Initially, the project started as a 15-minute documentary for CITES CoP three years ago. What began as a short feature has grown into a feature-length film and TV documentary. We wanted to offer a global overview of some of the threats facing big cats. And this meant following the story wherever it took us, which in this case was all over the world. This is the first comprehensive documentary that examines all big cat species and the threats they face.

Filming with a tiger cub in Pakistan stands out. We spent six months setting up that scene. Sitting in the back of a car with a tiger cub, driving through the streets of Karachi at 3am. during a near-civil war – it was surreal and incredibly intense. 

We were shooting for probably 18 months, and our reception from people varied depending on the story we were trying to tell. In Pakistan, where activities weren’t necessarily illegal, people were incredibly nice and welcoming. The Boras tribe in Peru, for instance, was different. Now, if I said what I really thought of the Boras tribe, I might get into trouble because this was one of the most hostile groups I have ever met during filming.

I wanted to show a slice of life from within the Boras community. We have this woman here asleep on the bench as she sells jaguar products. We've got paws. We've got teeth. We've got a bag made from jaguar skin. Tourists would turn up and they would buy these goods that would range anywhere from 2 to 20 dollars. They are unaware of some of the suffering that goes on to provide these and how some of the decisions that they were making were impacting jaguar populations. 

The challenges were endless – from filming in the 48-degree heat of Pakistan’s deserts to trekking through Peru’s jungles. Sharing a cage with a lion that just wanted to play was… interesting.

Absolutely. It can be quite difficult to get access to some story beats, particularly those involving anything to do with the illegal trade. In South Africa, we arrived just as police were rescuing three lion cubs from an illegal trader. It was a stroke of luck and gave us a crucial story that would have taken months to arrange otherwise.

When you do an investigative documentary, some of it involves undercover work, and one place that we knew that we were going to have a difficult time getting access to the story was in Laos, in the Golden Triangle. It’s the kind of environment where you never really know quite how far you are from danger. There is no police, there are no laws. If you put a foot wrong, who knows what might happen to you. Whilst we were never directly threatened, you definitely feel uncomfortable working in such a hostile place.

Humanity shares a deep connection with big cats. Unfortunately, this connection is often twisted—leading to exploitation rather than respect. I hope Dethroned helps viewers rethink that connection and inspires them to treat these animals differently.