Jurassic doc. This Tuesday at 9:10 p.m., France 2 will broadcast the first of two episodes (ninety minutes each) of its new documentary series entitled In the land of dinosaurs: Growing up in the shadow of giants.
Narrating: José Garcia. The 59-year-old actor, who lent his voice to cartoons (Muchu in MulanBruno in Charm…), returns for 20 Minutes about a distant world, which has something to fascinate young and old alike.
“It’s both narrative and explanatory”
In the land of dinosaurs: Growing up in the shadow of giantsproduced by BBC Studios Science Unit and offered by france.tv, highlights extinct giants who come back to life thanks to special effects worthy of the cinema. This documentary series, enhanced by the work of paleontologists, who track down every clue surrounding the mystery of the disappearance of triceratops and other tyrannosaurs, invites the public to unique excavation sites. “We have a lack of knowledge about the very names of dinosaurs,” recognizes José Garcia. There are even some that have not yet been discovered […]. When I was a kid, I was fascinated by these giants, but at that time I wondered where the men were. I believe there is great confusion in space-time. »
Fiction reveals, among other things, the incredible adaptability and predation strategy of dinosaurs. On the program: perilous migrations, titan duels and even courtship displays. All told by José Garcia. “It’s both narrative and explanatory,” describes the actor. I had to stay glued to the text. At first, I started out too toned. It was tiring. I had to put my voice down and find freedom in the narration, adding both humor and distance. »
His acting skills were helpful for his narrative performance. “I also had to perform, that’s where I had the most fun, while still controlling myself. Succeeding in relieving the viewer in a world that is quite raw by bringing humor into the narration, that particularly pleased me. »
“I identify with Rose, the Albertosaurus”
Between adventures, emotions and science, this documentary series offers an immersion in the wild life of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. From North Africa to the forests of Canada, via the beaches of Portugal, the stories of Sobek, Albie, Clover, Rose, George and Grandé intertwine in a thrilling fresco. “These characters are all endearing, they are baby dinosaurs and teenagers,” presents José Garcia. It’s very pleasant, especially for children, to identify with these characters. We are immersed in an extremely hostile world, we offer them humanity to observe how they experienced their extinction. »
And it’s not just the little ones who will be able to identify with these somewhat personified dinosaurs. “I identify more with Rose, the Albertosaurus,” confesses José Garcia. There’s a little tenderness in an animal that has a big ass and little arms, it’s not bad (laughs). No, more seriously, in this interpretation, there is in each dinosaur an element of tenderness, of sharing. »
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But in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, which take us back almost a hundred million years, José Garcia would have blossomed into a completely different animal than the Albertosaurus. And for good reason: “I would have preferred to be a bird, the pterodactyl. At three meters high, there is less risk of being eaten, and it is easier to get high enough to escape massive and fast animals,” assures the actor, particularly fond of podcasts, and who could see himself, in the not-so-distant future, making his own documentary.
