A new international trailer for director Ron Howard’s adaptation of the Nathaniel Philbrick non-fiction book In the Heart of the Sea has landed online.  The film tells the story of the whaling ship Essex, which in 1819 was rammed by an angry whale in the South Pacific.  The surviving crew drifted for 90 days in three tiny whaleboats and encountered disease, hunger, and eventually cannibalism, and the harrowing true story served as the basis for Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.  I was a big fan of what Howard put together for his previous film, Rush, and it looks like he's on a roll with this follow-up.  Once again reuniting with cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, they appear to capture the terrifying nature of this sea expedition in visceral fashion, putting the audience right in the middle of the drama that ensues.

Check out the new In the Heart of the Sea trailer after the jump.  The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Brendan Gleeson, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Tom Holland, Ben Whishaw, and Jordi Molla.  In the Heart of the Sea opens in theaters on March 13, 2015.

Via Warner Bros.

Here’s the official synopsis for In the Heart of the Sea:

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.  “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.