I would love to say that my obsession with man vs nature movies started when I read Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. An iconic piece of writing, but to my shame it was watching Jaws for the first time that got me to read Moby Dick.

To celebrate the forthcoming release of In The Heart of the Sea, a neat little ‘The Myth of Moby Dick’ featurette has hit the internet for your viewing pleasure. Director Ron Howard reunites with his Rush star Chris Hemsworth for the thrilling In The Heart of the Sea. Set in the unforgiving winter of 1820, the crew of the whaling ship The Essex have a close encounter with giant whale the likes of which has never been seen before.

Also starring  Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, and Brendan Gleeson, In The Heart of the Sea arrives in UK cinemas on Boxing Day.

Oscar winner Ron Howard (“A Beautiful Mind”) directs the action adventure “In the Heart of the Sea,” based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s best-selling book about the dramatic true journey of the Essex.

In the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. But that told only half the story. “In the Heart of the Sea” reveals the encounter’s harrowing aftermath, as the ship’s surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive. Braving storms, starvation, panic and despair, the men will call into question their deepest beliefs, from the value of their lives to the morality of their trade, as their captain searches for direction on the open sea and his first mate still seeks to bring the great whale down.

“In the Heart of the Sea” stars Chris Hemsworth (“The Avengers,” “Rush”) as the vessel’s veteran first mate Owen Chase; Benjamin Walker (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) as its inexperienced Captain, George Pollard; Cillian Murphy (“The Dark Knight Rises”) as second mate Matthew Joy; and Ben Whishaw (“Skyfall”) as novelist Herman Melville, whose inquiries into the event 30 years later helped bring the story to light.