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John Krasinski Joins Drew Barrymore in Family Flick 'Whales'

by Ethan Anderton
April 30, 2010
Source: Deadline

Last summer, there was some news we didn't highlight about director Ken Kwapis (License to Wed) taking on a family friendly project called Everybody Loves Whales. However, since then, the project has shortened its title to simply be called Whales instead, and now Deadline is reporting that John Krasinski will join Drew Barrymore (who was apparently cast back in February) in a film that tells the real-life story of three gray whales trapped in the Arctic ice off Barrow, Alaska in 1988 who were rescued in an international effort involving icebreaker ships from both the US and USSR all during the tense times of the infamous Cold War.

Krasinski will play a local newspaper reporter who breaks the story while Barrymore will play a Greenpeace activist. They turn the potential tragedy into an international story that even prompted President Reagan and Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to work towards a common goal. It's that touchy-feely kind of story that's supposed to make you feel all warm inside. Hopefully Kwapis can use this to make up for disastrous romantic-comedies like License to Wed and He's Just Not That Into You. After all, he does have some directing talent having helmed a dozen episodes of "The Office" and a few episodes of "Freaks and Geeks" back in the day.

Having read the Jack Amiel and Michael Begler written script a little while back, I can tell you that there are plenty of other roles to be filled, as this is definitely an ensemble cast movie with many integral characters helping saving these aquatic mammals. And honestly, as hokey as the premise sounds, especially in a culture obsessed with "going green" almost as a novelty, the script isn't that bad and has the makings of an animal-centric Apollo 13 kind of tale. Plus, everyone loves whales (like the title said), don't they? This will be one for the whole family, so if you're at least mildly interested, stay tuned as more casting is surely on the way.

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