‘Deepwater Horizon’ Official Trailer Sneak Peek

In the Gulf of Mexico, the offshore oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded and burst into flames, killing some of the crew before sinking under the waves in a plume of fire and black smoke. In its wake followed the single largest accidental oil spill in the history of the world.  Now comes the Hollywood retelling of the infamous incident. Watch the trailer and read on.

On April 10, 2010, the world was stunned by images of Deepwater Horizon consumed by flames, a floating semi-submersible drilling unit set in calm waters about 41 miles (66 km) off the Louisiana coast. Helicopters circled as  rescue boats rained water on the inferno. Surely there were no survivors. As it turns out, of the 126-member crew on board the rig, only 11 lost their lives, a tragic but remarkable number considering the confined space and location of the blast. The heroic efforts of those that stayed alive and were evacuated from the wreckage has long been overshadowed by the cataclysmic environmental devastation that followed.

Directed by Peter Berg, Deepwater Horizon looks to put some humanity to the issue, detailing the events leading to and during the accident. Based on the New York Times’ article Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours written by David Barstow, David S. Rohde and Stephanie Saul, production moved forward and Mark Wahlberg was cast as the lead, playing Mike Williams, an electrician on the rig whom the story follows. In support are Dylan O’Brien and Kurt Russell as other workers. Gina Rodriguez is the main female lead, playing Andrea Fleytas, who first discovers the fire and tries to contact the Coast Guard. Added to the cast is Kate Hudson playing Walberg’s wife, and is of note as being the first pairing of Hudson and Russell, he raising her as a child with partner Goldie Hawn in real life. Lastly is John Malkovich as a British Petroleum public official who continues to underestimate the seriousness and scope of the spill.

Berg recently directed Walberg in the military drama Lone Survivor, about a SEAL mission in Afghanistan that goes very badly and is also based on real events. This special effects disaster film looks to draw from that in many ways with Walberg’s character having to fight his way to survival through the bowls of the burning rig.

The trailer is effective at setting up the premise, giving the audience a clever exposition on how oil wells work through the creative mind of Walberg and Hudson’s onscreen daughter, played by Stella Allen. No doubt both Hudson and Allen will be relegated to the distressed and trope-ish mother and daughter waiting in the wings for news, but what else could be expected? Hopefully the story will find something for them to do other than look worried. The trailer appears to sidestep the larger issue of blame and cleanup, instead putting the focus of the people on the rig, which is probably the right thing to do. Their story isn’t political and has been long forgotten in the highly controversial aftermath.

Deepwater Horizon opens September, 2016.