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00:00I'm Matt Carey, documentary editor at Deadline.com.
00:04On Deadline Contenders, Doc Unscripted and Variety,
00:07we have for you now a dazzling documentary series
00:11from Universal Television Alternative Studio and NBC.
00:15It is The Americas, narrated by Tom Hanks.
00:20Joining us now is executive producer Mike Gunton.
00:22Thank you so much for being with us, Mike.
00:24No, it's a pleasure. Very nice to be with you, Matt.
00:26The Americas reveals the wonder of Earth's great supercontinent,
00:31which, as the series explores,
00:33is home to the widest variety of life on the planet.
00:37Before we get into some questions,
00:39let's take a look at a clip from The Americas.
00:41This is from Episode 7 about the Andes,
00:44where we witness a spectacular scene on a red lake
00:47that becomes a rendezvous point for James's Chilean and Andean flamingos.
00:53On an unseen cue, a dance-off begins.
01:06The smaller Jameses are in danger of being pushed out
01:10before it even begins.
01:12Over four feet tall,
01:18the Chileans can strut in the deep water,
01:21while the enigmatic Andeans
01:27rumba by the smoke machine.
01:30But at last, the Jameses get their groove on, too.
01:42A tango at the top of the world.
01:45These courtship dances last for weeks.
02:06One by one, lovers unite,
02:09as eventually they find a mate.
02:26But until then, the dance continues.
02:30Of course, that is wonderful music
02:35by Quincy Jones,
02:36Sol Bossa Nova.
02:38It really, I think, gives us a sense of,
02:41at times, the playfulness
02:43of the series.
02:45I mean, you're imparting a lot of information
02:47and yet doing it in a very entertaining style.
02:50That was very much the ambition of the project.
02:55I mean, it is a huge ambition
02:56in the sense that it's 10 hours,
02:58which we haven't done those kind of size shows
03:00for a very, very long time.
03:02But it kind of needed that
03:03because it's such an enormous,
03:05you know, environment, if you like,
03:07all the way from right up
03:08and almost the Arctic
03:09all the way down to Antarctica.
03:11So we wanted to tell a story
03:13that was an adventure,
03:16as you said, full of learning,
03:17but I wanted it to feel like a safari,
03:19a fun safari.
03:20So if you were to go to the very best places
03:22you could ever go
03:23on this massive supercontinent,
03:25where would they be?
03:26And who would be your guide?
03:28Tom Hanks.
03:29But, you know, if you go on a safari,
03:31you want to have the serious things,
03:32you want to have the scary things,
03:33you want to have the dramatic things,
03:34but you also want to have
03:35that playful side of things.
03:37It is as the entertainment side of it.
03:38Well, let's talk a little bit more
03:40about the ambition of the series.
03:42You're covering a landmass.
03:45It's about 28% of your landmass,
03:48as I understand it,
03:49and the Americas.
03:51And not only that,
03:53but you are going all throughout
03:55from the, as you say,
03:57from the tip of Canada
04:00all the way down
04:01to the bottom of South America.
04:04There are 180 expeditions.
04:07What are some of the things
04:08that we witness in the Americas?
04:11Well, it is hotspots.
04:13So as you make this journey,
04:14each episode focuses on one kind of,
04:17the place you want to go.
04:19So, and places that you know,
04:20so the Wild West,
04:21the North Coast,
04:22or the Andes,
04:24or the heart of the Amazon.
04:28So each of those places,
04:30we've kind of tried to choose
04:31the eight, seven,
04:33eight best things
04:34that symbolize
04:35or are emblematic
04:37of those locations,
04:38but also the coolest things,
04:40you know, the biggest,
04:41the most dramatic,
04:43the scariest,
04:43all those things that I said.
04:45But also, you know,
04:47our bosses at NBC
04:47really wanted,
04:48and of course we do
04:49as wildlife filmmakers,
04:50to show you things
04:51you haven't seen before.
04:52New things, new species,
04:53new stories, new behavior.
04:55So it's quite a tall order.
04:57You know,
04:57that's why it took us five years.
04:59It is,
05:00I've done a lot of these,
05:01but this is probably
05:02one of the most ambitious things
05:03I've ever done.
05:04I think 180 different,
05:06each one of these shoots,
05:08each one of these stories
05:09is one expedition,
05:11effectively,
05:11you know,
05:11with all that logistical effort
05:13that is involved around that.
05:15And the storytelling,
05:16I think,
05:17is so absorbing
05:18because we're invested
05:20in the animal characters,
05:22if I can put it that way.
05:23Some of them,
05:24often birds.
05:25Birds are very entertaining
05:27in their own way,
05:28but we've got blue-footed
05:29booby birds
05:31in La Sea of Cortez,
05:32for instance.
05:34Even monarch butterflies,
05:36I think we are invested
05:37in their,
05:38you know,
05:39their fate.
