Ron Howard's epic In the Heart of the Sea with Chris Hemsworth, Brendan Gleeson and Cillian Murphy gets Stephen's Day release
Exactly 195 years ago today (Friday Nov 20 1820) the New England whaling ship Essex was attacked and sunk by an enormous white whale.
The event inspired Herman Melville's epic novel Moby Dick and 150 years later it was chronicled again by Nathaniel Philbrick in his bestselling book In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex.
Oscar-winning director Ron Howard has adapted Philbrick’s dramatic tale for the big screen with In the Heart of the Sea, which will be released in Ireland on St. Stephen’s Day.
Chris Hemsworth leads the cast as the vessel’s veteran first mate, Owen Chase. The film also stars renowned Irish actors Brendan Gleeson as elder Tom Nickerson and Cillian Murphy as second mate Matthew Joy and features up – and - coming Irish actor Sam Keeley.
The film not only tells the story of the seemingly vengeful attack by the mammoth whale, but also charts the harrowing aftermath as the ship's surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive.
Braving storms, starvation, panic and despair, the men will call into question their deepest beliefs, from the value of their lives to the morality of their trade.
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