What ‘Whalefall’ Is Based On and How Daniel Kraus’s Novel Became a Film

‘Whalefall’ is based on a novel of the same name by Daniel Kraus, who also co-wrote the film’s screenplay with director Brian Duffield. The movie adaptation follows the book’s premise and is credited to both men as writers. 20th Century Studios has set the survival thriller for theaters on October 16.

For readers trying to understand the source of the story, the answer begins on the page. The film draws on the 2023 novel by Kraus, and Duffield directs and produces. The details below trace where the book came from, what it covers, and how the film team carried it to the screen.

‘Whalefall’ Based on a Daniel Kraus Novel

Disney’s own explainer answers the question directly by confirming that the film is based on a novel of the same name by Kraus, who co-wrote the screenplay with Duffield. That makes the writer of the source material a direct participant in the adaptation rather than a distant credit on the poster.

Kraus is an American author who had published 22 novels as of November 2025, including ‘Whalefall’ and ‘The Living Dead’, which he co-authored with George A. Romero. He also co-authored ‘The Shape of Water’ with Guillermo del Toro, based on the same idea the two created for the Oscar-winning film. His track record with screen adaptations is already established.

The novel received a front-cover review in The New York Times Book Review, won the Alex Award, and was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist. The Alex Awards recognition came in 2024. That critical standing helps explain the interest the property drew from studios.

The Story Behind the ‘Whalefall’ Book

The book centers on Jay Gardiner, a seventeen-year-old whose father was a diver who taught him how to dive. Jay goes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach to find his father’s remains, hoping to lift the guilt he has carried since his father’s death by suicide the previous year.

The publisher describes the book as a scientifically accurate thriller in which Jay is swallowed by an eighty foot, sixty ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out. Much of the book alternates between flashbacks that explain his relationship with his father and the present-day struggle to survive.

One reviewer noted that Jay passes all the way into the first of the whale’s four stomachs, where he realizes he is still alive but may not be for long. In an NPR interview, Kraus discussed how he shaped the pacing of his chapters to emphasize Jay’s race against time. That structure is part of what makes the book both a thriller and a story about grief.

How the ‘Whalefall’ Movie Adapts the Novel

Imagine Entertainment announced a pre-emptive film rights deal for the novel, and in March 2024 20th Century Studios won a bidding war for distribution and set Duffield as director and co-writer. Producer Allan Mandelbaum brought the book into Imagine and previously produced Duffield’s ‘No One Will Save You’ for 20th Century Studios.

Duffield also wrote and directed ‘No One Will Save You’ and wrote ‘Love and Monsters’. SlashFilm described the novel as seemingly unadaptable, and pointed to the almost dialogue free ‘No One Will Save You’ as a reason to trust Duffield with a story like this.

The film’s official description has Jay diving off the central coast of California to recover his father’s remains before being swallowed by a massive sperm whale, with only an hour of oxygen left and his father’s lessons to rely on. The claustrophobic conditions also force him to reckon with his relationship with his father. The emotional core of the book appears to remain intact.

Cast and Release Details for the ‘Whalefall’ Film

In an exclusive, Deadline reported that Austin Abrams landed the lead role following an extensive auditioning process. Abrams plays Jay Gardiner and Josh Brolin plays his father, Mitt Gardiner. The casting places the father and son relationship at the center of the adaptation.

Elisabeth Shue, John Ortiz, Jane Levy and Emily Rudd rounded out the cast. Abrams has also appeared in ‘Euphoria’ and ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’.

The producers are Brian Grazer, Brian Duffield, Jeb Brody and Allan Mandelbaum, and the film arrives in theaters on October 16. For readers of the novel, the question now is which moments inside the whale Duffield will bring to the screen most faithfully, and whether Abrams and Brolin capture the strained bond between Jay and Mitt Gardiner the way you pictured it on the page.