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• Edgy Veggie

“The Cove” Oscar coverage roundup: cameras, speeches and the new “Cove” TV show

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…

In addition to the recent news development from the “Cove” team busting a restaurant serving illegal whale meat, here are some tidbits of “Cove” coverage from the aftermath of that film’s big Oscar win in the documentary category.

Plenty has been said about Ric O’Barry’s unfurling of a banner reading “TEXT DOLPHIN to 44144,” by folks like Mother Jones, Treehugger, the Huffington Post, Ellen DeGeneres, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (which gave the acceptance speech an award for “Fastest cutaway”), Louie Psihoyos:

Still, Mr. Psihoyos said, “it’s hard to get all huffy about that stuff. It’s like spilled milk.”

and O’Barry himself:

“I had butterflies in my stomach. I wanted to throw up on my shoes. But I knew that one billion people were watching, and I had to do it.”

Here’s what Psihoyos says he would have said, if not cut off:

The mayor of Taiji — the city that reluctantly starred in the film — responded to the film’s win by saying that “The Cove” was unreasonable:

In a statement reported by The Associated Press, the office of the mayor of Taiji defended the village’s practices and said “The Cove” contained statements that were not based on science. “There are different food traditions within Japan and around the world,” the statement said. “It is important to respect and understand regional food cultures, which are based on traditions with long histories.”

When asked about the win, the filmmakers have mostly sounded like this:

“The Cove’s” high-profile inclusion in the Academy Awards ceremony is important “because [the show is] the most watched program in Japanese television,” Psihoyos said.

There will also now be a “Cove”-inspired TV show on Animal Planet, tentatively called “Dolphin Warriors”:

The series picks up where the movie leaves off and, like the film, stars animal activist Ric O’Barry. Two episodes of the series — which is being executive produced by O’Barry’s son, Lincoln — have already been completed, although a premiere date has yet to be announced, Ric O’Barry said.

Animal Planet says the series may premiere in the fall, after “The Cove” debuts on the channel this summer.

Ric O’Barry is planning on heading over to Japan again in spite of his unpopularity with fishermen:

“Officials in Japan are threatening repercussions against university and community groups that dare to show The Cove. Dolphin-killing fishermen’s unions are threatening lawsuits against theaters that show the film. There are even some signs that I could face arrest in Japan, even though I’ve broken no laws whatsoever.

“We wont give in to this pressure. Instead, I am making plans to spend months in Japan with our Save Japan Dolphins Team.

Variety says that underwater cameras in fake rocks were vital to the film’s success. They tell us about a LucasFilm (think “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones”) spinoff company called Kerner Optical, which put HD cameras in fake rocks for the “Cove” crew:

Once in place, the cameras ran continuously. Each night the pic sent a team to collect the cameras and replace the hard drives, but the rock cameras were so convincing that they were hard to locate.

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