Chris Hemsworth and the crew of his new movie “In the Heart of the Sea” had to flee devastating flash floods and mudslides, which killed five people, while filming in the Canary Islands Monday, Page Six can exclusively reveal.
The “Thor” star, who’s shooting with director Ron Howard in the Spanish archipelago off North Africa, had to abandon the La Gomera set under emergency orders from local authorities.
Oscar-winner Howard tweeted pictures of rivers of mud and falling rocks as his team fled. He started out by writing, “Rare heavy rain in La Gomera forced us to our small converted cover stage.” Then, “Torrential outside.” Next he tweeted, “Soon we were advised to wrap and evacuate. Pronto. ASAP,” along with a photo of torrents of mud.
Howard continued with a picture showing them driving through further rivers of mud — “Good luck that no cars or people were swept away or hit by tumbling rocks.”
The movie is based on the maritime disaster that inspired Herman Melville’s “Moby-Dick.” In 1820, the New England ship Essex was assaulted by a mammoth whale. “In the Heart of the Sea” reveals the harrowing aftermath as surviving crew members are pushed to their limits. Hemsworth, 30, recently told Jimmy Kimmel, “A bunch of sailors in a whaling ship get struck by a whale, the ship sinks and they jump onto the small rafts and drift for 90 days. Basically, they begin to die and eat each other.”
According to local reports, five people died when an intense storm caused flash floods on the island of Tenerife, 20 miles from La Gomera. The deluge cut all power and left hundreds homeless.
Howard’s partner at Imagine Entertainment, Brian Grazer, added, “There was a near-typhoon, which is very rare for that area. Ron had to shut down the production and get everyone out of there. Thankfully, none of the cast or crew were hurt. Production has been put on hold.”