Irwin's last film
Irwin's last film
January 07, 2007 12:15am
THE documentary Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin was making when he was killed by a stingray last year will be shown in the US this month.
US cable TV show Entertainment Tonight reported last night the documentary had been completed.
The Discovery and Animal Planet channels will air Ocean's Deadliest, along with The Steve Irwin Tribute on January 21.
Oceanographer Philippe Cousteau, who was with Irwin during the fatal expedition in September, narrates the 90-minute documentary on the venomous snakes, saltwater crocodiles and sharks that live off eastern Australia.
Parts of the footage shows Irwin squeezing deadly stone fish, swimming after crocodiles and talking from above water about the dangers below.
After swimming with the "most deadliest fish in the world" Irwin is filmed sitting on the boat animatedly talking about the creature using his trademark sound effects.
"If you put pressure on that skin – poooofff – the venom comes out like an aerosol can," he says. On land, Irwin demonstrates with one of these fish and when another man asks him if he saw the venom come out, he says: "I sure as heck did."
Discovery Networks president Billy Campbell told ET Irwin had been "an icon for our entire family of networks".
"This . . . will honour both his past accomplishments and his continued dream of showcasing the wildlife kingdom in order to preserve it," he said.
The Steve Irwin Tribute promises an intimate look at Irwin's life through interviews with his widow, Terri, friends and family members.
It also will include never-before-seen footage of Irwin's adventures.
Footage shot on the day he died will not be seen, family friend and manager John Stainton said yesterday. The only copy of footage showing his death is now in the hands of his family.
"There were a lot of scenes in that documentary that were filmed around that time . . . (even) in the week and days before (Irwin's death)," Mr Stainton said.
"Anything to do with the day that he died, that film is not available.
"The documentary was commissioned, we finished it and it's going to air.
"There's nothing new about our air date, (or) our plans, this was all locked in stone six months ago.
"It's been a long and arduous saga . . . (it was) an emotionally charged time (after Irwin died) to do an edit on a documentary that did have a deadline, and we did have to honour the deadline."
No dates have been finalised for when Ocean's Deadliest will air in Australia. "I haven't really done any deals for the sale of it in Australia, or the airing of it in Australia, and it isn't a priority at the moment because I have a deadline to the people who commissioned it (the documentary)," Mr Stainton said.
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