Interview: Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite Reveals the ‘Blackfish’

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CHICAGO – It was all so innocent. Filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite was curious about killer whale performances – think Shamu at SeaWorld – and began to do research. What she uncovered, to her total surprise, that there was a pattern to accidental deaths traced back to one whale. The result is her new documentary, “Blackfish.”

The story focuses on the killer whale Tilikum, a male who was involved in the deaths of three individuals, including a veteran SeaWorld trainer. Cowperthwaite began to connect the dots between the three “accidents,” and combined that research with the conditions in which Tilikum has endured since being in captivity since 1983. The conclusions were shocking, and a sad testament to the interaction between people and their fellow travelers in the animal kingdom.

Tilikum
The Killer Whale Named Tilikum Performing in ‘Blackfish’
Photo credit: Magnolia Pictures

Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite sat down with HollywoodChicago.com, to reveal the process that produced her film “Blackfish,” and the consequences it had for her own life and perspective.

HollywoodChicago.com: How does the presumption that homo sapiens are the most intelligent and evolutionarily advanced creature on earth eventually – to use a term – bite us in the ass?

Gabriela Cowperthwaite: We tend to think that more of us on earth is always a good thing. And because we perceive ourselves to be well meaning, and that we have the capability to love animals, – even predators – and that we can reach across that species-to-species veil and make a friend. Because we know how we feel, we can’t imagine an animal can’t respond with the same feelings.

HollywoodChicago.com: It is noted that you found interest in this story through the most recent death of Dawn Brancheau [the killer whale trainer]. What was the first major revelation you had regarding that death and cover-up, and how did it drive the rest of the story in your documentary?

Cowperthwaite: There were two revelations in that death. First, there was the autopsy report. This was not a quick death, and somewhere in my mind I wanted it to be an accident. I wanted it to be that the whale was playing, and the whole thing was a mishap. In studying the report, it was obviously deliberate and prolonged. That was deeply disturbing to me. The second revelation was that Tilikum had killed twice before. Those were the two shockers.

HollywoodChicago.com: At what point in the development of the documentary did the point of view become clear, and what moment in the film defines that point of view?

Cowperthwaite: I’m a mother who took her kids to SeaWorld. I came into the film with no agenda, except to find out why this killer whale would make the decision to harm. I came in with that question. I thought it was an incident that was a one-off, and mostly I wanted to explore human beings and their relationships with animals, which is more philosophical than the film ended up being.

It was the realization that something was being hidden that changed it all. The history was decades long, and was being brushed under the carpet.

HollywoodChicago.com: There is a show business history of using animals for entertainment. It’s obvious how this diminishes the captive and harshly trained animal, how does it diminish the corporations and individuals who facilitate that type of entertainment?

Cowperthwaite: The folks who work in this industry, especially the trainers who work directly with the animals, truly do love these animals. This becomes the driving force for them to keep working at the facility, even though deep down they might not be comfortable with the shows doing the right thing overall. They think if they leave, that nobody will take care of the animal as well as they did.

The corporation use that love as a leverage to prevent challenges to the system. Once you march up the corporate chain, you’re talking about a whole different set of belief systems and priorities. SeaWorld is very good at telling stories. Once the trainers work there long enough, they become good at telling stories about what they actually do. They end up thinking it’s a good thing.

Blackfish
The Trainer, the Whales, and The Show in ‘Blackfish’
Photo credit: Magnolia Pictures

HollywoodChicago.com: One of the shocking revelations in the film is the lack of training given to the performers that interact with the whales. What responsibility does SeaWorld have to come clean about that element, and how do they wash the blood off their hands in the death of Dawn Brancheau, when two deaths had already occurred with Tilikum?

Cowperthwaite: Swimming requirements at Shamu Stadium are more rigorous now for potential trainers, and it takes many years now to get to the whale trainer level. I looked at it historically when that wasn’t the case. It still took a long time, but SeaWorld relied on the statistic that they had a 98% probability rate, meaning they ‘knew’ how a killer whale would react 98% of the time. That number is difficult to fathom even for my dog. It was an arbitrary statistic, and the Oceana research revealed how arbitrary it was. It was loosey-goosey science, that essentially they made up themselves.

HollywoodChicago.com: What has been the official response - if any - regarding your film from SeaWorld, and what do you think they’re doing to proactively stem the tide that is certain to result from your film?

Cowperthwaite: They came to Sundance, and saw the film, so they know it exists. They’ve issued a couple of statements to the media, indicating that the film fails to mention that they care about their trainers and their whales. But the film comes out in July, and perhaps their official position will come to the surface at that point.

