Alphas: What we know about Orca vs Great White shark movie

There are three shapes in the water: a huge great white shark and an even bigger orca circle each other like the yin/yang symbol. Between them is a tiny helpless-looking man in diving flippers. His arms are outstretched, as though he can’t decide which animal to ward off. The scene is dark and ominous. The word in the middle: Alphas. Both ‘A’s are styled to look like jutting dorsal fins. 
It’s a hell of an image, but where’s our movie??



Alphas poster art first appeared a few years ago and except for that killer promo image, the details were maddeningly vague, with a few specifics thrown in. Apparently Sam Worthington was going to be in it! His sister’s a surfer (uh oh!) And there’s a whole pod of baby orcas! Cute! 



And then it all went quiet. Why?



Well, the year that this poster emerged was 2020 and the world got rather preoccupied shortly after the poster art was released. Then Sam Worthington started working on other projects (like continuing the Avatar series), and original director Steven Quale is now connected to the production of a supernatural mystery involving an aeroplane. 


Alphas seemed to have entered what is known as ‘development hell’ in the movie industry- where various issues and problems plague a movie production so much that the whole thing goes into limbo.



So, that’s where Alphas has sat… until now. 



Here’s what we know: 




What’s it about? 


The same plot as before, it seems! The Great White shark population is now out of control (which is a bizarre choice for a species classified as Vulnerable) and an environmentalist called Gavin* thinks of a natural solution. He persuades a former orca trainer who now owns an orca sanctuary to release a pod of juvenile orcas to try and drive out the surplus sharks. But there’s an alpha female shark out there and she’s more than a match for the juvenile pod. Now the only hope is one particularly badass orca, but there’s a catch: it nearly killed its trainer- the sanctuary owner. Can she be persuaded to release it and save the beach (and the environmentalist’s sister’s surfing competition**) from the shark? 


* yes, really. Gavin.


** yes, really. A surfing competition.




Who’s in it? 


IMDB says we have Martin Henderson taking over from Sam Worthington as Gavin, Jordan Brewster as Lisette, and Teagan Croft as Jessa. It looks like Lisette is our former orca trainer and Jessa is Gavin’s little sister. 


Martin Henderson has the long resume of someone who has acted since they were a teenager, and after his big break in 90s TV show Echo Point, he has had parts in almost every genre out there. He is most known for playing Jack Sheridan in Virgin River, Dr Nathan Riggs in Grey’s Anatomy, and Stuart Neilson in Shortland Street… though he was also Britney Spears’s boyfriend in the music video for Toxic… 


Jordana Brewster knows all about action movies! She’s played Mia in the Fast and the Furious franchise, Maureen Cahill in the Lethal Weapon TV series, often does her own stunts and has said she wants to be a Bond girl. It looks like there will be stunts involved here then! 


Teagan Croft is a newer actress, but has played Raven in the Titans TV series. She’ll have these two experienced actors with her though- and presumably a surfing double. 




Who else is working on it? 


An interesting choice of director- Liam O’Donnell has replaced Steven Quale. There are few directing credits on his IMDB page: Skyline, Portals and Beyond Skyline- which all involve a lot of action and saving people from a threat - but the threat in all three is aliens, not a shark. 
Original writer Christopher Tuffin is now credited as a producer. He’s worked on shark movie Dark Tide (which unfortunately flopped like a captive orca’s dorsal fin) as well as action movie Peppermint (which did not)! 




Anything else interesting?


It looks like the female characters in the movie might just save themselves- Alphas has been connected to Sentient Entertainment- a production and management company that has promoted female-led action movies like Canary Black starring Kate Beckinsale, and Freelance starring Alison Brie and John Cena. 


Filming is set to begin in Australia this year… 




Words by Faith Roswell author of Movie Monsters of The Deep

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