Netflix is debuting its new interview series, Famous Last Words, with the posthumous release of an interview with the primatologist and environmental activist Jane Goodall, who died earlier this week.
Famous Last Words is based on a Danish TV program and will feature interviews with notable figures that will only be released after their deaths. The Netflix version has quietly been in production for several months, with Goodall sitting for her interview with series executive producer Brad Falchuk in March.
While Famous Last Words will feature career-spanning interviews, some of the questions are pointedly framed to reflect the fact that each episode will be posthumously released. Falchuck alludes to this in a clip from his interview with Goodall, asking her, “A lot of people will be talking about who you were. So, who would you say you were?”
Goodall responds: “I would say, I was somebody sent to this world to try to give people hope in dark times. Because without hope, we fall into apathy and do nothing. And in the dark times that we are living in now, if people don’t have hope, we’re doomed. And how can we bring little children into this dark world we’ve created and let them be surrounded by people who’ve given up.”
During the interview, Goodall — who brought along a cherished stuffed monkey named Mr. H — reflects on her work as a scientist and tells some never-before-heard stories. Per The New York Times, she also discusses what she learned about death from her years studying chimpanzees, and when asked about people she doesn’t like, she shares some sharp words for several world leaders, including Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I would like to put them on one of [Elon] Musk’s spaceships and send them all off to the planet he’s sure he’s going to discover,” she says, adding that Musk can “be the host.”
In a statement, Falchuk said, “Jane Goodall was fearless in all things. She deeply loved humanity and the natural world. It was clear to me in our conversation that she was approaching her final adventure with the same fearlessness, hope, humor, and joy that she approached everything else in life. She was one of the world’s greatest and most beloved champions of good.”
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Other interviews have been conducted for Famous Last Words, though of course, the show has not yet revealed who else has taken part.
From Rolling Stone US
