Irwin’s last film premiering

PASDENA, Calif. – If nature teaches us anything, it’s that life goes on.

The accidental death of Animal Planet star Steve Irwin while filming the documentary “Ocean’s Deadliest” obviously cast a pall over production – but it did not stop production. The film has been completed, and Irwin’s last film will premiere Jan. 21 (8 p.m., Animal Planet). Irwin’s co-host, Philippe Cousteau Jr., grandson of Jacques Cousteau, takes over sole responsibility as on-air host and narrator.

“It was difficult for all of us,” says Cousteau. “But we all felt a positive responsibility to finish it as best we could as a tribute to Steve.”

Most of the filming was completed at the time of Irwin’s death, which will be referred to in the film but not be shown or dwelt on. There will be no tiger sharks, the animal the filmmakers were looking for in Australia when Irwin was killed. (“The stingray wasn’t even one of the animals in the show,” says Cousteau.) But otherwise, Cousteau says, they had “pretty much everything we planned on filming, so the film was pretty much intact.”

Even so, Cousteau wasn’t sure at the time whether “Ocean’s” would ever be finished or seen. “We didn’t know exactly what was going to happen right afterward, obviously. We took that day to decompress and spend a little bit of time out of the press and away from people. But when we talked about it … I was prepared for the question and I was willing to do it, as long as the rest of the crew did it and everybody came together and made it happen.”

In the end, he says, what mattered most was getting across the conservationist message Irwin had wanted the film to convey - that all these animals, though they may be dangerous in certain ways, have an important role to play in the environment. “The true deadly creature in the oceans is mankind. That’s the powerful message in the film, with an empowering conclusion that we can all make positive choices, we can all make a positive impact and make a positive difference on the future. That was Steve and certainly my message. We finished strong on that, and felt we had to for Steve’s sake.”