HollywoodChicago.com: We tend to give human traits to our animal companions, from dogs and cats, all the way up to even more mysterious creatures like Tilikum. What is the backlash from this humanizing, and how can we be more responsible in our interspecies relationships?

Cowperthwaite: The forty years that killer whales have been in captivity, I characterize as a ‘mad science experiment.’ It started out as curiosity, and ended up as show business, to make a buck and master them. And what we have learned in those decades is that it’s impossible to know what to give them, what we need to give them to thrive, let alone to survive. And it’s increasingly dangerous for us to keep trying.

HollywoodChicago.com: What about personifying emotions onto an animal, do you think that is fair?

Cowperthwaite: It’s part of the human experience to feel strongly about them, to love them, but what is unsettling is that you can only know you’re side of the equation. The other side is always opaque. All we can really go by is what they do, and that could be evolution driving them – predators in the case of killer whales or pack animals in regard to dogs – all you are left with is how you feel. In that sense, you will have to come to the terms with the fact that you will never know that other side completely.

And since food is never out of the equation, especially in the case of killer whales, you can never know if that everything they do is connected because of that feeding. The animals respect the predictable relationship you’ve established, they are not ‘loving you back’ necessarily.

HollywoodChicago.com: This is a prime example of a major corporation – SeaWorld – denying it’s own culpability in these incidents in the name of profit and protection of that profit. At what point does their pro-whale entertainment argument start to break down, despite the use of their profit to game the legal system and the persons trying to protect the their corporation?

Cowperthwaite: When you find out that the whales aren’t surviving that long, and therefore not thriving. When the trainers that worked at SeaWorld are telling you that in the sense that Shamu Stadium is 70% of the profits, yes the whales are protected. That doesn’t mean they’re doing the best for the animals, it just means that they are trying to achieve an entertainment value. They will keep doing it to keep the turnstiles spinning.

Whale calves are separated from their mothers, and the mothers grieve. The calves aren’t happy either, and that happens over and over. I don’t want to be a pontificating crazy person [laughs], but when I saw the grieving, there was the disconnect. They’re doing something that is clearly wrong, in the way that something can be wrong. That’s the moment when the jig is up.

HollywoodChicago.com: As a filmmaker, what was the point in your development that you thought you were going to make it your career, despite the many obstacles and competition in the business, and what was the inspiration for that moment?

Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Gabriela Cowperthwaite in Chicago, June 27th, 2013
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

Cowperthwaite: I was in grad school for political science, and started doing some work on how media deals with political conflict. I took a class in the film school, started interning on an Iraq War documentary, and ditched political science. I found it was a perfect fit for me. I couldn’t stop asking questions.

HollywoodChicago.com: You were a co-producer on several episodes of the History Channel program called ‘Shootout!’ Given the controversial nature of the Iraq War and the ongoing psychological toll that war has put on both the soldier and the citizen, has your perspective before, during and after working on ‘Shootout!’ shifted or evolved?

Cowperthwaite: The show focused on small squadrons of Marines going into Fallujah and Baghdad, but the show had an unfortunate name. It was a lot of big topics under the umbrella of the name, including natural disasters. It was never a glorification of the war, it really was about the soldiers, their front-and-center stories. Whether there is a theme there, I would say no. It was commissioned television for me, and I tried to make it my own.

HollywoodChicago.com: You’ve solo directed two documentaries, but have been a producer on a couple other non-fiction projects. What fascinates you about the form, and what element of its power as the engine that can actually change the world?

Cowperthwaite: I actually think that documentary making is the most blue collar form of filmmaking there is. You strap on the camera and go into stories and situations, and meet the people behind them. You have to be comfortable with that by nature, because the whole future of the film and its subject is a question mark as it goes along. It’s the curiosity for that world that keeps driving me forward, and if I’m truthfully able to tell a story, it’s a very powerful medium.

Both my documentaries, ‘Blackfish’ and ‘City Lax’ were the purest form of documentaries, because I literally would not know what would happen with the story the next day. As much as the audience learns when they watch ‘Blackfish,’ for example, I was learning over the two year period I was making the film. All the revelations that I came across, I wanted to put in the film, to give the audience the same feeling that I had when I discovered them. It’s that revelation – a sense of pulling back the curtain – to see things that you’ve never seen before. At the same time you can’t prescribe how people will react or feel. I can tell them the truth, and if they get a feeling from it, then you know that feeling is authentic. That’s when I do my best work, and that’s why it’s my chosen medium.

“Blackfish” continues its limited release in Chicago on July 26th. See local listings for theaters and show times. Written by Gabriela Cowperthwaite and Eli B. Despres. Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. Rated “PG-13”

HollywoodChicago.com senior staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2013 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

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