Stars add their voices to film highlighting marine life crisis
DAME HELEN Mirren and Olivia Colman have landed new roles – as endangered sea turtles.
The stars, both famous for playing the Queen, voice the parts for a film made by Wallace And Gromit creators Aardman in collaboration with Greenpeace.
Turtle Journey is designed to raise awareness around the crisis facing the world’s oceans.
The animated short depicts a family of turtles who face oil drilling, plastic pollution and industrial fishing as they try to get home.
Colman, voicing the family’s mother, said: “Most of us instinctively love the oceans and care about the amazing marine life that lives there, but far fewer people know how much pressure they are under.
“If we don’t act now we risk causing irreversible harm to our oceans and losing species for good.”
She said of the “heartbreaking” film: “Sadly, the story of this turtle family trying to get home in a damaged and changing ocean is a reality for so many marine creatures that are having their habitats destroyed by human activities.”
Downton Abbey’s Jim Carter, Game of Thrones star Bella Ramsey, Stranger Things actor David Harbour and comedian Ahir Shah also voice roles in the film.
Ramsey said: “The eyes of the world and of all our descendants are on our governments.
“We, individually, need to play our part but they, collectively, must act now to create positive, lasting and dramatic change.”
Turtle Journey ends with a call to action, urging viewers to sign Greenpeace’s petition for a global ocean treaty.
Greenpeace also published research showing ocean warming and changing currents are forcing Pacific leatherback turtles to travel almost twice as far to reach new feeding sites in cooler waters after leaving their nesting grounds. Conservationists say the extra energy the turtles use to get to the feeding grounds is likely to be reducing the number of eggs they lay each season.