Daniel Day Lewis has reportedly been signed to star as the real-life counterpart to Captain Ahab in a feature film based on events that are said to have inspired Herman Melville's Moby Dick. In the Heart of the Sea will describe the encounter of the whaler Essex with an 85-foot sperm whale off the Galapagos Islands in 1820. According to the U.K. entertainment Web site Ananova, the film is being co-produced by Barry Levinson and will go into production in the spring. Ananova quoted an insider as saying, "The role is simply tailor-made for Day Lewis but there were several big American names desperate to get involved." (Day Lewis is Irish.)

Source: Studio Briefing