05:41Emperor tamarins,
05:43rock hopper penguins.
05:46So how do you
05:47fasten on to particular animals
05:49where we can see that arc
05:50of them struggling
05:52to stay alive,
05:53feed their young,
05:54get by,
05:55and pass on their genes
05:56to another generation?
05:59Well,
05:59first of all,
05:59you spot on,
06:00it's all,
06:00I think it's,
06:01my own approach
06:02has always been
06:02to try and focus
06:03on individual character stories.
06:05So you don't tell the story
06:06about lions
06:07or about blue-footed boobies.
06:09You tell the story
06:10about a pair
06:11or an individual
06:12who's struggling
06:13to carry it
06:14with a task,
06:16it's sort of almost
06:16like a hero's journey
06:18for each of these creatures.
06:20And,
06:20you know,
06:21one of the things
06:22that that does
06:23is I think
06:23it makes it connectable.
06:25And,
06:25you know,
06:25part of the entertainment
06:26of watching this
06:27is you see
06:28in these animals' lives
06:29your life reflected
06:30and vice versa.
06:32So,
06:32and that sometimes
06:33quite,
06:34makes it quite playful
06:35and sometimes quite absurd
06:36when you see
06:36some of the things,
06:38you know,
06:38and the mix of animals
06:39is very broad.
06:41You know,
06:41you mentioned birds.
06:42There are some birds,
06:43of course,
06:43because they do do
06:44some extraordinary things
06:45and they have often
06:45beautiful plumet coloration
06:48and there's some of their,
06:50particularly when it comes
06:50to courtship.
06:51I mean,
06:51one of the things
06:51that Tom was,
06:53started to comment on,
06:54he said,
06:55there's a lot of,
06:56there's a lot of weird
06:56bird courtship in this.
06:58Not a lot,
06:58but there were some funny ones,
07:00definitely.
07:00And the blue-footed boobies
07:01is a wonderful thing
07:02where these males
07:03and the females
07:04look at each other's
07:05blue-colored feet
07:06and the females like the males
07:07who have the bluest feet.
07:09And it's a kind of,
07:10the story's supposed to be
07:11a story of fidelity
07:12that once they mate,
07:13come together,
07:14they're supposed to be
07:15partners for life.
07:16But in this story,
07:17one of the females' eyes,
07:19eye gets turned
07:20by another male
07:21who has slightly bluer feet
07:22while her supposed partner
07:24is off fishing
07:25to try and make his feet bluer.
07:27And anyway,
07:27he comes back
07:28and there's a little bit
07:29of an argy-bargy,
07:30as we say in the UK.
07:31And that's,
07:32I think,
07:32one of the things
07:32that Tom delivers so well.
07:34You know,
07:34a traditional narrator
07:35might say something
07:36a bit more formal,
07:37but Tom says,
07:38he's not going to put up
07:39with that,
07:39which is exactly
07:40what you would say
07:41if you saw that yourself.
07:42So I think that's
07:42one of the reasons
07:43why it makes it
07:44very connectable.
07:46Well,
07:46speaking of Tom Hanks,
07:47how do you get
07:47a two-time Oscar winner
07:49on board for this?
07:51Well,
07:52I must say
07:53it was a coup.
07:55Weirdly,
07:55when I first pitched this
07:57back in,
07:57whenever it was,
07:58in 2018,
07:592019,
07:59in my,
08:00on my notebook,
08:01I had written down
08:02in pencil,
08:03narrator,
08:04Tom Hanks,
08:04question mark,
08:05because that's
08:06who I thought.
08:06I'd just seen,
08:07he'd just done
08:07a great movie
08:08called News of the World,
08:09I think it was,
08:10where he was a storyteller
08:11and went around the West
08:13and speaking about
08:15what was in the newspapers.
08:16And I just thought,
08:16this is perfect.
08:17But then I kind of
08:18shut that book
08:18and didn't think about it
08:19for another three years
08:20while we were busy
08:21out there filming.
08:22And then when it came
08:23to discussing
08:24with NBC
08:25who should do it,
08:26I did pipe up
08:27and say,
08:27well,
08:28I wondered about Tom.
08:30Now,
08:30as it happens,
08:30we had a secret weapon
08:31which was his daughter-in-law
08:33works for NBC.
08:35So she'd even,
08:36she'd been kind of
08:36telling him
08:37this extraordinary,
08:38well,
08:38she said,
08:39and I'm pleased to say,
08:40extraordinary series
08:41they were working on
08:41with all these.
08:42So he was quite interested.
08:44And anyway,
08:45we agreed that he would
08:46come and see
08:47one of the episodes
08:48and I flew out
08:49and we sat in this
08:50little theater together,
08:52as you say,
08:53two-time Oscar winner,
08:53quite nerve-wracking.
