Lobster diver Michael Packard’s whale ordeal meets the film ‘Whalefall’

Lobster diver Michael Packard was trapped in a whale’s mouth while underwater off Provincetown, Massachusetts, on June 11, 2021.

He says he was inside the whale’s mouth, not swallowed, and escaped the ordeal.

His case is the only documented extended trapping of a diver inside a whale.

The film “Whalefall,” opening nationwide Friday, follows a scuba diver trying to escape from inside a whale.

The film is adapted from a 2023 book, not Packard’s story; the book was mostly inspired by a kayaker’s brief encounter with a whale.

Packard’s experience and the film both explore survival, life at sea and the fear of being consumed by something larger.

The film’s release brings Packard’s remarkable survival story to audiences.