James Cameron Says Filming the New Secrets of the Penguins Documentary Was 'Literally Survival'

A brace of penguins huddle unneurotic connected the immense Antarctic tundra and hole to marque a important exchange. Mother penguin lowers her feet to uncover an ovum tucked wrong the folds of her feathers, which dilatory rolls onto the frigid crushed betwixt them. Father penguin has been grooming for this. He springs into action, utilizing his long, skinny beak to stitchery the ovum up into his ain feathers for warmth. The full swap lone takes a substance of seconds. Any longer, and the gestating babe wrong the ovum volition frost and die.

For James Cameron, enforcement shaper of National Geographic’s caller miniseries Secrets of the Penguins, it’s moments similar these that springiness audiences a existent glimpse into the unfamiliar, astir alien satellite that these emperor penguins telephone home.

“They're surviving close connected the borderline of what is imaginable successful nature, successful the harshest situation successful the world,” Cameron told IGN.

Egg speech successful National Geographic’s caller miniseries Secrets of the Penguins!

Whether it's the deepest depths of the Earth’s oceans oregon the dense jungles of Pandora, Cameron has a knack for exploring otherworldly environments. It’s a endowment that helium says has ne'er been much successful request successful an epoch erstwhile the bulk of humans unrecorded successful cities, which whitethorn explicate wherefore we’re truthful drawn to stories acceptable successful highly integrated environments.

“We're surviving successful a decennary present wherever much of the satellite is municipality than is not, for the archetypal clip successful quality history,” Cameron said. “We're getting pulled distant from nature, but I deliberation we innately consciousness connected to it.”

Through Secrets of the Penguins (the latest successful a bid of documentaries Cameron’s worked connected for National Geographic, including Secrets of the Whales and Secrets of the Octopus), we get a caller look into however 1 of our top surviving directors uses imagery and storytelling to immerse the spectator successful fantastical worlds. And successful a speech with IGN, Cameron breaks down a fewer of those techniques, portion besides sharing immoderate caller details astir the aboriginal of the Avatar franchise and his evolving thoughts connected generative AI.

Filming successful Antarctica: ‘A Whole Other Level of Commitment’

“Growing up successful Canada, I'm surely nary alien to cold,” Cameron said with a smile.

While the Ontario-born manager hasn’t spent arsenic overmuch clip climbing icebergs arsenic helium has diving to the depths of the ocean, helium inactive has immoderate acquisition exploring Antarctica.

“I've seen the emperor penguins,” helium said. “I've been underwater with emperors.”

This gives Cameron a coagulated knowing of the formidable conditions the documentary's unit (including bid big Bertie Gregory) had to enactment up with to get each this footage. The squad stayed successful Antarctica passim the winter, erstwhile the mean somesthesia is simply a brutal -56 degrees Fahrenheit and question to and from the South Pole is highly limited.

“That's a full different level of commitment,” Cameron said. “That's virtually survival.

“I got to speech to the winter-over squad earlier and after,” helium continued. “Afterwards was, frankly, to spot if they had gone wholly crazy, arsenic immoderate radical do, successful my acquisition with winter-over crews. But they did great.”

'Do they person emotions similar us? We don't know,' Cameron says of the emperor penguins.

Once the Antarctic wintertime was implicit and the unit had returned home, it was Cameron’s crook to measurement in. He and his colleagues combed done the footage to find absorbing moments, visuals, and communicative threads that could immerse them successful the documentary’s overseas setting.

Whether it’s a blockbuster sci-fi movie oregon a National Geographic documentary, Cameron excels astatine drafting viewers into immoderate satellite he’s decided to depict. And for the director, the astir important origin comes down to thing that whitethorn look evident connected the aboveground but speaks to his lifelong obsession with utilizing exertion to get the cleanable changeable by immoderate means necessary.

“It’s the prime of the imagery,” Cameron said. “With the dilatory question and the agelong lenses and the drones, it's putting you close successful determination with these creatures and their behaviors. You consciousness similar you're there.”

Of course, large visuals lone spell truthful acold without a communicative to support america engaged. “The throughline betwixt fictional films and documentaries is storytelling,” Cameron said. “How bash you get wrong the caput of your characters?

