Interview: Behind the lens: Adversity speaker Chadden Hunter on extreme filmmaking
Chadden Hunter is a renowned adversity speaker, celebrated for his directing work on landmark documentaries like Planet Earth, Frozen Planet, and Seven Worlds One Planet.
His storytelling mastery stems from extreme experiences—from frozen tundras to perilous wildlife encounters, Chadden has faced danger head-on.
With a PhD in behavioural ecology, collaborations with David Attenborough, and a career shaped by surviving brain parasites and freezing his eyes shut on Arctic shoots, Chadden brings resilience and raw authenticity to his presentations.
Film News Blitz presents this exclusive interview Chadden did with The Champions Speakers Agency, where he reflects on overcoming literal and metaphorical cold fronts, transforming adversity into compelling visual narratives, and using nature’s extremes to motivate audiences toward sustainability and bold leadership.
Q1. You’ve filmed in some of the harshest environments on Earth. How did you adapt both mentally and physically to those extreme climates?
Chadden Hunter: “Yeah, so when we film these shows like Planet Earth and Frozen Planet, we’re going to some really, really harsh environments in all corners of the globe.
“For the people that love doing it, wildlife filmmaking is adventurous — people love being in the outdoors, so in some ways that kind of harshness is a little bit of a reward in itself.
“I’ll let you in on a secret though. I mean, I directed Frozen Planet and yet I hate the cold. I come from a hot part of Australia — I cannot stand it.
“I get the shivers, my feet and fingers get so cold that I end up wearing gloves, mittens, and many more layers than the rest of the team.
“So, I suffer through it. I’m not going to say that I enjoy the cold anymore, but I think it’s more about the achievement at the end.
“What we get out of the footage is what we’re trying to do — put ourselves in situations where we’re coming back and showing the viewer footage that has never, ever been seen before.
“When we get those moments, all of the blood, sweat, tears, exhaustion, and carrying the backpacks up mountains fades away because the reward is so satisfying.
“It’s not really that there’s much preparation you can do for these conditions, but I wouldn’t complain. I think it’s the best job in the world.
“I’m convinced that wildlife filmmaking is the best job in the world, so I would never complain about being stuck in a swamp or a cave trying to film animals.
“It really is a joy, and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t pinch myself and say: somebody is paying me to do this, to be out there with these incredible animals.”
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Q2. Many people imagine the animals as the greatest danger, but your experiences suggest otherwise. What were some of the most perilous situations you encountered while filming, and how did they shape your perspective?
Chadden Hunter: “Yeah, in filming wildlife I often tell people that it’s really never the animals that are dangerous. Almost every time we’re in danger, it’s either another human or some physical situation.
“When people ask me about dangerous filming events, I think of the ten most dangerous things I’ve done as a wildlife filmmaker — and probably nine of the ten were on Frozen Planet.
“That series took us all over the Antarctic and the Arctic, pushing ourselves, our teams, and our equipment to the absolute limits. We could be stuck in -40°C blizzards where the moisture along your eyelids would start freezing shut.
“I remember being stuck with a team in the snow while stalking wolves. We had to be so quiet to not disturb them that we were using sign language and whispering through mittens.
“No one could understand each other, but we couldn’t talk. As we waited, I just got more and more tired.
“I was standing on snowshoes but falling asleep, and everyone else had gone quiet. It was minus 40 and I thought: this is how the early explorers died.
“I kept telling myself: Come on Chadden, wake up. Open your mouth or you’re all going to die here.
“I must have gone through this loop five times before finally opening my mouth and waking the others.
“We got out of there fast, and hardly ever went filming in -40 again. We learned that lesson pretty severely.”
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Q3. From your career spanning Planet Earth to Frozen Planet, what stands out as your most memorable filming experience, and why does it remain so vivid?
Chadden Hunter: “We’re lucky to have so many moments that stick out. I’ll stick with the Frozen Planet theme since we’re talking about chilly places.
“Scuba diving underneath the Antarctic Sea ice is one of the most surreal things you could ever do on the planet.
“We go out across the sheet of ice with a bulldozer and a big drill, cut a manhole through the ice — six feet deep — and jump through with scuba gear on.
“As you descend, the water beneath the ice cap is crystal clear, clearer than anywhere else on Earth. You can see hundreds of metres to the bottom of the ocean.
“It feels like a spacewalk. The glowing white ceiling stretches to the horizon, and suddenly you see what looks like flecks of dust in the distance.
“But the water is so clear that those ‘dust motes’ turn out to be emperor penguins coming up from 500-metre dives.
“They’re huge — 40kg torpedoes with striking colours — circling us curiously, never having seen humans before.
“It was dizzying, like floating in a snow globe, surrounded by dozens of giant penguins under a glowing ice planet.
“I remember pinching myself, thinking: Someone is paying me to scuba dive with penguins beneath the ice cap. It was like an out-of-body experience.”
This exclusive interview with Chadden Hunter was conducted by Megan Lupton of The Motivational Speakers Agency.
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