'Deepwater Horizon' gets Sept. 30, 2016 release date. It stars Mark Wahlberg ("Transformers: Age of Extinction").
Variety wrote that it has been the practice of Summit-Participant Media to give focus to issue-oriented projects like "An Inconvenient Truth", "Lincoln", and "The Help". "Deepwater Horizon", which is the first movie to set Sept. 30, 2016 release date, is its latest offering.
The movie is based on the article "Deepwater Horizon's Final Hour" published by The New York Times on December 25, 2010. Written by David Barstow, David Rohde and Stephanie Saul, the piece provided a comprehensive chronology of the unfortunate event dubbed as "one of the worst environmental catastrophes in United States history".
It killed 11 people and injured dozens. The article provided explanations why Deepwater Horizon should have endured the blowout and why it didn't - to which experts and investigators agreed. The movie will help make the events before and after the explosion clearer as it gives life to people's accounts.
The story was based on interviews with 21 crew members, sworn testimony, and written statements from about 94 individuals who were able to break out from the rig. Documents gathered by The New York Times that clearly illustrated the maintenance and operations of the oil rig made it feasible to put together the last hours of the Horizon.
J.C. Chandor ("All Is Lost") will direct "Deepwater Horizon". Lorenzo Di Bonaventura of "Red" is the producer. Matthew Sand had written the initial draft; Matthew Michael Carnahan wrote the latest draft of the script.
Aside from "Deepwater Horizon" release date, production is also set to start in late spring or early summer 2015, said NOLA.com. Location is unknown yet but a Louisiana shoot may be most likely because of the generous filmmaking tax credits given by the state. This is aside from the fact that the story begins in the coast of the Bayou State.
