Years before Cillian Murphy won an Oscar for Oppenheimer and Tom Holland’s Marvel movies broke box office records, the two renowned actors starred together in In the Heart of the Sea, which is now streaming on Netflix. The 2015 historical adventure film featured many other notable stars. However, Murphy and Holland are undoubtedly two of the most in-demand actors in 2025, with Murphy coming off his Academy Award win for Best Actor and Holland’s everlasting success with Spider-Man and beyond.
Now, Murphy is set to return for 28 Years Later, the third film in the 28 Days Later series, as an executive producer (and possibly onscreen as his character, Jim). Murphy will also reprise his iconic Peaky Blinders role in The Immortal Man, a continuation of the BBC show. Meanwhile, Holland is among the star-studded cast of Christopher Nolan’s next movie, an adaptation of The Odyssey. And Holland will return in the upcoming untitled fourth Spider-Man film. But if fans want to look back on the actors’ careers, the one movie Murphy and Holland did together is on Netflix as of January 1, 2025.
In The Heart Of The Sea Is About The Real 1820 Whaling Ship Sinking That Inspired Moby Dick
The 2015 Film Is Based On Nathaniel Philbrick’s 2000 Non-Fiction Book
Cillian Murphy and Tom Holland’s In the Heart of the Sea tells the true story of the sinking of the Essex, an American whaling ship, in 1820, which is what partly inspired Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick. Murphy stars as Matthew Joy, the ship’s second mate, while Holland plays Thomas Nickerson, the Essex‘s cabin boy. Both characters are based on real people who were on the Essex when a whale rammed into it, damaging it to the point where it inevitably sunk.
| In the Heart of the Sea Cast | Role |
|---|---|
| Chris Hemsworth | Owen Chase |
| Benjamin Walker | George Pollard Jr. |
| Cillian Murphy | Matthew Joy |
| Tom Holland | Thomas Nickerson |
| Brendan Gleeson | Old Thomas Nickerson |
| Ben Whishaw | Herman Melville |
| Michelle Fairley | Mrs. Nickerson |
The Essex set sail from Nantucket in August 1819 on what was supposed to be a two-and-a-half-year voyage to hunt whales. However, a whale attacked the boat more than a year into the journey. On November 20, 1820, the Essex was about 2,000 miles west of Ecuador when the whale rammed repeatedly into the ship, resulting in its sinking. The survivors made do with the wreckage, retreated to smaller whaling boats, and attempted to sail towards the nearest land. Unfortunately, their mission wasn’t very successful.
In the Heart of the Sea showcased Holland’s acting chops before people started recognizing him for playing Spider-Man in the MCU.
Much happened during the three months after the Essex sank, when the survivors tried to stay alive, and it’s all documented in In the Heart of the Sea. The true story also partly inspired Melville to write his acclaimed novel Moby-Dick. In the book, a sailor, Ishmael, recounts the mission of Captain Ahab, who seeks vengeance against Moby Dick, a whale that maimed him on his previous voyage.
