Whaling Museum Attends Feature Film Junket

Artifacts from the New Bedford Whaling Museum were brought down to New York City last weekend as part of a media junket for the upcoming Ron Howard film, "In The Heart of the Sea."

The movie tells the story of the whaling ship Essex and it's encounter with a whale which sunk the ship and the museum became a major historical resource for the director and the cast.

Christina Connett, PHD, the museum's Curator of Exhibitions and Collections, told WBSM's Phil Paleologos the artifacts helped to give a real sense of life on a 19th century whaling ship and the important role the industry played.

"Many of the press are not as familiar with how integral that story is to American history," said Connett "and so we were able to provide for all the press, as well as the celebrities coming in, that context for their stories so they could better understand the film."
Arthur Motta Jr., the museum's Director of Marketing and Communications, says this wasn't the first time the museum aided in the production of a major Hollywood film.

"The Whaling Museum was there 60 years ago, and with the same studio, Warner Bros., when 'Moby Dick' came out with Gregory Peck and John Huston," said Motta "and the Whaling Museum was a vital historical resource for Huston."
Museum President & CEO, James Russell says that while the New York event was very successful they had originally wanted to bring the event to the Whaling City.

"We were hoping that this media junket would have come to New Bedford in February, but of course we all know what happened in February, and all that snow just totally derailed plans," said Russell "but you can imagine what that would have done for the local economy."

The film, based on the book by Nathaniel Philbrick, "In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex" is scheduled to be released next month, with a Southcoast premiere December 5 at Flagship Cinemas in New Bedford.