Drew Barrymore News

A local scientist had a role in a whale of a tale that has hit the silver screen more than 20 years after the events it portrays occurred. As Jim Harvey, the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories' director, recalled the events depicted in 'Big Miracle,' he laced his narrative with the word 'surreal.' The story centers on the rescue of two California gray whales trapped under the Alaskan ice near Point Barrow, the northernmost point in the U.S. Barrow is typically ice-free for only a couple of months a year. The population is 4,000. Harvey's narrative involves a Russian ice breaker, eating Mexican food in a limo and the buzzing of chain saws wielded by Eskimos in a treeless landscape. It was an event that captured the world's attention. 'Big Miracle,' starring Drew Barrymore, tells how the whales became trapped and how a massive effort spearheaded by an environmental activist drew politicians, Cold War superpowers and the news media into the mix. Harvey, a professor of vertebrate ecology specializing in sea birds, sea turtles and marine mammals, had been spending time in Alaska as well as tagging gray whales in Baja California at the time of the rescue. The juvenile whales that became trapped made a mistake, and scientists generally don't want to intervene in these situations, Harvey said. 'Whales get caught in the ice, not all the time, but frequently enough that it wasn't a big deal for us,' he said. 'Once the media and the public got a hold of it, it became a big deal.' Harvey was working at National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle when he and his friend, Dave Withrow of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, were asked to help. As related in a Moss Landing Marine Labs blog by Brynn Hooten, the trapped whales were first noticed by an Eskimo returning from a hunt. A local scientist wanted to record their sounds but didn't have the gear so he asked a friend at a local TV station for help. Reporters got involved and their footage soon intrigued the world. One whale disappeared and may have died without finding anywhere to breathe. A company sent chainsaws north to help. Rescuers cut new holes in the ice with the chainsaws but the whales for a time wouldn't leave the safety of their own open holes. Eventually, they moved to the new ones. 'These were three juvenile animals and they made a mistake ... an error in judgment in time' and didn't get around Point Barrow before the ice trapped them, Harvey said. An ice ridge had built up along the shore that was far too thick for chainsaws to cut through. But a Soviet icebreaker was in the nearby Beaufort Sea. In a Cold War 'kumbaya' moment during the era of 'glasnost' (openness/transparency), the Russians were asked to help. That gave our government concern because the Soviets would be close to the Naval Arctic Research Lab. 'It was surreal,' Harvey said. The icebreaker crashed a path right to the whales and backed out, giving them an path to the open sea. 'I feel confident we gave them a fighting chance,' Harvey said in the blog. Harvey has not seen the movie, which opened Feb. 3, but plans to. 'Most biologists consider it to be part of natural selection,' Harvey said, about whales getting trapped in ice. Beginning around October, when ice starts closing in, gray whales start what is thought to be the longest migration by a mammal, traveling from the Arctic to Baja California to mate and back. They are often seen off the Monterey County coast and whale-watching trips are big business. Harvey is not depicted in the movie, but it's an adventure he has related to his lab students over the years. 'It was the most dynamic and public thing I did in Alaska,' he said. He said many of his students, past and present, want to see the movie because he has regaled them with the story over the years. 'Some of my old students are contacting me now ... saying 'Hey, we remember your story.' ' Harvey never did any whale tagging but the two weeks he spent on the scene during the three-week rescue is where the 'surreal' meets the sublime. With all the attention the whales were receiving, rescuers and scientists figured they were stressed enough and didn't want to stress them more with tagging. 'It was surreal in a lot of ways for me,' Harvey said. 'Having that many media in Barrow must have been surreal for the natives.' The influx of rescuers, government officials and media overwhelmed the available rooms in Barrow, so Harvey and crew bunked at the government research station. They were flown to the whale site daily by helicopter and ferried to lunch in a limo owned by the northernmost Mexican restaurant in the world. And the food? 'Surprisingly good for Barrow,' Harvey said. 'Now I live in Watsonville, where Mexican food is the norm.' Going from the surreal to the serious, Harvey said the whales would have died without the rescue. He feels proud about his real-life role in such a historic event. 'Once you are tasked with helping out, it felt very good when the outcome was positive,' he said. 'It sounds like it's a movie made for the family. Consequently, I'm sure that young kids and older folks will enjoy the interaction that humans sometimes have with whales,' Harvey said. 'Humans sometimes can have a positive influence on whales' lives.'

One thing screenwriters never forget is that amnesia is a go-to plot device that moviegoers respond to time and time again.

If the Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore chuckler "50 First Dates" had been recast as a romantic drama and produced by the Oprah Winfrey Network, "The Vow" might have been the result.

A DANGEROUS METHOD . David Cronenberg adapts Christopher Hampton's play "The Talking Cure," about tortured relationships among the pioneers of psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud , Carl Jung and Sabina Spielrein .

Drew Barrymore 's seamlessly transitioned from starring in her latest film, Big Miracle , to photographing Shailene Woodley for Vs.

"Why are we going to see "Free Willy: 2012 Edition?" my husband asked this weekend.

Alaska is the setting for another heartbreaking survival story revolving around the plight of three California gray whales in October of 1988.

This month's offering of student movie reviews - which have now moved from print to online only - from the 826 Valencia student program is "Big Miracle," starring Drew Barrymore.

'Big Miracle' is a large-hearted Drew Barrymore tale A that's a whale of a good time for allA In a quiet move that will draw some applause and likely raise a few further questions, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced Thursday it will induct the backup groups for six previous solo inductees.

Drew Barrymore in a scene from Big Miracle, a film about the rescue of a family of gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle.

John Krasinski and Drew Barrymore in Big Miracle AP Photo Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our MyCapture site.

Hollywood delivers a family-friendly embellishment of events that unfolded in Alaska in 1988 when a family of gray whales became stranded under ice and faced certain death.

Finally, a PG, family-friendly flick that won't make you cringe. In theaters this Friday, is a heartwarming story inspired by real-life events, which features the completely adorable team of John Krasinski, Drew Barrymore, and a very lovable family of endangered gray whales.

We loved sharing our I'm a Huge Fan Drew Barrymore just in time for the release of her new movie Big Miracle , which is in theaters now.

What you should know: This is a fictionalized account of the 1988 rescue of whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle.

The debate over the sole source contracting privileges that Alaska Native corporations have used to make billions of dollars is flaring in Congress with a new government audit that found lax oversight of the program.

Loosely based on Thomas Rose 's 1989 "Freeing the Whales: How the Media Created the World's Greatest Non-Event" about the real-life, Reagan-era rescue that riveted the nation's attention onto the tiny town of Barrow, Alaska, this family-friendly, feel-good story revolves around the plight of three gray whales trapped under a thickening slab of ice ... (more)

Genre: Uplifting Drama Directed by: Ken Kwapis Starring: John Krasinski, Drew Barrymore, Ted Danson, Kristen Bell, Dermot Mulroney The best thing I can say about Big Miracle - the latest, with Dolphin Tale and Free Willy , in uplifting marine-mammal drama - is that it's perfectly fine for exactly what it is.

Screenwriter Geoff LaTulippe is set to make his directing debut with an upcoming project for Paramount, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed today.

Drew Barrymore has revealed that she will likely take on fewer acting roles in the future.