EXCLUSIVE: Appian Way, the production company founded by Leonardo DiCaprio, is signing on to executive produce Freeing Flipper, a documentary about Ric O’Barry, who went from dolphin trainer to becoming a fierce advocate for freeing all captive dolphins.

Appian Way joins Dogwoof, Copper Island and Bay Rock as E.P.s on the project, with Dogwoof set to launch international sales of the film at the upcoming TIFF market. The documentary directed by Barney Douglas (McEnroe, Warriors), features Oscar winner Fisher Stevens (The Cove); actor and activist Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones); musician Stephen Stills, and O’Barry’s son and fellow activist Lincoln O’Barry. It also features Dr. Jane Goodall, the primatologist and conservationist, in one of her final interviews before her passing last year.

In the 1960s, Ric O’Barry trained the dolphins for the series Flipper, “the television phenomenon that made America fall in love with dolphins on screen,” as a release notes. “Everything changed when his dolphin Kathie died in his arms in what he believed was an act of despair, transforming the industry’s golden boy into its fiercest opponent. As founder of Dolphin Project, Ric has exposed the hidden world of dolphin captivity, from marine parks to Japan’s notorious dolphin hunts.”

O’Barry came to believe “every captive dolphin deserves a way home. Revered by some and reviled by others, his single-minded pursuit came at an extraordinary personal cost, pulling him between his family and a mission from which he could never quite walk away.”

O’Barry’s efforts to expose the abuse and slaughter of dolphins played a central role in The Cove, the Oscar-winning 2009 documentary directed by Louie Psihoyos and produced by Fisher Stevens.

“People saw The Cove and thought the story was over. It wasn’t. I’ve spent more than fifty years trying to give dolphins their freedom, and that choice has shaped my entire life – and the lives of my family,” O’Barry said in a statement. “There have been victories, sacrifices and things that are harder to look back on. Freeing Flipper is the story behind all of that, and why, after all these years, I still haven’t been able to walk away. I’m deeply moved by the way Barney, Lincoln and this incredible filmmaking team have taken my story, and the story of these dolphins, and are bringing it to the big screen.”

Freeing Flipper contains “breathtaking ‘dolphin’s-eye’ sequences that immerse audiences in their world,” created by underwater cinematographer Pete Zuccarini (Life of Pi, Avatar, Pirates of the Caribbean). The sonic landscape of the film is shaped by Emmy-nominated sound designer Dan Weinberg and composer Felix White, guitarist for The Maccabees.

Director Barney Douglas commented, “I was drawn to Ric’s story by the extraordinary contradiction at the heart of his life: a man whose relationship with dolphins has defined him, but has also come at a profound personal cost. His lifelong fight to set dolphins free has taken him from jail cells to the Oscars, and I wanted to explore the complex layers of the man behind the mission.”

“Ultimately,” Douglas continued, “Freeing Flipper is about freedom in all its forms – the freedom Ric has spent his life seeking for dolphins, and perhaps the freedom he is still searching for himself.”

Freeing Flipper belongs “in the tradition of tradition of bold-voiced, ecologically-minded documentary storytelling” released under the Appian Way banner, the release states, alongside The Ivory Game, Before the Flood, and the Academy Award-nominated Virunga.

Titles from Cyprus-based Copper Island include Ron Howard’s Eden and Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire. The company recently wrapped principal photography on Scorpion, an action thriller starring Clive Owen, Alex Pettyfer, and Reda Elazouar.

Titles from Dogwoof, the London-based documentary film company that integrates production, sales, and theatrical distribution, have earned 37 Oscar nominations and seven wins, among them No Other Land, 20 Days in Mariupol, Navalny, and Free Solo. Its recent slate includes Oscar nominee Black Box Diaries, directed by Shiori Itō, and The Cycle of Love from Oscar-winning director Orlando von Einsiedel (The White Helmets, Virunga).

Freeing Flipper is produced by Will Kane, Anna Godas and Oli Harbottle for Dogwoof alongside Lincoln O’Barry. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson and Phillip Watson executive produce for Appian Way, with Matt Murphie, David Mansfield and Luke Bouchier executive producing for Copper Island.

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