Realistic science stories are now proving to be just as cinematic, emotional and entertaining as their long-admired counterparts in the acclaimed sci-fi film genre. The new science-driven documentary, ‘Canary,’ is one such real-life feature that’s entertaining audiences with an inspiring story they’ve never heard before, as the narrative makes climate change tangible for the viewers, and inspires them to make a difference.
The movie’s subject, Dr. Lonnie Thompson, is inspiring the world with his death-defying expeditions to the highest mountains on Earth. The scientist’s life, which has defied conventional wisdom, is so intertwined with climate change that telling his story on screen is a natural and effective way to connect the public to the subject.
‘Canary’ was helmed and produced by Danny O’Malley and Alex Rivest, PhD. O’Malley is a Grammy-nominated and James Beard-nominated film director who’s best known for his work on the Netflix docuseries ‘Chef’s Table,’ for which he serves as co-executive producer and a helmer. Rivest, who’s a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained PhD Neuroscientist, made his feature film directorial debut on ‘Canary.’
Oscilloscope released the documentary on Friday, September 15 at Los Angeles’ Laemmle Monica Film Center; New York City’s Village East Cinema; and the Gateway Film Center in Columbus, Ohio, where the movie’s subject, Dr. Lonnie Thompson, currently lives. The distributor also released the movie during a one-night engagements on September 20 in 150 theaters across the U.S. in such cities as Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Washington, D.C., Boston, San Francisco, Phoenix, Seattle, Tampa, Miami, Denver and Minneapolis. The film will also be available on VOD beginning on Tuesday, October 24.
‘Canary’ tells the extraordinary life story of Dr. Thompson, an explorer who has gone where no scientist had gone before and transformed society’s idea of what’s possible. Daring to seek Earth’s history contained in glaciers atop the tallest mountains in the world, Dr. Thompson found himself on the frontlines of climate change. His life’s work has evolved into a salvage mission to recover priceless historical records before they disappear forever.
O’Malley and Rivest generously took the time recently to talk about helming and producing ‘Canary’ during an exclusive interview over Zoom. Among other things, the filmmakers discussed what inspired them, and why they think it’s important, to tell Dr. Thompson’s life and career in a documentary. The filmmakers also shared why they feel it was important to partner with Oscilloscope to release the movie in theaters across the U.S.
Film Factual (FF): Together, you helmed the new documentary, ‘Canary,’ which marks your feature film directorial debut, Alex. What inspired you to make the movie?
Alex Rivest (AR): I’m a neuroscientist, and did a PhD in neuroscience at MIT. I had an inkling that I wanted to tell science stories in a way that really shows who the scientists were.
So I met Danny at Shabu Shabu in Little Tokyo and told him that scientists were going further than I’ve ever seen and been able to go myself. He said, “Let’s team up and do this.”
So we applied for a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to prove that scientists are interesting. Along this long list of interviews we were doing with scientists, we came across Lonnie Thompson.
We had a Skype interview with him, and within five minutes, he had pulled us into this amazing adventure story of the high mountains. Within 40 minutes, we were both crying on the Skype as he told us about his health issues and how they related to his story.
Then at the end of the call, I turned to Danny and said, “If there’s a single story we ever tell in this world, it has to be this one.” So we set off to make it.
Danny O’Malley (DO): Lonnie had this amazing story, where he was born into poverty in coal country in West Virginia, and then became one of the world’s leading climate scientists. Coal country and climate science don’t go together, so we felt that was intriguing.
On top of that, he was the guy warning everybody that the glaciers he was studying were melting because of climate change. He was trying to tell them the facts, but no one was listening.
Then his doctor told him, “Your heart’s failing, so you need a heart transplant if you want to live.” This is when he went into denial about the facts of his life.
A lot of people who make a climate change film have a point to make and an agenda. But this is just a pure story where it has a reversal, where the guy who’s doing everything right and is warning the world has to look at himself because he goes into denial and doesn’t want to face the facts.
That teaches him, and all of us, something about our place in the issue of climate change. So it felt like every facet of his story needed to be told. As storytellers, we jumped on it for that reason.
FF: Once production began, how did you approach helming the documentary together?
DO: I have worked on documentaries for a long time. I work on a Netflix show called ‘Chef’s Table,’ and I’m really used to telling character stories. But what I’m not used to is this life of adventure that Alex leads. In his spare time, he’ll run off and go chase volcanoes that are erupting.
So we’d be on Zoom calls, talking about the movie, and he’ll be in front of an erupting volcano on his cell phone. He dragged me into that world.
He brought me up the world’s tallest mountains where Lonnie does his science, drilling ice out of glaciers. There’s 50 percent less oxygen up there as there is at sea level, so you’re tired and kind of losing your mind.
We had to do low oxygen training before we went up the mountain to make sure that our whole crew was able to withstand those elevations. If we lost even one person on our team, we’d be in trouble because we didn’t really have a backup plan, since we weren’t in Los Angeles. We wouldn’t be able to get another camera or replacement director of photography if something went wrong.
So it was this big dice roll to make this ambitious film in an inhospitable environment. Going into it, I was terrified. But now coming out of it, I’m a little bit addicted to that unknown adventure, pushing the limits. Part of that comes from working with Alex, and part of that comes from learning from Lonnie, who’s done these crazy expeditions all over the world.
