The Impossible Whalefef: Director Brian Duffield wanted a challenge, so he figured out a way to cram Austin Abrams into the belly of a whale that confused the audience.
It turns out that shooting a whale in the belly is difficult. "Whalefall" director Brian Duffield happily reveals some of the biggest obstacles while filming his new movie. The premise of the film, now in theaters via 20th Century Studios, is simple: a young diver named Jay (Austin Abrams) is accidentally swallowed by a whale, […]
It turns out that shooting a whale in the belly is difficult.
"Whale Pressure" director Brian Duffield happily reveals some of the biggest obstacles while filming his new movie. The premise of the film, now in theaters via 20th Century Studios, is simple: a young diver named Jay (Austin Abrams) is accidentally swallowed by a whale, enters its stomach, and must escape before his oxygen tank runs out. It's a neat idea, but it needs an inventive and energetic lead like Duffield to pull off claustrophobic shots on practical sets. Related Stories "Earthman" Season 3: Colm Feore, Mustafa Speaks, Bobby Salver Menouez, Francesca Zorb Raised to Series Regular Status "Avatar: Seven Sanctuary" Renewed for Seasons 3 and 4 on Paramount+.
"It's a small space and basically a 360-degree set," he says. "There's a couple of portals you can put the camera through, but it's also kind of waterlogged. All the coil lighting is inside the set. Basically everything you'd have on a regular film set, we put in a very small space. It's also on a gimbal that moves. So you print a bag and then you put your regular film in the set. Abrams is in the bag, and sometimes if Austin makes an inch mistake, everybody's in this little hallway, but He can't hear us because the rubber inside is so popular in Variety
"I was talking to a director," he says. He had a question and I sent him photos of the set. And he was just like, "You've got to be kidding me." Since the whale is chewing on Austin's sleeve, it's just a bunch of burly men jumping onto the set and crushing him. And there she is, screaming and drowning, and I'm looking at the oxygen if I'm helping it to a real monitor. Every time you call, you just hope the screaming stops and we watch it from outside, I remember the Disney security reps coming up and saying, "We weren't really sure."
Everyone made it out of the shoot unscathed, but the final product is full of harrowing set pieces that are sure to push the audience over the edge. Duffield grasped the prospect early, reaching out to novelist Daniel Krauss on social media when he first heard about the premise of a novel of the same name, even before it was published. He read a copy of 2023 and was quickly blown away by its cinematic promise. Duffield ended up writing the script for "Whalefall" with Krauss.
"You get the initial story of 'Boy Inside the Whale,' which definitely tickled all the genre parts of my brain," Duffield says. The idea of making a film that has never been made before is always fascinating to me. It's immediately clear how challenging it was, and I was really looking for a challenge. I was hungry to just push myself and the group I was constantly working with. "I think we had an appetite at the time to make a big swing."
Duffield is no stranger to ambitious projects. He began his career in Hollywood as a writer with a diverse group of screenplays, including a big-budget sequel (2015's Divergent: Rebels), a western (2015's Jane Got a Gun), a slasher (2017's Babymaker) and a sci-fi actioner (2020). He made a career of his own as a director with 2020's Spontaneous (the plotline: a romance overshadowed by the fact that people spontaneously combust) and 2023's Nobody Will Save You, an almost dialogue-free alien invasion film.
Beyond their sublime concepts, Duffield's work is characterized by an emotional weight that is no different in Wallfall. Jay's diving trip is prompted by his quest to find the body of his estranged father, Mitt (Josh Brolin), after committing suicide. He is never able to make amends or come to terms with his father, a theme that resonates throughout much of the story.
"I don't think I was looking for a father-son story, but I think I needed a father-son story," says Duffield, a parent himself. “As soon as I was reading it, I couldn't stop thinking about... not the whale, but Jay and Mitt in that relationship. I thought, "That was the magic trick of the book." You're forgetting about squid and acid, and you're thinking more about how these two people think they want nothing more than to spend time together, but can't quite articulate how they should spend their time in a different way."
While Abrams and Brolin were able to bring emotional appeal to the flashback scenes depicting key moments in their relationship, shooting the scenes inside the whale was a creative challenge.
"I had a lot of directors come and visit, and they all seemed so confused," says Duffield. I was totally confused about how we were doing what we were doing. What I've learned most is that the joy of making a film for me is that I crew and hire a lot of the same people over and over again. I think if I have a gift as a director, it's hiring people who are incredibly talented, Oscar winners, etc. I like to spend time with them and feel comfortable taking advice. I trust them if I feel they have a note or an idea - probably good.
It's part of the larger ethos that Duffield brings to every project.
"I want to feel the effort, and I want to feel like I'm a better filmmaker because of it," he says.