08:55And we played the,
08:56it was a rough cut as well,
08:57you know,
08:58played the show,
08:58which was the Andy show
08:59from which that sequence
09:00we just saw comes from.
09:02And after about
09:03a couple of minutes,
09:03he was drumming his fingers.
09:04I thought,
09:04oh,
09:05then he turned around
09:05to the effect of the projection
09:07and said,
09:08guys,
09:08have you seen what this,
09:09this isn't,
09:10and I just thought,
09:11that's exactly what I want.
09:12I want him to be saying,
09:14God,
09:14are you going to believe this?
09:15So it's a combination
09:16of kind of telling you,
09:18but also being on the journey
09:20with you
09:20by being as amazed
09:22or fascinated
09:23or dumbfounded
09:24by what was going on.
09:25And so I think
09:26it was a good fit.
09:28And what was really wonderful
09:29is at the very end
09:30of showing him this cut,
09:32he turned and said,
09:33I was born to narrate this.
09:35I thought,
09:36well,
09:37that's the stars
09:38have aligned
09:39rather beautifully there.
09:40And as you always hope
09:42with your heroes,
09:43he is an absolutely
09:44delightful bloke
09:45and did such a good job.
09:47Brought all sorts
09:48of his own skills
09:50and personality to it.
09:51You know,
09:52some of the little asides.
09:52We wanted some of that
09:54slight fourth wall
09:55breaking moments,
09:56not too much,
09:56but just occasionally
09:57that pointing up
10:00the kind of humanity
10:01of some of the things
10:01you saw.
10:02And I think he did that
10:03really,
10:03really well.
10:04Oh,
10:04absolutely.
10:05No matter how good
10:06your narrator is,
10:08David Attenborough,
10:09for instance,
10:10Morgan Freeman
10:11or Tom Hanks,
10:13the photography ultimately
10:15is the most important thing.
10:18And here you have
10:18spectacular photography,
10:20sound design.
10:21And I mean,
10:22it's really amazing.
10:23Can you talk about
10:24some of those elements
10:25of the production
10:26that after all
10:28are what we're
10:29truly experiencing?
10:32Well,
10:33as you say,
10:33the photography
10:34is the thing
10:35that transports you
10:36as the audience
10:37to the experience
10:38that we have
10:39as the filmmakers there.
10:40So we're trying
10:40to replicate
10:41that experience
10:42to get you close
10:43both physically
10:44with the camera
10:45but also emotionally
10:46so you feel it.
10:47And so the photography
10:48is not just about
10:48beautiful composition.
10:49Of course,
10:50that is important.
10:50But a lot of it
10:51is about literally
10:52getting proximity
10:53and getting empathy
10:54through the camera
10:55to the characters.
10:57And, of course,
10:58the skills of those
10:59photographers
11:00are multifaceted.
11:02It's not just,
11:03as I say,
11:03technical photography.
11:04It's understanding
11:05what's going on
11:06in those animals' minds
11:06and using the camera
11:08to reveal that
11:10because, of course,
11:10the animals can't speak
11:11for themselves.
11:11So the camera
11:13has to do a lot
11:13of that work for you.
11:15One of the real
11:16breakthroughs
11:16in this series
11:17was the,
11:19as I say,
11:19I think I've said
11:20it a couple of times,
11:20the stars did
11:21kind of align.
11:22And one of those alignments
11:24was that drone photography
11:27had been,
11:28we'd been using it
11:28for a while
11:29but it kind of
11:29went up a big curve.
11:31And that was
11:32a combination
11:33of three things.
11:34One was that
11:35the drones
11:35were shrinking
11:36and the lenses
11:38were getting much better.
11:39So you were able
11:40to get much higher
11:41fidelity of photography.
11:42And the second thing
11:44was that the operators,
11:46we were getting
11:46a lot of now
11:47really skilled pilots
11:49who not just could
11:50put these things
11:51anywhere but could
11:52film them sensitively
11:53with the animals
11:54because, of course,
11:55animals don't necessarily
11:56like having drones
11:57buzzing around them.
11:58And the third thing
11:59was the addition
12:01of this,
12:02as I was saying,
12:03this understanding
12:04of the animals,
12:05this natural history skill.
12:06So you have these
12:07three elements
12:08all came together
12:09and there are sequences
12:10in this series
12:11which, you know,
12:13five years ago
12:13you wouldn't even
12:14put it on the
12:16paper to attempt it.
12:17It would have been impossible.
12:19You know,
12:19you just couldn't
12:20get the camera
12:20into those locations
12:21and you couldn't
12:22get that kind of sense
12:23of those animals' lives.
12:26The spectacle bear,
12:27the mother spectacle bear
12:29who brings her baby,
12:30her youngsters,
12:31down that almost,
12:32well,
12:33death-defying slope
12:35from her nest
12:36down to the feeding grounds.
12:37You couldn't film that.
