The feature adaptation of Daniel Kraus’ Whalefall is circling its two stars.
Today, Deadline reports that Josh Brolin (aka Gurney Halleck in the latest Dune films, aka Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, aka the actor set to star in Zach Cregger’s Weapons and Edgar Wright’s The Running Man) is in talks to co-star in the film against Austin Abrams, who has officially taken on the role of Jay, a young man who is accidentally swallowed by an 80-foot, 60-ton sperm whale, and has one hour to escape before his air runs out.
Deadline doesn’t confirm what part Brolin would be playing, but given that the number of characters in the book are few, it’s clear he would be playing Jay’s estranged, deceased father who—as Jay struggles to survive inside various sections of the giant mammal’s digestive tract—also “talks” to his hallucinating, dying son via the whale.
The rights to adapt the critically recognized Whalefall went through a competitive bidding process before 20th Century won the project. Brian Duffield (No One Will Save You) is directing and co-writing the script with Kraus.
The project is still in its early days, so there’s no news yet on who will play the whale (I joke… maybe?) or when it will go into production and make its way to theaters.
