Character mistake: When Mike's wife is watching the news about the oil rig on fire, you can see the TV with part of the U.S. map on it and 'Mississippi' is misspelled as Missisippi. (01:09:10)
Continuity mistake: The mud patterns on Vidrine's hard hat are constantly changing towards the end of the film. This is after the mud has stopped flowing. (01:17:10)
Trivia: When Mr Jimmy gets off the helicopter, he has a quick discussion with Mr. Skip who is played by director Peter Berg. (00:14:00)
Continuity mistake: Just as the well kicks for the first time, the drill shack gets covered in mud. The camera changes to a wide shot outside the shack and it's no longer covered in mud. (00:48:50)
Continuity mistake: The diagram Don draws on the whiteboard keeps changing between shots. Note the number of dots he puts on there. (00:41:00)
Continuity mistake: When walking to the chopper at the start, Mike is wearing a baseball cap and carrying a bag in each hand. He shouldn't be wearing a cap anyway, as all caps or hats are required to be placed in your baggage before you ever step out on the tarmac. Camera cuts and the hat has disappeared. (00:13:00)
Continuity mistake: We see Mike and his wife in bed at the start and the wife doesn't have a blanket over her lower body. Angle changes and she does. Her body is constantly changing position between shots too. (00:03:10)
Trivia: When Mr. Jimmy is calling out names on the boat to see who's missing, the real Mr. Jimmy Harrell is standing next to him, wearing a dirty grey T-shirt (and presumably playing a random rig worker). You can first see him (from the back) when Russell calls out Caleb Holloway's name. The first view of his face is just as Russell gets out the life raft onto the deck of the rescue ship. (01:28:30)
Answer: The disaster started as a gas blow-out followed by a massive explosion on the oil rig, visible from 40 miles away. Eleven people were killed. Two days later, the burning rig collapsed into the sea, which severed the wellhead at a depth of over 4000 feet. If anything, the movie underplayed the disaster.
Charles Austin Miller
Actually, according to history vs Hollywood the real life explosion was equally as bad as what's shown in the movie.