Watching Our Water Ways

The cinematic story of Luna, the killer whale, is undergoing a Hollywood makeover before its official release in U.S. theaters a few months from now.

Luna, the killer whale
Photo by Christopher Dunagan

Suzanne Chisholm and Michael Parfit, who filmed and produced the original documentary, “Saving Luna,” seem thrilled to be working with big-name actors Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson, another husband-wife team. Reynolds and Johansson will serve as executive producers for the revised version of the film, to be called “The Whale.”

“Ryan and Scarlett are both amazing in the range of their abilities,” Parfit told reporter Michael Reid of the Victoria Times Colonist. “It’s not as if they’re strictly pop culture people. They had so much respect for our vision. It’s been another of those creative joys.”

The original documentary, “Saving Luna,” won numerous awards at independent film festivals across the U.S. and Canada and even overseas, but the film has never been widely released in U.S. theaters or made available on DVD.

The new version shifts away from some of the politics at the time, which involved how Luna should be treated and whether he should be captured in Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island and brought back to Puget Sound. Apparently, the new focus heightens the theme of friendship between Luna and local residents of Nootka Sound, where he suddenly appeared one day in the summer of 2001.

To view the trailer and other information about the film, go to the official website for “The Whale.”

Luna’s story is one I chronicled for the Kitsap Sun over a period of several years. In fact, I was the first reporter to break the news that the two-year-old killer whale had been spotted in Nootka Sound after being separated from his Puget Sound family and presumed dead. Amazingly, this was at the same time that another young killer whale — Springer, whose family lived Northern British Columbia— was found alone and swimming in the ferry lane between Seattle and Vashon Island.

Springer was eventually captured and transported up to the north end of Vancouver Island, where she rejoined her family and has gone on to live a normal life.

A similar rescue was planned later for Luna, and I was selected by the Canadian government as the U.S. media representative (“pool reporter”) with access to the proposed capture site for Luna. I spent more than two weeks in the Gold River area, where I first met Parfit and Chisholm, who were filming the events.

The native people of Nootka Sound, the Mowachaht/Muchalaht, were generally opposed to the proposed method of capture, which involved trucking Luna to the south end of Vancouver Island for release. They felt such a forceful approach lacked respect for the whale. Complicating the situation was a belief by Chief Mike Maquinna that Luna might be the embodied spirit of his recently deceased father, who had told of his desire to come back as a killer whale, as custom allows.

Largely because of the objections of the First Nations band, the rescue was eventually called off. Two years later, on March 10, 2006, Luna was killed by the propeller of a tugboat, which he probably approached with playful intent.

For details of this saga, see the following stories I wrote at the time. By the way, it seems there are several stories missing from the Kitsap Sun’s archives. I’ve added some back and will try to add more later.

Luna’s problem remains the same: people

Officials hope to give Luna a nudge toward his pod

Killer whale project still needs money

Countdown to rescue

Luna rescue could start today

Hey! Where you going with that whale?

Luring Luna with song and a pen

Role of native band still debated

Luna rescue called off for now

Canadian tribe vows to protect young orca

For Luna, Playtime a Matter of Survival

Lonely Luna Hit, Killed by Tugboat

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Tags: Gold River, killer whale, Luna, Michael Parfit, Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations, Nootka Sound, Ryan Reynolds, Saving Luna, Scarlett Johansson, Springer, Suzanne Chisholm, The Whale, Vancouver Island

This entry was posted on Friday, August 6th, 2010 at 2:07 pm by cdunagan and is filed under Boaters, shippers, Business and industry, Education, Marine mammals, On writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.