Photo credit: Larry French/NatGeo/PictureGroup
“In 1975, I was in the front row,” photographer Brian Skerry told Hollywood on the Potomac referring to Jaws, the movie scripted by Peter Benchley that left many movie goers afraid of the ocean for a lifetime. Benchley subsequently became a conservationist and regretted portraying sharks as killing machines. “Sharks are not out to get us,” added explorer Sylvia Earle, “More people die from bee stings, falling off ladders and taking selfies.”
Earle and Skerry were honored guests at National Geographic’s World Premier of “Sea of Hope: America’s Underwater Treasures.” National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Sylvia A. Earle, called “Her Deepness” by the New Yorker and the New York Times, “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress, and first “Hero for the Planet” by Time magazine, is an oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer. Brian Skerry is a photojournalist specializing in marine wildlife and underwater environments. Since 1998 he has been a contributing photographer for National Geographic magazine, covering a wide range of subjects and stories.
Brian Skerry, Sylvia Earle and Gary Knell, President and CEO National Geographic Society.
“Sea of Hope” follows ocean legend Sylvia Earle, photographer Brian Skerry, writer Max Kennedy and their crew of teenage aquanauts on a year-long quest to deploy science and photography to inspire President Obama to establish new Blue Parks to protect essential habitats across an unseen American Wilderness.
Sylvia Earle, 2nd from left, (L-R) Bob Nixon, Producer; Brian Skerry, Max Kennedy, Author and Captain and Richard Pyle, Researcher and Deep-Water Explorer
Hollywood on the Potomac sat down with Earle and Skerry while they discussed their love of the ocean and their earliest childhood memories:
Producer Bob Nixon welcomed us into his Georgetown home where he tracked his love of nature from his earliest memories, how he became friends with Dian Fossey, working with Sigourney Weaver in “Gorillas in the Mist” and how he ended up with Earle and Skerry:
The Trailer: Sea of Hope airs on the National Geographic Channel on January 15th at 7/6c
