Despite the odds, Gunton and Favreau stuck with Kio. Over the course of the next 1,400-plus days, joined by a highly-experienced crew, the pair would anxiously follow the documentary’s young subject, knowing the whims of nature could very easily turn against him and derail years of work.
“We’ve had 20 years of anxiety suffered in the last four years,” Gunton said. “Every day you think this could all fall to the ground if Kio disappears or is killed. It’s a pretty intense experience.”
This commitment to Kio mirrors their commitment to embracing the natural storytelling that came with their subjects. Favreau and Gunton both agreed that they wanted the documentary to be manipulated as minimally as possible; the only tools their crew used in post-production were music and editing.
“I think we’re in a moment — hopefully this will all sort itself out with time — but there’s no transparency,” Favreau said. “So much imagery that’s hitting you, you don’t know what you’re looking at a lot of the time. And so to have this relationship with an audience to say, ‘Hey, sit down, let’s gather around the campfire, we’re gonna tell you a story, and this story is completely organic’ [is important].”
Ultimately, thousands of hours of footage were narrowed down to just under four hours. The four-episode event focuses mainly on the complex, interconnected relationships among the lions of the pride, particularly the bond between Kio and his mother.
“There was something about that relationship, it was almost as if she knew he was gonna be special and he was gonna be her kind of last chance. Even though he was a kind of a weak little cub, there was something about him that we just thought was amazing,” Favreau said.