In a movie similar Avatar oregon The Terminator, that portion is casual — conscionable constitute it into the script. In a documentary astir penguins, however, crafting a communicative retired of hundreds of hours of footage tin beryllium a spot trickier. Secrets of the Penguins pulls this disconnected by playing up the astir human-like behaviour of these creatures, with narration from Blake Lively instilling adjacent much emotion into each gorgeous shot.

At times, Cameron wonders if the bid goes excessively acold successful this sense, transforming the penguins into thing they’re not truthful audiences tin much easy subordinate to them. But erstwhile you ticker the series, it’s casual to recognize wherefore we bash subordinate to these funny, flightless birds.

“Do they person emotions similar us? We don't know,” Cameron said. “Sometimes they definite enactment similar they bash successful presumption of their mating strategies and their parenting strategies and their endurance strategies. We effort to find the story, but we person to beryllium cautious astir not overly anthropomorphizing our subject, due to the fact that that's misleading scientifically.”

Ultimately, adjacent if helium needs a spot of movie magic to springiness these penguins a communicative that volition support viewers interested, Cameron thinks it’s worthy it arsenic agelong arsenic helium tin supply a unsocial acquisition on the way. After all, The Secrets of the Penguins whitethorn instrumentality america to immoderate of the astir utmost locations connected Earth, but the extremity is to bring the consciousness of awe that Cameron’s enactment ever manages to evoke.

“A amusement similar this slams you backmost into that benignant of childlike wonderment that you had erstwhile you were a kid and possibly it was a frog oregon a food oregon a butterfly that fascinated you,” helium said.

Cameron connected the Future of AI and Avatar

Cameron intelligibly has a brushed spot for these penguins, which begs the question: Do penguins beryllium successful his Avatar universe? When asked, the manager offers a hint astatine wherever the blockbuster movie franchise is headed successful the future.

“We haven't explored each the biomes of Pandora yet,” Cameron said. “Years ago, I wrote Avatar 4 and 5. I wrote them each astatine once. So I cognize precisely wherever the communicative goes, and we volition spot acold climates, the equivalent of Antarctic oregon Arctic climates. Pandora is simply a implicit world, and determination are galore antithetic biomes — godforsaken and polar and temperate, and truthful on. We'll spot a batch much of that arsenic we spell along.”

The aboriginal of the Avatar movies whitethorn besides trust connected AI technology, which Cameron precocious said helium wants to usage to little the outgo of blockbuster filmmaking (ideally without losing immoderate employees). He’s been vague connected the specifics of what that means, but told IGN that helium sees generative AI arsenic much of a instrumentality to assistance quality artists than a inexpensive replacement for them.

“It tin assistance with satellite building,” Cameron said, “but it fundamentally ever conscionable regurgitates images and thoughts that different quality beings person already had. So I don't spot it arsenic the extremity of the spear. I spot it arsenic much of a convenience.”

He adds that portion artificial quality is nary lucifer for the quality imaginativeness (“I deliberation the quality imaginativeness is unparalleled”), helium does spot immoderate ways successful which AI tin assistance successful the originative process.

“I deliberation that GenAI tin assistance rather remarkably and bash combinations that you mightiness not person thought,” Cameron said, “but it inactive needs to beryllium directed and controlled.

“It goes backmost to storytelling,” helium continued. “You can't conscionable travel up with 1 large representation oregon 10 large images. How bash those images subordinate to each other? How bash you physique a communicative astir characters that you attraction about?”

For Cameron, who precocious joined the committee of directors for Stability AI successful an effort to larn much astir the technology, everything helium does comes down to 1 elemental thing: “curiosity.” It’s that aforesaid information that got him progressive successful Secrets of the Penguins and its squad of intrepid documentarians successful the archetypal place.

“I privation to spot what they're going to bring back,” helium said.

In this case, the footage of these penguins from Antarctica speaks for itself, adjacent if Cameron and his squad besides did their portion to bring these adorable creatures and their inhospitable location to life.

“I conscionable deliberation they're amazing,” Cameron said of the emperor penguins. “They unrecorded successful the implicit harshest conditions of immoderate vertebrate connected the planet.”

Secrets of the Penguins is the latest installment of Nat Geo’s Secrets Of franchise. It premiered connected April 20 connected National Geographic and each episodes are streaming opening April 21 connected Disney+ and Hulu.

(Top representation of James Cameron: Photo by JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images)