Howard ropes in Helmsworth for new film

They must have found a winning formula.

US director Ron Howard has roped in his Rush star Chris Hemsworth for his next project, Heart Of The Sea.

Production has begun in the UK on the period adventure film that's based on Nathaniel Philbrick's best-selling novel about the dramatic true journey of the whaling ship Essex, which later inspired Herman Melville's classic novel Moby Dick.

It tells the story of how the surviving crew tries to stay alive after being hit by a gigantic whale.

Hemsworth stars as the vessel's veteran first mate Owen Chase and Benjamin Walker plays its inexperienced captain George Pollard.

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