Original-Cin Q&A: Steve Coogan and Peter Cattaneo on Lessons Learned from Penguins
By Bonnie Laufer
The new drama The Penguin Lessons follows a cynical teacher at an upscale boarding school in Argentina in the 1970s during political unrest. It’s directed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) and based on a memoir by Tom Michell, and it debuted to acclaim last fall at the Toronto International Film Festival.
In the film, Michell’s cranky teacher softens after he rescues an oil-soaked penguin from a beach that becomes smitten with its saviour. The film stars veteran British actors Steve Coogan and Jonathan Pryce and, yes, their fine-feathered co-star is a real live penguin — actually, a bonded pair of penguins — and not a CGI creation.
Ahead of The Penguin Lessons’ March 28 Canada-wide opening, we spoke with Coogan and Cattaneo to find out more about working with a scene-stealing penguin. Read our review of The Penguin Lessons.
ORIGINAL-CIN: When did Tom Michell’s very touching memoir get on your radar and convince you to make it into a film?
PETER CATTANEO: It was producer Roy Aitken who found the book and gave it to me, so I've got to give him credit for that. Jeff Pope was already working on a screenplay, so I read the screenplay first, and then went straight to the book and realized Jeff had done a really good job getting the spirit of the book right while making certain changes, which you always need to do to make something movie-worthy. There were just so many interesting elements in Tom’s story that we couldn’t resist.
I always feel it’s better when movies comes from a true story. So that was immediately interesting. Plus, it felt really fascinating to make a film about a man and an animal in a way where animals can humanize human beings. It’s interesting, but not enough on its own. So, then you have the context of this British private school, which I didn't know existed in the middle of a war-torn Argentina in the 70’s just felt like a heady mix and something very exciting to work on creatively.
O-C: Steve, you've been doing this for a long time and have shared the screen and stage with many fine actors… but no penguins. Can you tell me about the bonding process you had to go through with the two penguins that were used in the film?
STEVE COOGAN: There was a bonding process. A few weeks before we started to shoot, every morning I had two hours of ‘penguin familiarization.’ It was cool. I thought, ‘What the hell's that?’ The two penguins we shot with for the film were a couple, Richard and Baba. They're sort of like swans, they mate for life. So, the couple played the same penguin which of course we interchanged.
I spent time with them, picking them up, getting comfortable with them, and them with me. I didn't want any anxiety about it. I wanted to be comfortable the way you are with a pet. And it seemed to work. Every morning on set, I'd say, ‘Good morning,’ talk to them, pick them up and stroke them and just treat them the way you would treat the way people deserve to be treated with respect. And they reciprocated. I only got pooped on once, so that's how much they liked me.
O-C: Your badge of honour! There is a scene in the film where he does his business, and I would think that you had to improvise your reaction. It was brilliant.
SC: Yes, I did. He had perfect timing! It's OK, just don't be thrown by things. If you have the right attitude, a problem can become an opportunity.
O-C: Peter, why was Steve the best actor to cast as Tom?
PC: Steve felt like the perfect co-star. He's really good at the yin and yang in terms of the kind of characters he plays, and he was a good ying to the penguins.
O-C: Can you respond to that Steve? In this film it’s not just with penguins you have to deal with but kids too…
SC: That fabulous quote about not working with animals and kids can be true to a point. I found it all disarming. The kids were very direct, they're a little unruly, but they're very honest, and that's quite refreshing. They don't sugarcoat anything. If I were to compare the penguin to an actor, it would be Steve McQueen. The penguin does virtually nothing and still manages to upstage me in every scene. I learned a lot from his stillness.
O-C: If you're planning to go on another road trip with your pal Rob Brydon, would you take a penguin with you?
SC: I think three is a crowd, even if one of us is a penguin, that would be a recipe for disaster. Rob's my substitute penguin.
O-C: Aside from the personal drama that plays out with Tim, the film is also set against the backdrop of what was happening politically in Argentina at the time. Was it hard to find that balance, to show what was happening and bring awareness to that, but also the emotional side of the story, of what Steve's character was going through?
PC: The focus of the story is Tom's journey. He's kind of a dead man walking at the beginning of the movie, disengaged. He doesn't really care about teaching. It's sardonic. So that's the focus of the story. But no, it wasn’t hard to balance it. The book is set in 1976 Argentina, and we felt that we had to address it properly.
I did a lot of research and had a lot of advisors to make sure we got some accuracy correct with the history but to balance the two elements was something we talked about all the time in developing the script and in the edit. The idea was to for an audience not to say we're making a film which deals with every aspect of the dirty war in Argentina. But perhaps people who see it, who might not go and see a film purely focused on that, might go and see The Penguin Lessons and find out a little bit about it and then be motivated to go find out more.
O-C: Steve, what lesson did you learn from the penguin?
SC: You can't get angry at a penguin for not walking in the right direction or doing something you don't want it to do. So, the atmosphere was very chilled, and there was very little anxiety around on set because as long as the penguin was happy, we were all happy. The penguin, rather than making things nightmarish and uncoordinated, actually had the reverse effect.
PC: A lot of bad behaviour on a film set is actually about people's insecurity. I've seen it. Someone hasn't learned their line, so they start blaming someone for distracting them. But when you have this random thing which is never going to do exactly what you're asking it to do, no one feels it's their fault because you got the penguin, a very lovable and random thing. It kind of takes the pressure off everybody, and it makes for a very pleasant shoot.
O-C: I am a sucker for stories about a teacher that made a difference in someone’s life. Steve, did you have that somebody in your life?
SC: Yes. He is no longer with us, but I was educated by Catholic brothers, which is a whole other discussion, but there was one in particular who taught me that it was OK to disagree with everyone else about something. You didn't all have to agree. And that was a lesson.
PC: Funnily enough, I had a history teacher when I was about 12 or13 who had a great impact on me. He would just stand at the front of the class and tell stories off the curriculum. Really just tell stories. A lot of it is actually about fascism in Europe and never talked about South America that was never on our on our agenda. But yeah, he just piqued a love of history for me, and I went on to study history.