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Based on the true story of the Essex, a whaling ship that was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in the southern Pacific Ocean in 1820. The incident inspired Herman Melville's "Moby Dick".
According to Ron Howard and the commentary on the film, to prepare for the role of starving sailors, the cast were on a diet of 500-800 calories a day to lose weight.
This is the sixth film directed by Ron Howard based on a true story. The others were "Apollo 13 (1995)", "A Beautiful Mind (2001) ", "Cinderella Man (2005)", "Frost/Nixon (2008)" and "Rush (2013)".
While Owen Chase's career flourished after the Essex ordeal, his personal life included several tragedies. His wife, Peggy, had two additional children: Lydia and William. She died shortly after William's birth, while Chase was at sea. He then married Nancy Joy, widow of his friend and Essex second mate Matthew Joy. Nancy gave birth to a daughter, Adaline, then died a few weeks later, while Chase was at sea. His third wife, Eunice Chadwick, apparently had an affair that resulted in a son, Charles, who was born when Chase had been at sea for 16 months. Chase filed for divorce upon his return, and raised Charles as his own. In 1840, soon after his divorce was settled, he married Susan Coffin Gwinn, widow of fellow Nantucket whaler captain James Gwinn. Chase suffered from nightmares and migraines, and spent several years in an institution after he started hoarding food in his attic. He died in 1859, at age 62.
Owen Coffin is renamed Henry in this film to lessen confusion with the main character of Owen Chase.
Part of this movie was shot in the Canary Islands. Moby Dick (1956), directed by John Huston, was also shot in the Canaries.
The young Coffin was a member of one of Nantucket's founding families and a cousin to George Pollard.
Before Benjamin Walker was set to play the Captain, other actors that were considered included Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, and Henry Cavill.
This marks the second collaboration between director Ron Howard and actor Chris Hemsworth. Their first collaboration was Rush (2013).
The casting director, Nina Gold, is also the casting director of Game of Thrones (2011), which probably explains why there are four actors, Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark), Joseph Mawle (Benjen Stark), Donald Sumpter (Maester Luwin), and Jamie Sives (Jory Cassel), that also appeared there.
Stars three comic book actors: Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Tom Holland (Spider-Man), and Cillian Murphy (Scarecrow) from The Dark Knight trilogy
Although supposedly the inspiration for what would be the "America's epic", written by an American, about Whalers from America, and with the story starting & ending in America, among the first 25+ actors listed in the credits, only ONE is an American.
Reunites cast members Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson and Charlotte Riley, who all appeared in Peaky Blinders (2013) .
Ron Howard's first film project with Warner Bros. Pictures.
In 2000, Barry Levinson was set to direct a film adaptation of the book distributed by Miramax.
This is the second time Brendan Gleeson and Charlotte Riley have been in the same movie. The first was Edge of Tomorrow (2014).
Cillian Murphy and Brendan Gleeson also appeared in Sweety Barrett (1998), 28 Days Later... (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), Breakfast on Pluto (2005), and Perrier's Bounty (2009).