lingers long after the credits roll.

Austin Abrams and Josh Brolin interview for Whalefall:

JOE had the pleasure of speaking to Whalefall's stars Austin Abrams and Josh Brolin about the movie.

The pair discussed the unexpected emotion of the story, while Abrams also opened up about the demanding prep and shoot for the film that helped ensure the film had a sense of authenticity.

Brolin also talked about a lonely trip to Ireland he took when he was 20 that changed his life. On top of this, he spoke a little about the recently confirmed Sicario 3.

You can read a transcript of this conversation below, which has been edited slightly for clarity and length:

JOE: I knew I'd love the movie for its whale action, but it's also this very moving father and son story. Reading the script or book for the first time, were you surprised by how emotional and complex and authentic the Jay and Mitt relationship is?

Austin Abrams: Yeah, man. It goes in a place that you can't expect and then just deepens the story, deepens everything, deepens the meaning of everything.

It's a very operatic, obviously larger-than-life setting, with an extremely personal core, which I feel makes it so interesting and special and all those different words.

Josh Brolin: A powerful experience… When you have a powerful experience, your own powerful experience reading a novel and then reading a script, the stakes are lifted way high. You're like: 'Now how am I gonna do this?' So, it's a double-edged sword, you know?

JOE: Yeah, true. I think you accomplished it beautifully… And the film is telling this fantastical survival story. Yet the way you perform in Austin and the way [director Brian Duffield] shoots it makes it feel very realistic. Can you talk about learning how to dive for the film, and also about filming in this practical recreation of the whale's stomach? Because I think that really adds to the authenticity.

Austin Abrams: Yeah, man. It was super important, especially with this character. He's been diving his whole life, so having the experience of diving and knowing what you're doing and certainly hopefully looking like and feeling like you know what you're doing was really important and special. I don't know if you've ever… have you ever dived?

JOE: No, never. It seems so scary to me.

Austin Abrams: Yeah. I feel you. It has the potential to be a pretty life-changing experience.

And then, in terms of filming, Brian, I'm very thankful for this, wanted to do it in a way that looked really compelling on screen but was also helpful for his actors. So, everything was a 360 set. It wasn't like cut off… and then there was nothing for me or what have you to look at. It was a whole thing.

So then it was just like: 'OK, this is the environment, this is what it is. This is scientifically the best we can come up with of what it would be like. Now, how are you going to put a camera in there?'. Now it's up to this amazing camera crew, one of the best I've ever worked with, easily. 'How are you gonna do this?' So, it was a new experience and challenge for everyone, which is exciting, man. That's what you hope for.

Austin Abrams and Josh Brolin in Whalefall

JOE: And Josh, I'm speaking to you from Ireland, and I read online that when you were 20, you came to Ireland and you saw My Left Foot in a cinema and it had a profound impact on you. Is that story true? And if so, can you talk a little bit about it?

JB: I was researching a play that I was doing in New York where I was playing an Irish priest, so I went to Ireland to go meet with a bunch of priests, but I was too scared to meet with priests.

So I travelled through; I was all over the place. I spent a lot of time in Kerry over by the Cliffs of Moher and Ennistymon and Lahinch and that whole area, and then I came back to Dublin.

It was super lonely, and I walked into a theatre just to have something to do, to have some interaction with something, and it turned out to be My Left Foot, which slayed me, which gave me incredible inspiration and incentive to want to be better.

And then at the same time, I went to the Gate Theatre, and I saw [the Anton Chekhov play] Three Sisters with the Cusacks [real-life sisters Sinéad, Sorcha and Niamh, with their father, Cyril], which has turned out to be one of the greatest productions of all time, and I was lucky enough to see that production… it was almost like divine intervention.

I didn't know what to do. I was kind of lost as an actor and what I was doing, and I was just getting into theatre at that point. And… the hammer came down and said: 'If you're going to do this, do it, as opposed to half-assing it.'

JOE: I'm so glad Ireland played such a big role in your artistic [development]…

JB: Dude, it always has! I've gone back to Ireland again and again and again and again. There's something super magical about that place.

Austin Abrams in Whalefall

JOE: I'm being told to wrap, but thank you so much for speaking to me and congratulations on Whalefall and double congratulations on Sicario 3, Josh. I saw The Weight last week, directed by Padraic McKinley…

JB: It's good, right?

JOE: Yeah, I loved it. So, he's a great choice [as director].

JB: That's very good. Right on, man.

Whalefall is in cinemas on Friday, 16 October.