Try and think of the opportunities you’d wake up at 2 A.M. to experience. You could probably count them on one hand, as that’s either pretty late or really early, depending on how you view the clock. Yet when it came to the production of one of Apple TV+’s best shows to watch Prehistoric Planet, executive producer Jon Favreau found himself facing down an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. In an experience he says he’ll “never forget,” Favreau became an early riser to watch Sir David Attenborough record some of his narration for this prehistoric epic.
I learned this first hand as I spoke with both Mike Gunton and Tim Walker, respectively the Executive Producer and Showrunner on Prehistoric Planet 2, which has currently kicked off its five-night event on the 2023 TV schedule. During the press day for this latest jaunt into five more lands before time, it was always a given that the experience of working with the legendary narrator/natural historian was going to become a subject of discussion.
So when I asked both men to come up with some memorable moments of their time working with Sir David, this story about The Mandalorian creator and a very special Zoom call came into view. Here’s how Mike Gunton told that tale to CinemaBlend, in all of its glory:
When David does the narration, that is an experience that everybody should have the chance to have witnessed. Because [they] hear his voice, of course, at the end and over the project. But when he actually does the narration, it’s like watching the world’s greatest violinist of all time, or the world’s greatest pianist, doing a virtuoso performance. … Both our commissioner, Jay Hunt, and Jon Favreau, neither of course had experienced this, when I was saying this [asked], ‘Well, could we?’ So we got both of them, on individual things, [to] come in on Zoom. Jon even got up at two in the morning, because he was in L.A., of course, on L.A. time. We were on UK time. He got up at two in the morning, and sat and watched David do that performance on Zoom. And both of them said, ‘Never seen anything like it. Jay had a tear in her eye, Jon said, ‘That’s something I’ll never forget.’
For a little extra background, let’s do a time zone conversion. For Jon Favreau in L.A., his 2 AM session sounds like it’d be killer on the sleep cycle. Ask anyone who’s flown from the Pacific Standard Time Zone about their trips to London, and you’d know that it’s a pretty grueling bout of jet lag that puts you eight hours ahead of your typical day. So while Favreau was an early riser, Sir David Attenborough and his team were working away at 10 AM local time in the UK.
Keeping all of that in mind, it’d still be hard to forget watching and listening to Sir David Attenborough work his magic with a story like Prehistoric Planet 2; no matter how bleary eyed you were in the moment. A combination of factors make that potential scenario something amazing to behold, which starts with David’s background as a biologist and natural historian.
Not to mention, it’s a beautiful coincidence that his brother, the late Sir Richard Attenborough, happened to star in one of the most iconic movies involving prehistoric creatures: Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. Both men have a sort of glow to their voices when you hear them talk about these creatures we are 66 million years removed from, as if they are actually present with them. So it's almost like the Attenborough family has that prehistoric thread running through part of its family tree.
Sir David in particular sells that reality so effectively because of how he’s documented and advocated for so many species of animal that exist on this planet today; which is something you can observe with this and some other projects accessible with an Apple TV+ subscription, such as The Year Earth Changed.
With a resume that also includes David Attenborough fan favorite series like Zoo Quest, Planet Earth, and Blue Planet, just to name a few, the man has a special gravitas when discussing the natural wonders of any era. As such, Attenborough can break your heart in the same way when talking about either the many endangered species we should be protecting, or a baby Isisaurus struggling to escape a pit of bubbling toxic sludge.
Spoiler alert, that second example is a moment from the second episode, entitled “Badlands.” While it’s not graphic, as what to remember about Prehistoric Planet includes its TV-PG rating, it’s still heavily implied this little one’s not going to make it.
But what was it like to work with Sir David Attenborough during a regular cycle of recording Prehistoric Planet 2? Well, Mike Gunton had some stories to tell about that experience as well. And if you ever needed a perfectly succinct summation of why David is so well regarded in this line of work, you need only read his continued remarks below:
He comes into the recording studio, in the recording suite, we sit down and the film’s on the screen in front of you. The timecode starts ticking, the recorder presses record, and David just, in one take, just reads the script. Reads the performance, it is a performance. It’s so nuanced, it’s so on the point, it’s so perfectly timed in the pauses for the jokes, the pauses for the drama. Absolutely perfect. On occasion, of course, we pick up a few [retakes]. ‘That ‘H’ wasn’t clear enough,’ or David might say, ‘Well, I’d like to do it…’ but fundamentally it is in a single take performance … So we’re very fortunate to have the world’s greatest storyteller telling the world’s greatest story, which is the story of these extraordinary creatures, 66 million years ago.
“The world’s greatest storyteller telling the world’s greatest story.” If that doesn’t sound like an instant call to do what you have to in order to be up at 2 AM in any time zone, I don’t know what is. Jon Favreau and creative director Jay Hunt were absolutely in the right to seize this opportunity to see their Prehistoric Planet collaborator in action; and I doubt you’d find many to not volunteer in the same way.
If there’s a third round of this beautiful prehistoric spectacle, I’m going to just take this moment to once more officially throw my hat in the ring for such an experience. In the meantime, Prehistoric Planet 2 is rolling out a new episode each night. And if you’re late to this dinosaur game, the critically acclaimed Prehistoric Planet is also available to stream in its entirety.
