With National Geographic and Brian Skerry’s Secret of the Whales arriving on Disney+ to help celebrate Earth Day tomorrow, I recently got to speak with James Cameron about executive producing the fantastic four-part series that aims to educate and inform viewers about five different whale species: orcas, humpbacks, belugas, narwhals and sperm whales.
Secret of the Whales was filmed over three years, in twenty-four locations, and features a number of first-time on camera moments like a sperm whale calf feeding, a Beluga pod adopting a narwhal as part of their pod, and more. In addition, the series shows us that whales are far more complex and more like us than most people realize.
While I thought I knew a lot about whales, I quickly realized how much I still had to learn as I watched the series. I definitely recommend checking it out. Secret of the Whales is narrated by conservationist Sigourney Weaver and scored by French composer Raphaelle Thibaut.
During the interview, Cameron talked about how they used technology to help tell the story, what he wishes people knew about whales, why people should watch the series, and what it will take for humans to understand what whales are saying.
Check out what he had to say in the player above and below is the Secret of the Whales trailer and exactly what we talked about.
Finally, for more on Secret of the Whales, you can pick up the book on Amazon (with a forward by James Cameron) and here’s the National Geographic Magazine Ocean Issue which you can read at the link.
James Cameron:
- Does he think humans will ever be able to understand what whales are saying and what do we need to do to make this happen?
- Why does he want people to tune into Secret of the Whales?
- What does he wish people knew about whales that perhaps they don’t know?
- How he uses technology to help tell stories.
