Whalefall Is About A Guy Who Falls Into A Whale

You are no doubt familiar with the Biblical story of Jonah, the man who had to live in the belly of a whale for a week as punishment for not following an order. Or if not that, then at least with Pinocchio, whose act of saving his father Gepetto from a whale’s belly earns him boyhood. Or maybe the most recent season of One Piece on Netflix. One might wonder if whale bellies are actually that big and if you could really survive in one without divine intervention. They never made that episode of Mythbusters, did they?

According to the makers of Whalefall, an upcoming thriller tackling this age-old subject, they did their research and it IS possible to both get swallowed whole by a whale and survive in there, though it is not as roomy as centuries of literature suggest. The trailer implies that breathing might be a problem, though whales are aquatic mammals and THEY need air as well.

Based on the novel of the same name by Daniel Kraus, Whalefall is about a young diver who’s been searching for answers about the death of his father, who I guess was also a diver. While combing the ocean for clues, he gets caught in a current and right into the advertised whale, though it takes the creature a bit of time to swallow. The shot where his head is peeking out from inside yelling “HELP MEEEEE!” is unintentionally hilarious.

Once he’s in the whale, he has an hour left of air in his scuba tank. Can he figure out how to make the whale barf him back up before then? Whalefall stars Austin Abrams (Weapons) as the diver and Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War) as the deceased dad appearing in flashbacks. There’s also, somehow, a row of talented female actors in this: Elisabeth Shue (Back To The Future), Jane Levy (Suburgatory) and Emily Rudd (the aforementioned One Piece) are all in the cast list. Are they in the whale too? Whalefall swims onto land October 16.