Patrick Stewart on why David Attenborough is “the master” of documentary narration
Only a fool would argue that Patrick Stewart is not one of the most iconic British actors to perform for the good of entertainment. As admired on the stage as he is on the big screen, the Yorkshire-born dramatic arts legend is with great ease one of the greatest to ever grace the theatre or cinema.
In the mid-1960s, Stewart joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and, a handful of years later, made his appearance on Broadway in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Widespread success soon arrived for Stewart on the stage, including two Laurence Oliver awards and two Tony nominations.
In terms of the screen, Stewart has also been championed on television as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and on the big screen in the likes of the X-Men series, L.A. Story, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Jeffrey. In addition, Stewart’s iconic voice has also been put to good use, not only in animated productions but in documentaries too.
For instance, Stewart provided the narration for the British release of the 2007 nature documentary Earth, the cinematic companion piece to the 2006 British TV series Planet Earth, famously narrated by David Attenborough. Beginning in the Arctic in January, Earth shows the journey that the polar bear, African bush elephant and humpback whale species make in a single year, ending in Antarctica, revealing the effects of environmental change along the way.
Speaking with the BBC about his role, Stewart spoke highly of his predecessor, Attenborough, noting, “I watch these films a lot, and of course I’ve listened to the master, David Attenborough. He’s an absolute genius. His style and technique is flawless. I feel a bit intimidated in following in his footsteps, because he is the master.”
Indeed, when it comes to nature documentary narration, David Attenborough is the undisputed champion. He has worked on the series Natural World, Wildlife on One, Life, Planet Earth and The Blue Planet, winning three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Narration, a British knighthood and several honorary degrees in the process.
Still, even following on from one hell of an act in the shape of Attenborough, Stewart still wanted to provide his own unique take on the job and tried to understand the technical nuances of narration. “When I first started talking to them about how we were going to do this, I had said, ‘My instinct is to underplay,’” the actor explained. “In fact, I’ve always felt about narration, that if the viewer is not aware he’s being narrated to, that’s got it right. It should be almost subliminal.”
Indeed, when it comes to brilliant nature documentary narration, and audience should be so captivated by the imagery shown and sometimes even the score provided that the narration itself should be something of an afterthought, and this was something that Stewart had in mind as he tried to emulate the “master” Attenborough.
Discussing his overall impression of Earth, Stewart added, “The film shows us some of the most glorious aspects of the natural world and tells us that it’s an absolute freak that planet Earth exists anyway. It’s only due to the extraordinary tilt of the Earth in its relationship to the Sun that we have the ecology, the wildlife, the plants that we do have. But there’s more to the film, because it has a potent message about the peril that faces our planet, and particularly its wildlife.”
That statement pretty much sums up the kind of work that David Attenborough has been doing for so many years, showing us the wonders of the natural world while warning us of its impending doom and the effects of human domination on our planet. In the eyes of Patrick Stewart, only Attenborough could be as effective as he undoubtedly has been.
