Jon Favreau and Mike Gunton have launched Lion, a four-part documentary series airing on Disney+ and the National Geographic channel. the production utilizes advanced drone photography to chronicle the life of a cub named Kio across the African savannah.
1,400 days and 52 shoots to capture Kio
The scale of the production for Lion reflects a massive commitment to longitudinal storytelling. According to the report, the wildlife crews spent four years in the field, totaling 1,400 days and 52 separate shoots to document the animals. While the team initially tracked approximately 50 different lions, producers Jon Favreau and Mike Gunton eventually narrowed their focus to the specific journey of one cub, Kio.
By following Kio from infancy into adolescence, the series attempts to create a narrative arc similar to a coming-of-age story. The documentary captures Kio's growth through various milestones,from his first attempts to climb trees to his survival of a grassland wildfire and his conflicts with a rival older male lion.
Moving beyond the long lenses of Planet Earth
The cinematography in Lion marks a departure from the traditional wildlife filming techniques seen in landmark series like Planet Earth and Our Planet. As the source notes, those previous productions relied heavily on long-lens telephoto filming, which allowed crews to stay at a distance and maintain a single, static viewpoint of the animals.
In contrast, Lion employs state-of-the-art drone photography that allows the camera to track alongside the lions, hover above them, and circle through the pride. This technical shift creates an immersive experience where the viewer feels like a member of the pride, bringing the camera close enough to almost feel the breath of the big cats.
The Disney influence and OJ Lynch's narration
The series leans heavily into a narrative style associated with the Disney brand, emphasizing the "cute" aspects of Kio's youth and drawing parallels between the cub's behavior and that of a human child. This thematic approach is bolstered by the casting of OJ Lynch as the narrator, an actor who previously portrayed Mufasa in a West End production of The Lion King.
This framing consciously echoes the story of Simba from the 1994 Disney film, positioning Kio as a "princeling" destined to rule the savannah.. By blending high-end natural history with Hollywood-style character development, Favreau and Gunton aim to create an emotional connection between the audience and the wildlife.
Why a 12+ rating was necessary for the buffalo hunt
Despite the anthropomorphic focus on Kio, Lion does not shy away from the visceral violence of nature, leading to a 12+ age rating. The documentary captures the brutal reality of the African wilderness, specifically durng a sequence where a pride of lions stalks a buffalo.
The report describes a scene of "carnage" where the buffalo herd turns on the predators, resulting in a lioness being tossed into the air. This juxtaposition of "kittenish" behavior and raw survival highlights the precarious nature of life for the animals featured in the series.
The unknown impact of drone proximity on the pride
While the "extraordinarily close" drone footage is praised for its exhilaration, the source does not detail the potential behavioral impact this technology had on the lions. It remains unclear whether the constant presence of drones influenced the social dynamics of the pride or caused stress to the animals being tracked.
Furthermore, the report focuses exclusively on the production's success and the narrative of Kio, leaving out any commentary from independent wildlife biologists regarding the ethics of such close-proximity drone filming in a natural habitat.
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