FF: Speaking about working with Lonnie on the film, what was your experience like of collaborating with him throughout the production?
AR: Working with Lonnie was an absolute dream. First and foremost, there’s no one on the planet like Lonnie Thompson. He’s a living legend. When people refer to him as the real-life Indiana Jones, it’s amazing how well that fits to him.
He’s been on over 65 expeditions to the world’s tallest mountains. He’s taken over 1,000 people up above 18,000 feet. He’s lived longer above 18,000 feet than any other person on the planet – nearly four years of his 75 years of life.
Part of the collaboration between Danny and I was approaching Lonnie with me as a scientist saying, “We think your story needs to be told to help inspire the next generation of scientists and people pursuing their passions.” Danny had the chops from his experience in documentary filmmaking and ‘Chef’s Table’ of telling really intimate human stories.
So we developed a trust with Lonnie. He knew that we would treat the science, mission and purpose of his life with respect because of who we were. That allowed us to dive deep into his emotional headspace during various parts of his life, and also talk about his medical conditions. He opened up 100 percent to us.
It was humbling to be able to work with someone who I consider to be the greatest explorer on this planet. It was also amazing to be able to have conversations about what drives you. So we became very close with him and his wife, Ellen Mosley-Thompson.
We were not only able to go to the tops of mountains with him, but also dive deep into his emotional headspace to be able to pull this film off. He was a dream to work with on this film.
FF: Earlier you mentioned working with ‘Canary’s director of photography and the camera work on top of the mountains. What was your experience collaborating with the director’s director of photography, Devin Whetstone, on the cinematography throughout the production?
DO: A big part of my background is on ‘Chef’s Table,’ and what makes that show so special is the work of the cinematographers, Adam Bricker, Will Basanta and many others. They helped change the way many people think about documentary filmmaking. They made the show way more cinematic, and helped close the gap between scripted films and documentaries.
For this documentary, we just took the approach of let’s do that on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. You’re used to those nature adventure documentaries, but you’ve never seen them like this.
Devin Whetstone, our cinematographer, was running around the mountain with a stabilizing stick. He got these beautiful shots, as we were as far out in the middle of nowhere as anyone has ever gotten.
If you look around on the top of that mountain, you don’t see roads or city lights. I think that adventure translates visually into what you see.
Back home in Ohio, it was this humble, Superman versus Clark Kent contrast in the visuals of the movie that reflects Lonnie. You can mistake him for your dad or your uncle, or even your grandfather, depending on your age. But then he’s also out there, climbing 22,000-foot mountains. So we really wanted to capture that superhero.
Lonnie and his wife Ellen are these humble Midwestern people, but when they’re at their work, they’re on these glaciers. They’re doing things that most of us couldn’t do even once in our entire lifetimes.
FF: Besides helming the movie, you both also served as producers. Why did you decide to also produce the movie? how did you balance directing and producing the film?
AR: I think the biggest thing about producing together is that we fed off of each other. When I was doing science, it was all about figuring things out. It turns out that that skill set is exactly what it takes for producing; you just need to figure out how to do something.
You have to figure out how to get a film crew up a 18,000-foot mountain. You also have to figure out how to get a camera to operate in a freezer that’s -40 degrees Celsius where they keep the ice stored.
So we figured out a way to constantly have dialogue on how to figure these things out. We found out that we work really well together and feed off of each other’s talent.
It was wonderful working with Danny and Adam Paul Smith, who’s another producer on the film. He was the one who was holding up Devin, our cinematographer, as he was dangling off a mountain at 18,000 feet to get a shot. The amount of teamwork that goes into making these things happen is very humbling.
We’re so excited that we (were) finally able to bring this to the big screen (last month). We were kind of told to lower our expectations all the time. We felt that we were lucky to have this film initially open on 25 screens on September 20. We then we got 150 screens across the country.
We (showed) this film as a big one-time event. We (had) a week-long run in New York, Los Angeles and Columbus, Ohio, where Lonnie’s from.
The response that we’ve been getting has been so humbling. To make a film that we think can inspire people to look at science, the climate change issue and their own lives differently, and get the response that we’ve been getting, is so exciting.
I’m excited that we (were) able to share this film with the world (in theaters). This movie was made and filmed for the big screen, and it’s fun to watch on the big screen.
FF: Speaking about ‘Canary’ being released in theaters across the U.S. by Oscilloscope, how did you secure the distribution? Overall, why do you both feel it’s important to share this type of science-driven movie in theaters?
DO: When you make something, you don’t know if anyone’s going to see it, and you have to come to terms with that fact. When you actually get that distribution, you know there are going to be eyeballs on it. You also know that you were right to pursue it in the first place.
We have met Lonnie, and he has changed us. He’s super inspiring. Even though he has faced a million challenges, he has found a way to do things.
So we hope this movie gives them a sense of possibility that I think a lot of us are missing. We hope that’s especially in terms of climate change and within our own lives, particularly when it comes to following our own passions. So the fact that 150 screens (carried) that energy to people across the U.S. is really heartening.
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