William Hurt's Stunt Double Saved Charlie Cox From Drowning On The Set Of Moby Dick
In Herman Melville's original 1851 novel "Moby-Dick," not much was known about the vengeful Capt. Ahab beyond his obsession with finding the story's titular whale. In Mike Barker's 2011 miniseries, Ahab (William Hurt) interacts with his on-screen wife Elizabeth (Gillian Anderson). Ethan Hawke plays Starbuck, Raoul Trujillo plays Queequeg, and Charlie Cox plays the stalwart narrator Ishmael. Cox has recently been getting a great deal of attention from Marvel fans for his performance as the superhero Daredevil in his own show, and for guest spots on "She Hulk: Attorney at Law" and in "Spider-Man: No Way Home." This author first noticed Cox for his performance as Lorenzo in Michael Radford's 2004 adaptation of "The Merchant of Venice." His appearance in "Moby Dick" would immediately be followed by 23 episode of the hit show "Boardwalk Empire," putting the actor on the map.
Filming on "Moby Dick" took place in Malta in 2009. As its story demands, the miniseries features many scenes at sea. There are many moments when multiple characters are gathered in small rowboats. Then — again, as the story demands — many characters are thrown out of said rowboats and into the ocean. In the December 2022 issue of Total Film Magazine, Cox was interviewed about his worst on-screen experience, and he revealed that filming "Moby Dick" included a moment that might have killed him. Those cursed rowboats, it seems, almost offered Cox the same fate as many members of the Pequod.
Luckily, William Hurt's unnamed stunt double — unnamed, but most likely uncredited industry veteran Tomas Ereminas — was there to rescue Cox.
Thwarting death
Charlie Cox was lucky when the day came to shoot the rowboat scene. William Hurt, it seems, did not want to get into the rowboat with his co-stars. Cox cited Hurt's age at the reason for refusing — Hurt was 61 at the time — although it could be just as likely that the star sensed danger that day. Or he simply wasn't in the mood. Regardless, one of Hurt's stunt doubles stepped in. When asked what his worst day of shooting was, Cox recalled:
"I had a stunt go wrong on the TV show 'Moby Dick.' Nobody's fault. I was meant to be on the rowboat with William Hurt but he had said he didn't want to do it. In his place was a stunt double. Anyway, we got pulled, the boat flipped, and my leg was stuck underneath one of the benches. This stunt guy got me out. With all due respect to the late, great Bill Hurt, being the age he was and not being a stuntman, I don't think he would have thought to do that. So this stunt guy potentially saved my life."
The benches Cox referred to are called, in nautical lingo, thwarts. They are ordinarily removable, but in this case, seemed to be locked firm.
The 2011 "Moby Dick" miniseries aired on August 1 and 2 of that same year, and was met with positive reviews, despite its notable changes to the novel's story. Herman Melville's novel, incidentally, has been adapted to film and TV multiple times since its first cinematic iteration in 1926. The 2011 version was the most recent direct filmed adaptation, but both the 2014 miniseries "The Whale" and Ron Howard's 2015 film "In the Heart of the Sea" adapted real-life events that served as inspiration for "Moby-Dick."