12:38You can't get yourself
12:39up onto that
12:40with your camera
12:40but the drone
12:41could follow her
12:42and, as I say,
12:44sensitively
12:44just cover that
12:46like free solo
12:47in reverse.
12:48You know,
12:48seeing her come down
12:50was,
12:50and it's one take only
12:52as well,
12:52of course.
12:53You can never,
12:53with animals,
12:54you can't say,
12:54oh, sorry,
12:55we missed that.
12:56Could you go back
12:56to your mark
12:57and do that again?
12:57You know,
12:58it is a one take only thing
13:00and so quite nerve-wracking.
13:02Creating the atmosphere
13:03of these places
13:03is really,
13:04really important
13:04because it's not just about
13:05this series,
13:06it's not just about the animals,
13:07it is about the places
13:08that they live in.
13:10You know,
13:10the climate,
13:12the geology,
13:13the geography,
13:14the landscapes
13:14and there is an atmosphere
13:16there,
13:17not just from the visuals
13:18but from,
13:19if you ever go to these places,
13:20it's what you hear.
13:21You know,
13:22the sounds of the animals
13:23but also the sound
13:24of the place
13:25and that's quite tricky
13:26to get right
13:27and absolutely they did.
13:30It's been a spectacular success
13:32for NBC
13:33and streaming on Peacock.
13:35That's got to be
13:36enormously gratifying
13:37given all of the work
13:38that you've put
13:39into the series.
13:41Absolutely,
13:42yeah.
13:42I mean,
13:42one of the reasons
13:43I wanted to do this
13:44originally was I was,
13:46you know,
13:46I've never really,
13:47I've done lots of these things
13:48for the BBC,
13:48that's what I,
13:49whoever,
13:49I've never been able
13:50to crack broadcast
13:52in America.
13:53You know,
13:53it's very tricky
13:54to get a broadcaster
13:56to commit
13:57to this sort of project
13:58and I was very keen
14:00that we could and should
14:01because it suddenly
14:03allows you to speak
14:03to a much broader audience
14:05in your country,
14:06in the US.
14:07You know,
14:07it's a much,
14:10it's not a niche audience
14:11at all,
14:11it's a broad spectrum,
14:13four quarters,
14:14as they say over there
14:15and so it was a great opportunity
14:17and a great responsibility
14:18to get that right.
14:20It was a big investment
14:21by NBC to do this
14:22but yeah,
14:24I mean,
14:24of course,
14:25any time you make a show
14:26you're worried
14:27or concerned
14:28or anxious
14:28that it's going to be
14:29well received.
14:30I think we were,
14:31you know,
14:32almost blown away
14:34by the response
14:35and so many people have,
14:37what I've really loved about it,
14:38it's not just,
14:38of course,
14:38the numbers of people,
14:39that's important
14:40but it's how they have
14:42absolutely,
14:43the feedback is they've
14:43absolutely got
14:44what we were trying to do
14:45which was to combine this,
14:47as you say,
14:47entertainment,
14:48this journey,
14:49this spectacular experience
14:50but also some deep learning
14:51and also a little bit
14:54of reflection
14:56of the wonder
14:56and the fragility
14:57of this whole
14:59extraordinary place
15:00because,
15:01you know,
15:01we're Brits
15:01looking at a place
15:03that's not ours
15:04and,
15:05you know,
15:05we kind of think,
15:06guys,
15:06do you know what you have here?
15:08Because,
15:08you know,
15:08we get excited
15:08by a badger
15:09or a sparrow
15:10or a blue tit here.
15:11You have
15:12the most amazing landscapes
15:14and I think perhaps
15:15you almost
15:16kind of don't realise it
15:17and so I think
15:18it's important,
15:19we hope that we could
15:20kind of reinvigorate
15:21and get people
15:22to fall back in love
15:23with the Americas
15:24in the broadest sense
15:25and realise that
15:27it is precious
15:28but also
15:29it does need
15:30looking after as well.
15:32Absolutely,
15:33you certainly get into that
15:34in the episode
15:35about the Amazon
15:36and how much
15:38of that has shrunk.
15:39There's some reference
15:40within all the episodes
15:41to,
15:41you know,
15:41some of the challenges
15:42that some of the environments
15:43are facing
15:44or some of the animals
15:44are facing.
15:45So it's done quite
15:47sort of
15:48tangentially
15:50but it's definitely
15:51in there.
15:52The series
15:52is truly a treasure.
15:54It's astounding
15:55the things
15:56that we see
15:56and witness
15:57and learn.
15:58It is the Americas
15:59from Universal Television
16:01Alternative Studio
16:02and NBC
16:04and we have been joined
16:05by the executive producer
16:06Mike Gunton.
16:07Thank you so much
16:08for being with us.
16:10It's been a pleasure.
16:10Thanks very much.
16:11Lovely.