“You don’t often see penguins in films about human rights abuses,“Steve CoogantoldVariety, and he’s right.The Penguin Lessonsoperates like it’s juggling on a tightrope walk; that’s how much of a balancing act the film is. Based on the story of Tom Michel, a teacher at a boarding schoolover in Argentinaduring Isabel Perón’s right-wing government ahead of the military junta and the Dirty War. The discovery of a tarred penguin leads to changes in his and his school’s perspectives. The film exists somewhere betweenHappy FeetandLife Is Beautiful, and is groundedby Coogan’s wonderful performance. Coogan and directorPeter Cattaneospoke with MovieWeb about the penguins and balancing the film’s unique tone.
“It was there in the background in the book, but we brought it to the fore. I felt like you had to make it part of the story,” said Coogan of the terrible political situation happening over the course ofThe Penguin Lessons. “It felt like a derogation of duty to not include it, and also like an opportunity, because it was a tall order. No one’s going to say, ‘It’s another one of those penguin fascism films. We’re sick of those.’ So it’s got that going for it.” Coogan continued:
“On the one hand, it’s tonally difficult. That’s where Peter came in to try and find the right tone. And then sometimes we’d do different takes, different emphases too, so that he had a lot of choice in the edit. But to me, I thought it was an opportunity, because the penguin takes the edge off the portentousness of talking about serious topics, stops [the film] being like medicine, and the fascism stops the penguin being too cuddly.”
The Best Movies About Teachers, Ranked
Audiences have been inspired, uplifted, and enthralled by some powerful cinematic depictions of teachers and their influence, and these are the best.
Part of what makes the film work is that Steve Coogan’s character isn’t exactly soft and cuddly, either. That is one of the biggest changes that Cattaneo’s film makes from the book — Tom is older and much more cynical than he was in real life. “Tom was too nice. Tom is too nice. He’s still here,” said Coogan. “We took the decision to make the character more cynical and a bit more bleak and selfish, and someone who didn’t like penguins and didn’t particularly like animals — or even, in fact, children. Even though he’s a teacher, there are teachers who don’t like children. I’m sure we’re all aware of that.” Coogan added:
“So we took the decision to move the character away from Tom, and Tom was very happy about that, because it creates a great kind of journey for us. It’s the thread that links everything together for my character, Tom Michel’s journey from cynical disengagement with the world, either the wider world or even the world right in front of him. And the catalyst that challenges his cynicism and helps him reengage and become a kinder person is the penguin, and that makes him realize that you can’t ignore the world, whether it’s the world out there or the world right in front of you. And even if you can’t change the world, you can affect things in your immediate vicinity by not being horrible.”
Chivalry Review: Steve Coogan & Sarah Solemani Charm in a Wickedly Smart Comedy
The delightful Channel 4 series cuts to the bone and finds a home on The Network, a free new streaming platform.
Finding Zen Among the Penguins
Penguins are stinky but adorable creatures, and finding the right co-star forThe Penguin Lessonstook a little time (and trust). Richard was the main hero penguin, but the film also features Baba in some scenes, and a cool little robot is used for only certain moments.
“I was shown Richard and Baba and then three other penguins in still photographs, saying we’ll use Richard all the time, but we have Baba, a second, as a backup, and these others, just in case for certain scenes, we might use these. And they sent these photos,” explained director Peter Cattaneo. “One was this big, tall, thin penguin, one was this tiny, little, squat, fat penguin. One was a medium penguin, and one was a really happy-looking penguin. One was really sad. I was like, ‘You’re supposed to be film animal people. Have you never done this before? They’ve got to cut it together!'” He continued:
“And they said, ‘Well, the thing is, penguins have kind of extended spines,’ and as you see in the movie, sometimes he is [tall], sometimes he is [short]. So we were able to interchange the penguins as if they were identical. But Richard was quite mellow and empathetic with people, and Steve did a great job kind of bonding with him, so he was our main hero, and then the others would come in and sub into different scenes or when needed.”
So which was the better penguin to work with? Was one of them a diva? “Baba was,” confirmed Coogan. “Richard was sometimes; when I passed in the morning, if he was in a bad mood, he might nip me just briefly. But I didn’t mind that, because I felt like I had to work hard. I had to work harder to win his affection, which I did. And you get used to being patient with them. you’re able to’t get angry at a penguin if it doesn’t do what you want, so you just work around the penguin.” Coogan continued:
It actually means the atmosphere on set was quite Zen, because if you’re able to’t control something, you just have to kind of let the penguin lead the way to some extent, and just be ready when it does something that you can use, and also be ready to improvise around the penguin, because he might not give you the perfect response.
The Penguin Lessonsis now in theaters from Focus Features.
The Penguin Lessons
