Adam DiMarco, who gained recognition for playing Albie Di Grasso in the second season of The White Lotus, will lead Dark Ocean, the first feature film from Icelandic production company Glassriver. DiMarco will play Hákon, a 28-year-old Canadian-born Icelander who joins a North Atlantic fishing trawler on his first long voyage to support his pregnant girlfriend. The psychological survival drama also stars Icelandic actor and filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur as Captain Andri and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Höddi. Filming is scheduled to begin in March 2027 in Iceland and St. John’s, Newfoundland, bringing Icelandic and Canadian filmmakers together for the production.
For Hákon, going to sea is intended as a practical step towards providing for his growing family. Instead, he enters a closed world where the work is relentless, the ocean is unforgiving and showing vulnerability can carry a cost. On board, grief and silence shape the crew’s relationships, while a harsh, hypermasculine culture leaves little room for uncertainty. The film follows Hákon as he attempts to find his place among men whose rules and ways of coping are unfamiliar to him.
The setting gives Dark Ocean a story that extends beyond survival at sea. The fishing trawler becomes a pressure cooker in which questions of belonging, masculinity and emotional restraint come into focus. Hákon is both a newcomer to the crew and someone trying to build a future in a country he has only recently made home. The contrast between his responsibilities on shore and the demanding world at sea provides the drama with its central tension.
The project also marks a significant milestone for Glassriver, an Icelandic production company known for its television and film work, including the crime drama Black Sands. Dark Ocean will be the company’s debut feature film, building on its move to establish a dedicated film division for original features and international co-productions. Glassriver co-owner Baldvin Z, who directed Black Sands, will direct and produce the film. The screenplay is written by Matthías Tryggvi Haraldsson.
The cast brings DiMarco together with two prominent Icelandic performers. Kormákur, known internationally for his work as both an actor and a director, will portray Captain Andri, while Ólafsson, whose credits include Severance, will play Höddi. Further casting announcements are expected.
The filmmaking team also brings together talent from Iceland and Canada. Award-winning editor Valdís Óskarsdóttir, whose credits include Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, is attached to edit the film. Canadian composer Anne Nikitin, known for her work on Scoop and American Animals, will compose the score. Their involvement adds experienced post-production talent to a story built around atmosphere, tension and the emotional weight of life at sea.
The cross-border partnership reflects the film’s own connections between Iceland and Canada. Its central character is Canadian-born and Icelandic, and his story unfolds between personal responsibility and an unfamiliar working environment. With filming planned for Iceland and St. John’s, Newfoundland, the production will draw on locations on both sides of the North Atlantic. The sea, the isolation and the demands of the job are integral to the pressure Hákon faces rather than simply serving as a backdrop.
With DiMarco at its centre and a creative team combining Icelandic filmmaking experience with Canadian talent, Dark Ocean is taking shape as an intimate survival drama about the demands of work, the pressures of masculinity and the difficulty of expressing vulnerability. The production will also mark Glassriver’s move into feature filmmaking, expanding the company’s work beyond its established television projects.