Filmmaker Hugo Van Lawick, who previously collaborated with naturalist Jane Goodall on documentaries (and was also her husband at one time), spent two years on the plains of the African Serengeti patiently following the birth and development of a leopard cub for this nature film. In The Leopard Son, we follow one of the swift, elusive cats as he grows from a playful child watched over by his mother to an adult providing for a family of his own. John Gielgud serves as narrator, while composer Stewart Copeland (formerly the percussionist with the rock band The Police) contributes an original musical score. The Leopard Son was produced by the cable TV outlet The Discovery Channel and was their first project to receive a theatrical release.