Adam DiMarco, whose profile surged following his turn in the second season of HBO's "The White Lotus," is in talks to join the cast of "Dark Ocean," the debut feature from Glassriver, Hollywood Buzz News has confirmed. The project marks the Icelandic production company's first foray into narrative features and pairs DiMarco with an established Nordic ensemble in a psychological drama-thriller set on the unforgiving waters of the North Atlantic.
Baldvin Z, a director well known to Icelandic audiences for his work in film and television, is set to helm the picture. The screenplay, written in English, follows a charismatic fishing trawler captain who has just taken on a young deckhand named Hákon. Hákon accepts the position in order to support his pregnant girlfriend, but the job quickly curdles into something far darker. After a crewmate takes his own life, the captain refuses to turn the vessel back toward shore, and the trawler becomes a pressure cooker of grief, fear and escalating cruelty. Hákon, already battling seasickness, finds himself the target of the crew's bullying. His grip on reality begins to loosen, and a life-threatening accident ultimately forces a reckoning.
The cast is led by Baltasar Kormákur as Hákon. Kormákur is among the most recognizable figures in Icelandic cinema, known both for his acting work and for directing major Hollywood productions. He is joined by Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Þorsteinn Bachmann and Thorvaldur Kristjansson, a lineup that gives the film a deep bench of Nordic talent.
Glassriver's move into features represents a notable expansion for the company, which has built its reputation in television production. "Dark Ocean" is being mounted as an English-language project under the Hollywood industry umbrella, positioning it for international audiences rather than a purely domestic release. No distributor, release date or runtime has been announced.
The film's premise places it in a tradition of maritime thrillers in which isolation at sea magnifies human frailty, though the specifics here are grounded in the mundane economics of a working fishing boat: a young man takes a dangerous job because he needs the money, and the danger arrives not from the weather but from the people around him. The suicide of a crewmate and the captain's refusal to return to port serve as the pivot on which the story turns, shifting the narrative from workplace hardship to a study of deteriorating mental health.
For DiMarco, the attachment signals a continued push toward dramatic material after the comedy-tinged breakout of "The White Lotus." He has been steadily building a feature résumé, and a role in a claustrophobic ensemble piece built around a single vessel would represent a distinct change of register. Details of his character have not been disclosed.
"Dark Ocean" currently holds no rating on TMDb, reflecting its status as an early-stage production with limited public footprint. That is likely to change as casting is finalized and the project moves toward the cameras. Glassriver has not commented on a production timeline, and it remains unclear when the film might shoot or how DiMarco's commitments would fit around his existing schedule.
The combination of Baldvin Z behind the camera and Kormákur in a leading role gives the film considerable credibility within the Nordic industry, while DiMarco's involvement offers a bridge to the English-speaking market that Glassriver is evidently courting. Whether that pairing translates into a saleable international package will depend on how the project advances over the coming months.
For now, "Dark Ocean" stands as one of the more intriguing European projects in early development: a first feature from a television-focused company, an English-language script with a Nordic soul, and a cast that mixes a Hollywood-adjacent rising star with some of Iceland's most respected screen actors. Hollywood Buzz News will update this story as further details emerge.
Source: Hollywood Reporter