# Austin Abrams Was Grabbed by Tentacles in a 35-Foot Whale Head for the Thriller ‘Whalefall’

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/austin-abrams-was-grabbed-by-tentacles-in-a-35-foot-whale-head-for-the-thriller-whalefall/
- Published: 2026-10-31T15:01:18+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-31T15:12:12+00:00
- Original publisher: Polygon
- Original article: https://www.polygon.com/whalefall-bts-interview/
- Topics: Gaming

## Key points

- *Whalefall* built a 35-foot whale head for its survival scenes.
- Moving stomach sets put Austin Abrams through real physical action.
- Puppets, visual effects and scientific advice shaped the whale sequence.

## Summary

Austin Abrams plays Jay Gardiner, a scuba diver swallowed by a sperm whale, in Brian Duffield’s film adaptation of the survival thriller *Whalefall*. To make the ordeal feel physically real, the production built large, moving sets and used practical effects that put Abrams in cramped, shifting environments.

The crew constructed a 35-foot whale head and four stomach sets, including rigs that rocked or tossed Abrams and a seesaw that soaked him in slime made from methylcellulose. Puppets with wired, moving tentacles could wrap around his head and neck, while visual effects added more tentacles. The sets were based on measurements of an 80-foot sperm whale, with advice from marine anatomy and bioluminescence researchers; the jellyfish prop used a programmable LED.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.