'Our Planet II' director says sharks attacked his boat while filming: 'It was horrific'
Director and producer Toby Nowlan wasn't expecting one shark, let alone two, to try to attack his boat while filming "Our Planet II." But that's exactly what happened, Nowlan told Radio Times in an interview ahead of the series' release.
Nowlan and the show's crew had traveled to Laysan Island for filming, one of Hawaii's most remote islands. They were aiming to film albatross chicks making their first flight over the ocean, which are targets of tiger sharks that have traveled as far as 2,000 miles to feed on them.
The crew was out in an inflatable boat to film the sharks, when then began attacking the boat in behavior that Nowlan called "extremely unusual."
“This ’V’ of water came streaming towards us and this tiger shark leapt at the boat and bit huge holes in it. The whole boat exploded,” Nowlan told Radio Times. “We were trying to get it away and it wasn’t having any of it. It was horrific. That was the second shark that day to attack us.”
They were about 100 meters from land, so the crew was able to head to the beach. They sent a small rubber dinghy, which then had its motor knocked out when it was attacked by a giant trevally fish.
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Netflix's 'Our Planet II' filled with the joyous and heartbreaking stories of wildlife
The four-part nature documentary is a follow-up to 2019's "Our Planet." Narrated by the legendary wildlife documentarian Sir David Attenborough, it was released June 14 on Netflix. The documentary series takes viewers around the world, examining animals and landscapes while discussing the impact of climate change.
The stunning visuals include wild elephants trekking on a two-year journey to China, continent-crossing locusts and a nesting turtle event in Mexico. Also present is the reality of climate change: including a hunt from a polar bear family in the Arctic Ocean island chain of Svalbard.
More 'Our Planet II': Polar bear cub's agonizing struggle in Netflix's series is telling 'heartbreaker'
Attenborough "singled that out, saying the polar bear scenes were a real heartbreaker, and that it would capture people's imaginations," field producer Ed Charles previously told USA TODAY. "This was a family on the edge. It was very emotional to watch in person. And it's an important story."
Contributing: Bryan Alexander
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Netflix 'Our Planet II' director talks shark encounter while filming
