'My Octopus Teacher' directors speak about the movie and the unique octopus living in a kelp forest off the coast of South Africa.
Foster vowed to dive in the kelp forest every day for a year and started to document his experiences. Eventually, he encountered a curious young common octopus, forming a bond with the animal that enabled him to gain unprecedented access to her mysterious world.
Over the course of the film, Foster's relationship with the octopus becomes increasingly intimate, with the bond having a profound effect on him.spoke to the directors of the award-winning documentary, Pippa Ehlrich and James Reed. The conversation below has been edited for length and clarity.Pippa Ehlrich: It started when Craig decided to change his life... getting back into the water and eventually starting to film, and then meeting this octopus.
When you're making a film about the intersection between human beings and an octopus, you couldn't have had a more perfect scientific adviser. She went through the film with us literally scene by scene and just gave us different insights into what she thinks it might be like to be an octopus. You've got to be so careful not to anthropomorphize, but she looks at it from a very pragmatic point of view.
JR: When she was injured badly, that was the one time I think when he kind of crosses a line. But I suppose he felt like she could die here. When we talked in interview, I felt like he's quite confused about his role in that.