Earth Day 2024 is fast approaching (coming Monday, April 22), and that means the entertainment industry has some big environmental-themed releases. Last year, Netflix debuted Life on Our Planet, and the platform's nature-docuseries fun doesn't stop there. Our Living World, narrated by the always superb Cate Blanchett, drops on Netflix today, April 17th, and explores the hidden interconnections on planet Earth, and how the actions of people and animals create astonishing effects that can ultimately be felt on a global scale.
The Academy Award-winning Blanchett once played a magical character in the renowned Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Now, she's telling a magical sort of real-life tale about the way our peculiar planet operates. And her soothing but firm voice is certainly aided by incredible wildlife photography in the new Netflix series, both above ground and underwater. The series producer behind it all is Ben Roy, who knows his way around the block when it comes to nature shows, having also produced projects at BBC, PBS, and more. We recently caught up with Roy to learn more about Our Living World and what it was like teaming up with the iconic Blanchett.
Ben Roy Says Everything Is Connected in Our Living World
Our Living World (2024)
Release DateApril 17, 2024
CastCate Blanchett
GenresNature, Documentary
Seasons1
ProducerBen Roy, James Shelton, and James Honeyborne
Streaming Service(s)Netflix
Since Roy has dabbled in this exciting television genre before, we were curious, now that it's complete, how he thinks Our Living World distinguishes itself from the number of other related projects out there (Planet Earth, etc.). "The key difference here is the bigger-picture story that we're telling, that this is based on animal behavior, and we've got some very cool animals, very cute animals doing some very cool things," he told MovieWeb. Roy continued:
"The revelation that actually everything that we're looking at is connected, that all life on the planet is connected, and that all life on the planet is not only influenced by the physical processes on the planet, that the animals aren't just influenced by their environment, they have their own influence on that environment, and that the knock-on effect of their behavior can be felt far and wide. I think that was the big difference for me, that this is all connected."
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Another distinction that gives Our Living World bragging rights over the others: Cate Blanchett. "We knew that we wanted a female voice for the show, with Mother Nature and the nurturing, and the cooperative side of the natural world is the story that we're telling," said Roy. "And I think that at the back of our minds, we had [Blanchett's LOTR character] Galadriel walking through the forests and the Elven magic. And you've seen the visuals — we're kind of doing magical stuff. We're telling magical stories."
This is nature's magic. It's invisible, but it happens. This is stuff where a little effect at one end of the planet can have a massive effect somewhere else. It's not magic, but it's magical stuff.
Roy continued on Blanchett's vast array of pertinent talents:
"And when Cate got on board, she's tapped into this ecological thinking. She's got her own podcast where she's talking about hope in the face of a changing climate. And she's a beekeeper, so she's tapped into the seasonality and the interconnectedness of species of plants and animals, and so on and so forth. As well as it just being kind of like a dream fit for us, it was also a natural fit."
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Cate Blanchett is a prolific actress who most recently starred in the incredible film TR. These are her best performances to date."And she's a great storyteller," added Roy. "She's really elevated some of the stories that we've gone out and tapped into. And we're working with some of the best scientists in the world, doing cutting-edge research, looking at animal behavior or meteorology, or whatever that might be. And if we can combine that with one of the best actors of our generation to tell the stories, then I think we're onto a winner."
Making an Important Nature Show That's Also Entertaining
Given Roy's experience with networks like PBS and the BBC, one has to wonder if turning to a streaming giant like Netflix might present its own share of unique obstacles or challenges. "I don't think the production process is necessarily different," said Roy in thinking about the differences. "We are striving very hard to make a piece of entertainment. And that was a key thing to us." He elaborated:
"There's no good making shows that are dense with science and that are revelatory of all these kind of amazing systems and amazing connections around the planet if you can't entertain an audience enough to stay with you. So you'll see, as you kind of go through the series, that we have fun behavioral sequences with the music and the script... We've got the hippos in a hot tub, and so on and so forth."
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Documentaries about the environment can function as a major catalyst for positive change."We're very aware that this is an entertainment platform, and that there is lots of other stuff that our audience could be watching," continued Roy. "So we just don't want them to watch this because they should. We want them to watch this because they want to watch it."
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And since this is entertaining content, at the end of the day, it's plain to see influences from pop culture and other forms of media when watching any one of the exciting episodes of Our Living World. "We try and work with as diverse a creative team as we can, and everyone has their own inspirations, and everyone has their own areas of interest," Roy told us.
"So when one of the editors comes in having watched this amazing horror film, like, 'I think we can bring some of this feeling into this scene.' Or, one of our researchers is like, 'I was watching a TED Talk, and there was this little kind of crumb in there that I think we can build out into an entertaining kind of beat here or something.' So we're not working in isolation for those two to three years that we're making these shows," concluded Roy. "We're not all out in the field the whole time, locked inside. We're very much tapped into what else is going on."
And the fun doesn't stop here. Roy revealed to us that he's already in production for a follow-up series at Netflix, titled Our Water World. Details are under wraps, but in the meantime, Our Living World premieres on Netflix April 17. You can watch it through the link below:
