The first trailer for Brian Duffield’s Whalefall has been released, and one viewer has pointed out one apparent flaw in the plot.
The premise of the film is simple yet bizarre: a grief-stricken scuba diver gets swallowed by a whale and has one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.
Based on the 2023 novel by Daniel Kraus, Whalefall stars Austin Abrams as protagonist Jay Gardiner, a diver who searches the ocean for the remains of his late father.
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The anxiety-inducing trailer shows Jay encountering a giant squid before getting tangled in one of its tentacles and ultimately being swallowed by the whale.
Only two minutes of the film were enough to raise questions about its plot. Taking to X, one viewer said they had sent the trailer to a family member who quickly became “p*ssed off” about the movie.
“Just sent this to my autistic nephew, whose special interest is cetaceans (whales) and it p*ssed him off to the max because, in his expert opinion, a sperm whale and a giant colossal squid would never be anywhere near the shore,” the user wrote.
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Others joined the debate, with one viewer agreeing, “He’s right and that was my biggest complaint about the trailer too.”
“Is it actually near shore, or is it just a case of associative trailer editing? Just because a shot of the shore is cut right before the diving scenes doesn’t actually mean the diving is nearshore,” someone else pointed out.
A viewer who has read the book the movie is based on jumped to the filmmaker’s defense.
“It’s set in the Monterey Bay at Monastery Beach, which has a giant drop off cliff close-ish to shore where the water gets super deep very fast. This is all from the book, which is very well researched and mostly scientifically accurate, ur nephew should read it!”
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The species, also known as a cachalot, is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator.
They are also the third-deepest-diving mammal, regularly diving about 6,560 feet (2,000 meters) deep, with the deepest recorded dive reportedly reaching 9,816 feet (2,992 meters).
However, they may sometimes follow a shoal of squid, one of their prey, until reaching a point where the water becomes shallower.
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As these animals rely on sonar to navigate, sending out sound pulses that bounce back off distant surfaces, they may quickly become disoriented in shallow waters, Peter Evans, director of The SeaWatch Foundation, told the BBC.
A whale that is sick, injured, or senile may also get carried by the current until it reaches the shore.
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Amid the skepticism about the film’s scientific accuracy, one viewer expressed enthusiasm, admitting they just care about being entertained.
“Reality and logic aside, it’s gonna be an interesting ride watching this movie,” one person said, while another shared, “I cant wait for this. This trailer was incredibly tense.”
The novel was reportedly inspired by a viral video of someone being swallowed by a whale, which sparked the Whalefall author’s curiosity about the biological possibility of a person surviving inside an animal.
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Speaking with NPR, Kraus revealed that he “knew absolutely nothing about whales,” the ocean, or diving before he set out to write his bestselling book.
“I was starting with nothing. You know, like, usually when I start a book, I’ve got an idea of a plot and then I’ll kind of research to kind of fill in the gaps,” he said.
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The author explained that he devoted three months to intense interviews with whale scientists and diving experts, noting that it was important to him “that the book be 100% scientifically accurate.”
“I had to really learn inch by inch and second by second what happens inside of a whale to even begin to even understand what kind of plot I could have,” Kraus said.
“During that process, I was sort of like the diver inside the whale. And I was shining a flashlight at this part of the stomach and saying, what is this? What does it feel like? What does it smell like? What’s over here? What happens if I tug on this?”
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The Michigan-born author explained that Jay’s fight for survival inside the whale is related to the grief the character felt after losing his father.
“When Jay is swallowed, he begins, you know, under the influence of the methane in the whale stomach and the injury and the panic, begins to conflate the whale with his father, almost as if the whale is his father. So the book becomes one of reconciliation.”
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As for Duffield, who helmed the survival thriller film, he previously directed the 2023 sci-fi horror movie No One Will Save You, which follows a woman’s efforts to fight off an alien invasion. The movie has only five words of dialogue in total.
Duffield has also directed the 2020 dark comedy film Spontaneous, centered on the relationship between two high school seniors after students in their school begin exploding.
Whalefall is set to hit theaters on October 16.
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