MovieChat Forums > In the Heart of the Sea (2015) Discussion > Old man Nickerson is 44?, i'm not bying ...

Old man Nickerson is 44?, i'm not bying it.

posted 8 years ago by StanleyKubrick2001
6 replies | jump to latest

So obviously Ron Howard wanted us to think that old man was Owen Chase in the future, telling his story. It would fit perfectly, Owen Chase would be around 60 years old in 1850, looks about right. But surprise surprise, it's actually the kid. Well i guessed that the old guy was the kid early in the movie, and my friend said it couldn't be him, it's only 30 years in the future. And i said i think they made him seem like Owen Chase on purpose to throw us off. I was right.
I *beep* hate it when directors do that *beep* I expected more from Ron Howard. How dumb does he think the audience is? Last time i watch a Ron Howard movie.

Brendan Gleeson (the actor playing old man Nickerson) is 61 years old. I don't care how "hard" a life you have lived, you don't look that old when your 44, plain and simple. My grand-uncle worked with silver and coal mining all his life, that's a *beep* hard life if there ever was one. And when he was 44 he didn't look like a 61 year old man. So that argument doesn't work.

[–] TheLeen 8 years ago

> I don't care how "hard" a life you have lived

> I don't care

Well, that's your problem right there.

[–] jjk50 8 years ago

" I don't care how "hard" a life you have lived"
Well I have known a couple of people that were barely 40 and I thought they were at least 60.

[–] Nanosecond 8 years ago

There was nothing to guess. Herman Melville said Tom Nickerson's name were they were making introductions at the start of the movie before it flashes back in time. It wasn't a fake out. You just weren't paying attention. However, I do agree that the age and appearance of the actor Brendan Gleeson is problematic when his younger self is portrayed by Tom Holland. They tried to address the hair color change due to the time out in the sun, but his hair (and facial hair) would have changed or grown back to its natural hair color days after his rescue.

[–] Lazaka 8 years ago

What is this fckery?

He said "I was 14 at the time, just a boy" and they show Tom Holland as Nickerson immediately in a flashback. I must have missed something because I knew it was told from Tommy's POV. What I didn't know is if anyone else survived because Melville says "you're the last known survivor of The Essex" giving us the impression that he may have been the last survivor vs. the only one left alive.

Your rant about him looking older is also ridiculous because people back then looked terribly weathered when they lived by the sea and he was an alcoholic, his wife stated he was drinking his money away.

Shall I post some 44 year old's who are alcoholics to prove my point, or do you understand?

Joon:you're out of your tree Sam: it's not my tree 

[–] j_mcmillan33 8 years ago

Yeah did you watch the movie? It was told right away who he is. Dumb *beep*

[–] malley321 8 years ago

But surprise surprise, it's actually the kid. Well i guessed that the old guy was the kid early in the movie, and my friend said it couldn't be him, it's only 30 years in the future. And i said i think they made him seem like Owen Chase on purpose to throw us off. I was right.

Yeah, it was a dumb twist, but I like all the subtle hints they gave us leading up to it, like when he introduces himself to Melville as Thomas Nickerson instead of Owen Chase, and when he says at the beginning of the story "I was 14-years-old at the time", and the many times during his story he refers to Owen Chase as a separate person, or when we see young Nickerson climb inside the dead whale and old Nickerson tells us about it. In hindsight I'm surprised I didn't see it coming, but obviously nothing gets past you.