Disney debuts first, stormy trailer for Coast Guard rescue drama The Finest Hours

By Rick Marshall July 9, 2015

This week might be heavy on the geekery due to Comic-Con, but there are still some serious dramas making a bid for your attention amid all of the superhero, sci-fi, and fantasy fare. Disney’s upcoming open-sea thriller The Finest Hours is one such project, and the studio just released the first trailer for the film featuring stars Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, and Eric Bana.

Based on a 2009 novel of the same name by Casey Sherman and Michael J. Tougias, The Finest Hours chronicles the true story of a daring 1952 rescue mission attempted by the U.S. Coast Guard after a massive storm off the coast of Cape Cod ripped two oil tankers in half. Pine plays Coast Guard Captain Bernie Webber, who leads a small team aboard a wooden boat tasked with bringing home the tankers’ crews. Affleck plays the senior officer aboard the S.S. Pendleton, one of the tankers, and Bana plays U.S. Coast Guard Warrant Officer Daniel Cluff, who orders the rescue mission.

Widely regarded as the greatest small-boat rescue in Coast Guard history, the events of the rescue mission were described to The Finest Hours screenwriters Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson by survivors of the ordeal. The film was shot on location at various points around Massachusetts where the actual events took place.

Directed by Million Dollar Arm filmmaker Craig Gillespie, The Finest Hours also stars Ben Foster (Lone Survivor), Holliday Grainger (Cinderella), John Ortiz (Blackhat), Josh Stewart (Dirt), and Kyle Gallner (The Haunting in Connecticut).

The film is being presented in Digital 3D and IMAX 3D, with the studio promising to deliver a theater experience that puts you on the opens sea right along with the characters. (Rain gear not included, apparently).

The Finest Hours arrives in standard, 3D, and IMAX 3D theaters January 29, 2016.

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