After receiving mixed reviews for his attempt to portray real-life courage under fire in Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor, Mark Wahlberg is signing up to bring a more clear cut act of true heroism to the big screen. A couple of years ago, it was announced that Lionsgate, Summit Entertainment and Participant Media would all team up to make a movie about the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and resulting oil spill that took place in the Gulf of Mexico back in April of 2010. The movie will reportedly focus on members of the Deepwater Horizon drilling crew and their fight for survival after the explosion tears through the oil rig and causes it to slowly sink into the sea. Although Ric Roman Waugh (Snitch) was originally attached to direct, they recently secured a much more interesting director in J.C. Chandor (All is Lost). Now it appears that the project may also have its first major cast member.

According to Deadline, Mark Wahlberg is in talks to play the No. 2 manager in the upcoming oil rig disaster movie, tentatively titled Deepwater Horizon. Based on a New York Times article by David Barstow, David Rohde and Stephanie Saul, the script was originally penned by Matthew Sand (Ninja Assassin) but has since been overhauled by Matthew Michael Carnahan (World War Z, State of Play). Lorenzo di Bonaventura is producing along with Mark Vahradian (Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Transformers: Age of Extinction).

The Transformers: Age of Extinction connection might explain how Mark Wahlberg got involved in the project, although he’s no stranger to playing rugged blue collar roles on screen. There is some concern that the movie might come off as exploitative, but it will be interesting to see if they place any blame at the feet of major corporations like BP or Halliburton. Are you looking forward to Deepwater Horizon?