‘Deepwater Horizon’ Film Updates: Mark Wahlberg Says Character-Driven Adaptation Honors Heroes of Worst Oil Spill in U.S. History

‘Deepwater Horizon’ lead actor Mark Wahlberg revealed that Peter Berg’s character-driven adaptation is set to honor the heroes of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion deemed the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

According to Moviepilot, Wahlberg admitted that he signed on for Berg’s adaptation of the April 2010 explosion of the offshore drilling oil rig Deepwater Horizon on the Gulf of Mexico to honor the victims of survivors of one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history. Wahlberg said, "We wanted to make the entire movie to honor the 11 that lost their lives.”

Wahlberg is set to play lead protagonist Mike Williams in the biographical disaster thriller. Mike is the real-life chief electrical technician who is one of the staff members who called out BP Plc’s focus on money. The Deepwater Horizon, owned by Swiss company Transocean and leased by BP Plc, exploded following drilling at about 65 kilometers off the Louisiana coast. The disaster left 11 workers dead in its wake while the rig itself sank and leaked millions of barrels of crude oil into the ocean, which took 85 days to stop.

According to BBC, Wahlberg explained that Berg’s adaptation is “character-driven”. He said, "It's an action movie but it's about the people that lost their lives and the heroes on these drill rigs. None of them want any credit and they certainly don't like the title of hero." He continued, "The audience are going to see something that's extremely moving and emotional and a tribute to the 11 people who lost their lives."

When asked to describe the real-life Williams, he said that he was a “very humble guy.” He said, "He was just doing his job and everything he could to help others and to survive… I certainly view him as a hero and think the things that he did were extremely courageous… For him to be able still be able to relive it with us to make sure it was as accurate as possible takes a special individual."

The 45-year old actor is known for training hard for his various film roles. He admitted that he had to bulk up for his role as Mike. He revealed, "I trained for 100 days straight for that movie. It was a very strict diet — no wine, no bread, no pasta. If I had any carbs it was just healthy carbs like sweet potato, yams. I got as ripped as I possibly could — the best shape of my life."

Other members of the ensemble cast include Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Kate Hudson, Gina Rodriguez, Ethan Suplee and Dylan O’Brien.

‘Deepwater Horizon’ is an upcoming biographical disaster-thriller film directed by Peter Berg with a screenplay prepared by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand. It is produced by Closest to the Hole Productions, Di Bonaventura Pictures, Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ, Leverage Entertainment, Lionsgate, Participant Media, and Summit Entertainment. It is distributed by Summit Entertainment in the United States and Lionsgate world-wide.

The film is scheduled to premiere in U.S. theaters on September 30, 2016.