Director Peter Cattaneo insists ‘patience’ was key to working with real penguins on new film The Penguin Lessons

Peter Cattaneo says the decision to work with real penguins on his new movie 'The Penguin Lessons' brought a set of unique challenges.

The director's heartfelt comedy-drama is based on Tom Michell's 2016 memoir which documents the British teacher's move to a boarding school in Argentina in 1876 and how his life and the school are transformed by an orphaned penguin he rescues from an oil slick on a beach.

The film was shot in Spain and stars Steve Coogan as Tom and Jonathan Pryce as the school's headmaster alongside their penguin co-stars, and Peter admits the old showbiz adage "never work with children or animals" has some validity.

In an exclusive interview with BANG Showbiz at the film’s UK premiere at the Curzon Mayfair in London on Thursday night (03.04.25), Cattaneo said: “In ‘The Penguin Lessons’, the co-stars are penguins, so that was always going to be a challenge.”

Despite the daunting task of working with live animals, Cattaneo — director of ‘The Full Monty’ (1997) and ‘Military Wives’ (2019) — made up his mind early on that he would use real penguins to tell the heart-warming story.

He said: “The first decision was to definitely use real penguins and not go for CGI. I felt we’d just get more authenticity, more character and warmth, out of a real penguin.

“Then it was finding great animal handlers, always making sure that penguins were very well-cared for [and] never asked to do anything that wasn’t natural for them.”

Cattaneo noted that the most important thing in dealing with the live birds on set was “patience, really, patience",

Tony Award-winner Sir Jonathan Pryce had just one scene with a penguin co-star — which was more than enough for him.

The ‘Slow Horses’ actor said: “Every time I opened my mouth, [the penguin] turned around and walked out, which was amusing in itself but made for a slightly long day. It was great to be involved in scenes that I had no particular responsibility for and watch the mayhem the penguin was creating, because they don't always do what you want them to do.”

‘The Penguin Lessons’ first screened in September 2024 at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Cattaneo said the team was “really thrilled” with its “surprisingly positive” reception.

The British filmmaker said: “It's not an out-and-out comedy. It just has, I think, a lot of observational humour, lots of laughs. Then you hear people sniffing and crying as well. What could be more rewarding for a filmmaker than to have laughs and tears?”

The film will have its UK wide release on Friday, April 18.