Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster is a 1992 movie depicting the "Exxon Valdez" oil spill disaster off the coast of Alaska. Directed by Paul Seed, it stars Christopher Lloyd, John Heard, Rip Torn and Michael Murphy. Most of the film was shot in Vancouver, Richmond and Steveston, British Columbia, but it also utilizes archival film clips of the actual disaster and cleanup efforts. On March 24, 1989, the "Exxon Valdez" oil tanker struck a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. It was the worst oil spill of its time, releasing over of crude
Sea Empress oil spill oil. A full scale emergency plan was activated by the authorities. News of the grounding was first reported at 21:18 on the BBC's Nine O'Clock News – just over an hour after she ran aground. Over the next few days, efforts to pull the vessel from the rocks continued. Tugboats were drafted in from the ports of Dublin, Liverpool and Plymouth to assist with the salvage operation. The "Sea Empress" disaster occurred in Britain's only coastal national park and in one of only three UK marine nature reserves. The tanker ran aground very close to the islands of Skomer and