EXCLUSIVE: Elisabeth Shue, John Ortiz, Jane Levy, and Emily Rudd have rounded out the cast of the in 20th Century’s adaptation of the Daniel Kraus novel Whalefall, with Brian Duffield directing and Austin Abrams and Josh Brolin starring. Duffield will co-write the script with Kraus.
The film is described as The Martian meets 127 Hours, centering on a scuba diver in search of his deceased father’s remains who gets swallowed by an 80-foot, 60-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out. After giving up on life, the young man is surprised to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places.
Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer, Jeb Brody and Allan Mandelbaum are producing. Mandelbaum brought the book into Imagine and previously produced Duffield’s No One Will Save You (for 20th Century Studios). Duffield will also produce.
Shue recently starred as Lily Wheeland in the 2024 dramedy The Good Half, and reprised her beloved role as Ali Mills in the final season of Netflix’s Cobra Kai (2025). She also appeared in the Amazon Prime series Gen V, continuing her involvement in The Boys universe, further showcasing her range and enduring presence in contemporary storytelling.
Ortiz can now be seen in the Academy Award nominated MGM feature film American Fiction. He can also be seen in the Netflix limited series The Madness opposite Colman Domingo. Ortiz also recently appeared in the Bill Lawrence Apple TV+ series Bad Monkey.
Levy most recently starred in A Little Prayer, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and is set for a 2025 release. Levy became well known for her role as Tessa Altman on ABC’s hit series Suburgatory; as well as Sam Raimi’s record-breaking remake of Evil Dead and the thriller Don’t Breathe for Screen Gems.
Rudd can be seen in the live-action Netflix adaptation of the number one anime in the world, One Piece. Within its first week, One Piece set the record for Netflix as the number one ranked television series in 84 countries around the world. Emily previously starred in Netflix’s hit Fear Street trilogy and booked the lead of the USA pilot Olive Forever.
She’s repped by Untitled Entertainment, Ortiz is repped by Gersh, Principal Entertainment LA and Schreck Rose Dapello Adams Berlin & Dunham. Levy is repped by UTA, Rise Management, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern and Rudd is repped by Gersh, Entertainment 360, law firm JATWMM.
