With Peter Berg fully committed to directing based-on-reality disaster drama Deepwater Horizon, the cast is beginning to swell. Variety reports that Kurt Russell is now officially on board the film, with Maze Runner star Dylan O’Brien in talks.
The movie, which also features Mark Wahlberg and rising star Gina Rodriguez, charts the events on the BP oil rig in the 48 hours leading up to the 2010 disaster and the day itself. The behind-the-scenes tale will highlight stories of real-life heroism around the incident, which were not made public at the time but appeared in the script’s source material, a New York Times article entitled 'Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hour'. The paper’s piece chronicled how 11 people were killed and 16 injured when the rig blew, and gushed oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Matthew Michael Carnahan has adapted the script for the film, which J.C. Chandor had originally signed to direct.
While Russell’s role isn’t specified in either report, The Wrap’s story mentions that O’Brien is in talks to play Caleb Holloway, the youngest surviving crewmember.
Russell is on screens now as mysterious agent Mr. Nobody in Fast & Furious 7 and has just worked on Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight. We’d push for Deepwater Horizon to sneak a nine into its name, just to keep the numerical titles going. O’Brien will next show up in **Maze Runner **sequel Scorch Trials, set to arrive here on September 18.