According to Deadline, Oscar winners Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin and BAFTA-nominated director Natalie Hewit are joining the National Geographic documentary with the working title Endurance.
What’s Happening:
- Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, and Natalie Hewit are working with National Geographic on a new documentary with the working title Endurance.
- This is the story of "the epic search to find the lost ship of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton."
- This announcement comes a year after Shackleton’s ship Endurance was discovered on the Weddell Sea floor near the northernmost part of the Antarctic.
- Shackleton and his crew set sail in late 1914 on an exploratory mission endorsed by Winston Churchill.
- The ship became trapped in sea ice, which forced the crew to quit the vessel and set up camp on an ice floe.
- On November 27, 1915, Endurance sank, and one crewman wrote, "She went down bow first, her stern raised in the air. She then gave one quick dive, and the ice closed over her forever."
- Production on the documentary is underway, and there is no release date as of yet.
What They're Saying:
- “We are delighted to share this inspiring story of exploration, grit and perseverance with the world,” said Carolyn Bernstein, executive vice president of Documentary Films at National Geographic. “Chai and Jimmy are bold, ambitious and nuanced storytellers, perfectly cast to bring this gripping story to life, along with their exceptionally talented co-director Nat Hewit, who has a unique first-hand perspective as part of the Endurance22 expedition. We feel privileged to share this astounding discovery with audiences around the world and to dramatize the extraordinary tale of survival that started it all.”
- “We have dedicated our careers to telling stories about the edge of human experience, exploration and possibility,” Vasarhelyi and Chin said. “Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance is the definitive true story of adventure and survival against all odds. With the discovery of his long-lost ship — which sank over 100 years ago in the unforgiving Weddell Sea — by a group of fearless scientists, we are able to revisit Shackleton’s story of hardship, bravery and leadership with a fresh lens. We are thrilled to be able to work with Nat Hewit and the team and look forward to using cutting-edge technology to bring this story of friendship, grit, inspiration and discovery to contemporary audiences of all ages.”