Oil Rig Explosion: J.C. Chandor Tackles BP Oil Spill

Margin Call filmmaker J.C. Chandor’s next project will be about the BP oil rig explosion of 2010, which spilled massive amounts of oil into the Gulf of Mexico – becoming the second largest environmental disaster in the U.S.

According to a report from Deadline, Chandor’s film about the oil rig explosion is a “big scale drama” that will be titled Deepwater Horizon, and it is looking to start filming in the winter time. Transformers: Age of Extinction producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian are also on board and Matthew Michael Carnahan has written the most recent draft of the script.

Two years ago, Summit Entertainment and Participant Media acquired the rights The New York Times article, “Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hour,” which was published on Christmas Day in 2010. This is how Deadline describes Chandor’s film:

“The movie isn’t a morality tale as much as it is the survival story and the courage shown by those who worked on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.”

11 workers were killed in the oil rig explosion, and 16 others were injured. More than 100 were on it when the incident took place.

More than four years later, oil from the BP rig is believed to be the cause of many sickened fish, according to a report from Reuters via The Huffington Post.

“We matched up the oil in the livers and flesh with Deepwater Horizon like a fingerprint,” said lead researcher Steve Murawski.

However, BP said there’s no way to determine the oil from their rig is what caused the fish to become ill.

“[It is] not possible to accurately identify the source of oil based on chemical traces found in fish livers or tissue,” the company wrote in a statement.

The dramatized version of the oil rig explosion will be Chandor’s next film. Right now, he is putting the finishing touches on A Most Violent Year, which stars Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac. And Chandor is no stranger to survival tales. He was also the director of the Robert Redford drama, All Is Lost.

Aside from the cinematic version of the oil rig explosion, Di Bonaventura will also produce another true-story drama. A separate report from Deadline stated that Crazy Heart and Out of the Furnace director Scott Cooper will helm the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighter squad. 19 of them lost their lives while fighting the Yarnell Hill wildfire in Prescott, Arizona. Only one of the members survived.

A report from The Inquisitr earlier this year stated that the effort to clean up the mess caused by the oil rig explosion has come to an end. At least that is what BP said before they consulted the Coast Guard about making that announcement. Coast Guard Captain Thomas Sparks later said the response is far from over.

“The transition to the Middle Response process does not end cleanup operations and we continue to hold the responsible party accountable for Deepwater Horizon cleanup costs,” Sparks added.

[Images via WBRZ.com]