It’s been more than three years in the making, but with just a few months to go before the Great Bear Rainforest documentary’s debut, a major Hollywood star is gaining the B.C.-made IMAX film some extra attention.
Ryan Reynolds of Deadpool fame has signed on to narrate Great Bear Rainforest, which compiles three years-worth of footage shot on the remote Pacific coast of B.C., according to a news release from Spirit Bear Entertainment.
“We can’t think of a more perfect fit for this project than Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds,” said director Ian McAllister who has lived and worked in the Great Bear Rainforest for 30 years.
“Ryan is a wonderful representative for the ongoing conservation of this globally significant rainforest whic is part of his Canadian heritage and we are thrilled he will be our narrator.”
“I want my children to know there is still an area in this world that has remained wild, and will remain that way, because of the long history of stewardship shown by indigenous people,” said Reynolds. “I hope this film inspires the younger generation that there is hope for the future if we all work together and take care of our planet’s remaining wild place.”
Composer Hans Zimmer, known for his work on Galdiator, Inception and many other films, has also composed the main title theme for the film, according to the news release.
“When I saw the footage that Ian McAllister and Byron Horner (executive producer) showed me of their film I could not help but be swept away by the spellbinding imagery of this truly remarkable place,” said Zimmer.
Horner, a Parksville resident and president of Spirit Bear Entertainment, said the documentary will break new ground.
“Featuring three First Nations youth sharing in their own voices their intergenerational conservation efforts, the Great Bear Rainforest represents two firsts,” he said. “This is the first gian screen film for IMAX theatres shot exclusively in British Columbia, and the first to feature Indigenous peoples of Canada.”
McAllister, producer Jeff Turner and their crews have spent three years filming throughout the Great Bear Rainforest, capturing ocean footage, salmon river valleys and travelling up to the peaks of the Coast Mountain range.
They’ve caught footage of coastal wolves, grizzlies, sea otters, humpback whales and the elusive spirit bear: among the rarest bears on Earth.
The film premieres in Vancouver on Feb. 12, and will be available in theatres in Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto and Sudbury as of Feb. 15.
Additional theatres across Canada will screen the film throughout 2019.
— NEWS Staff, Submitted by Spirit Bear Entertainment