Whalefall is now in cinemas, adapting Daniel Kraus’s novel Angel Down. Kraus co-wrote the screenplay with director Brian Duffield, known for No One Will Save You and Cocaine Bear.
The film follows Jay Gardiner, a scuba diver played by Austin Abrams, as he searches the Pacific Ocean for the remains of his father, portrayed by Josh Brolin. During the expedition, Jay is swallowed by an enormous sperm whale and has roughly one hour of oxygen to escape.
The film’s central hook suggests a survival thriller built around whale anatomy, but the filmmakers describe something more personal underneath the high-concept premise. At New York Comic Con 2026, one week before release, Brolin, Abrams, Kraus and Duffield discussed the film’s practical challenges, its view of the whale and Jay’s unresolved relationship with his father.
Building the whale’s first stomach
For Kraus, the most demanding sequence was the interior of the whale. More specifically, it was the first of the sperm whale’s four stomach chambers. The novel allowed him to leave certain details to the reader’s imagination, while the film had to physically create a living, flexible environment that could support the action.
The set needed to appear soft and organic while accommodating water, liquid, animals, jellyfish and squid. It also had to roll, tilt and function as a believable stomach, with bioluminescent light adding another visual complication. Production designer Ramsey Avery helped develop the detailed visual research required to turn the biology into a film set.
Abrams identified the same material as the toughest part of the production. Playing Jay meant enduring the feeling of compression and being squeezed inside an extremely confined space.
The whale is not the enemy
Although the story places Jay in extreme danger, Kraus and Duffield did not treat the whale as a monster or villain. Their research led them to view sperm whales as unusual, intelligent and almost mystical creatures rather than figures of horror.
Kraus’s interpretation is that the whale is so immense it may not even recognise the human being inside it. He also pointed to reports of whales helping people in distress, reinforcing the idea that the animal is majestic and unaware of the trouble surrounding it.
Duffield said the production approached the whale with affection and respect. In his view, it is the most innocent character in the film: an animal simply living its life that may ultimately be seen as a kind of hero.
A survival story about grief
The physical ordeal gives Whalefall its claustrophobic tension and ticking-clock structure, but Jay’s emotional journey is the film’s real focus. His struggle is tied to the difficult relationship he had with his father and his need to find some form of peace.
That makes the whale less a conventional antagonist than a symbol. Brolin described whales as representing the process of getting out of your own way, allowing the story’s extraordinary survival situation to lead Jay towards personal acceptance.
For readers interested in how unusual screen concepts become visual experiences, the film’s creature-focused design also offers an intriguing parallel with the imaginative worlds found in arcade industry news. Those planning their own dedicated entertainment space can also explore the Arcade Machine Buying Guide or browse arcade machines.
Whalefall is now in cinemas.
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