BRENDAN GLEESON, Cillian Murphy and rising Irish actor Sam Keeley have been cast in a major Hollywood movie based on the true story that inspired Moby Dick.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind) will direct In The Heart of The Sea, which will begin shooting in London in September.
The true story has been adapted from Nathaniel Philbrick’s novel of the same name and follows the crew of a ship destroyed by a preying sperm whale in 1820.
Author Herman Melville later drew inspiration from this book to write the classic, Moby Dick.
Records indicate that the surviving crew members of whaleship the Essex resorted to cannibalism after being stranded in lifeboats at sea for 90 days.
Gleeson will play an older version of one of the surviving crewmembers, whilst Keeley takes on the role of one of the ship’s crew members.
This role marks a huge career jump for Keeley after his breakthrough role in Lenny Abrahamson’s What Richard Did.
Other cast members include Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Benjamin Walker (Flags of our Fathers) and Tom Holland (The Impossible).
Cillian Murphy meanwhile has made his directorial début for Manchester band Money’s new music video Hold Me Forever and can also be seen later this year in Birmingham-set BBC drama, Peaky Blinders.
Production on In The Heart of The Sea begins in London in September, and will then move to Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
