The movie Big Miracle, based on international efforts to free gray whales trapped by Arctic ice in 1988, brought John Krasinski ’01 (center) and Tim Blake Nelson ’86 (right) to Alaska. Krasinski stars as a local TV reporter who entices a Greenpeace volunteer (Drew Barrymore) to town, hoping the story will catapult him into a better job. Nelson plays a smart state wildlife official who forges an unlikely alliance among activists, oil companies, and the Reagan administration.

Courtesy Universal Pictures