When Netflix’s The Woman in Cabin 10 took its cast and crew out to sea, Below Deck Mediterranean’s Malia White was there to make sure no one went overboard—literally. Working behind the scenes, the seasoned bosun used her maritime expertise to keep the thriller’s production safe on the water.
Based on the 2016 best-selling novel, the film stars Keira Knightley as a journalist aboard a luxury superyacht in the North Sea. When she witnesses a passenger go overboard, no one believes her, setting off a tense, suspenseful quest for the truth.
The story unfolds aboard the 274-foot (83.5-meter) Feadship Savannah, a four-deck masterpiece featuring a sweeping rosewood staircase, a glass-walled master suite, high-tech video walls, and unique observation spaces like the bow “secret room” and partially submerged Nemo Room. Filmed in the chilly English Channel with a 70-person crew alongside Savannah’s permanent 25-person team, the yacht’s elegance and engineering provide the perfect dramatic backdrop for a high-seas thriller.
Malia and her team of real yachties lent their knowledge to production, helping ensure certain scenes were realistic. “We were on board with the actors and for certain scenes, like there’s the man overboard scene, or the mayday in the bridge,” Malia exclusively shares with Captain Sandy’s Charities. “We talked them through how it would actually happen and what protocols we would actually follow.”
Her main focus, however, was the safety of approximately 50 people on set. “A lot of the movie was filmed at sea, so it was just making sure that everything was done slowly, safely. An example would be that no actors were going down onto the swim platform when we are in DP or we were underway. We always had eyes and ears everywhere so that we could account for everyone’s safety.”
For the most part, everything ran smoothly—except for one close call. “One of the maritime coordination boats, they had these big like commercial looking barges that had the camera cranes on them. And there was one scene in particular that they were filming and they had to pan the camera close to us. And for the deck crew, we didn’t know how close they needed to get for the shot. But our boat and their boat got extremely close. It was a very close call. And we wondered if maybe they’re meaning to do that? But if there’s a wind gust and they had pushed too close to us … it was too close for comfort.”
Alongside the deck team, Savannah’s interior crew made sure the yacht remained pristine. Some actual crew even appeared as extras, playing crew members. And while Malia isn’t on camera—because seeing Malia from Below Deck suddenly in the movie would have been strange—viewers can spot her cabin. “The crew cabin you see in the movie is my cabin!” she shares. “You see my stuffed animal in there. I’m on the top bunk.”
Malia spent most of her time in the bridge when Savannah’s Captain Chris Durham appeared on camera. She particularly enjoyed observing Livetts, the maritime coordination team hired to manage logistics. The Livetts team basically ran the day to day tasks needed to support production.
“For example, our Chefs couldn’t cook for the entire production team, so they would have food brought in by tender or if actors needed to come and go, they weren’t relying solely on the deck crew, it was all this marine coordination team,” Malia recalls.
She was also fascinated by Livett’s work with the stunt team. “The stunts were so cool to watch and it made me want to be a stunt woman,” she says, describing a scene where the stuntwoman performs the fall of Knightley’s character from the bridge deck into the covered pool. The work of the coordination team highlighted another career in the maritime industry that intrigued Malia.
In real life, Savannah is as stunning as she appears on screen. “Savannah is a highly successful charter boat,” Malia notes, reflecting on that pool scene. “One of the coolest parts about the swimming pool is from the Nemo Room, which has glass paneling on the hull. You can see the ocean and you have the swimming pool behind you,” she describes. “That’s off the swim platform. You can go into the Nemo Room and the pool’s behind you and the ocean’s in front of you. A bitch to clean — those windows are not my favorite.”
For Malia, the experience was a unique blend of adrenaline, education, and admiration for her industry. From ensuring safety at sea to witnessing the precision of the maritime coordination team and stunt performers, she saw firsthand how her world of yachts and crew life could seamlessly intersect with Hollywood storytelling.
In the end, The Woman in Cabin 10 isn’t just a suspenseful thriller—it’s a high-seas showcase of real maritime skill, dedication, and the beauty of superyacht life.
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