Set in 1976 and inspired by true events, The Penguin Lessons tells of an unexpected friendship between Buenos Aires-based boarding-school teacher Tom Michell and a penguin he rescues during a holiday in Uruguay.
After unsuccessful attempts to return the sole survivor of an oil slick to the ocean, Michell is forced to bring the bird back to Argentina.Â
Gradually, the penguin's presence helps unlock the potential and trapped emotions of Michell, his colleagues and their students, while around them the country grapples with a military coup that led to widespread repression and disappearances.
Coogan worked with several penguins, with partners Richard and Baba acting out the key scenes.
"I thought working with penguins and children would be a chaotic experience, but because we had to look after the welfare of the penguins and not make any loud noises, the atmosphere on set was actually quite calm and it had a ripple effect through the crew," Coogan said at the premiere of the film in London on Thursday.
"People talk about mindfulness, and when you look at a penguin, you realise he's not anxious about tomorrow and he's not preoccupied with what happened yesterday. He's just sort of in the moment, being a penguin, so there's something we can all draw from that," he said.
Based on Michell's memoir of the same name, the movie is directed by The Full Monty filmmaker Peter Cattaneo, with screenplay by Jeff Pope.
The film team held long conversations about combining the penguin's story with one of the bloodiest periods of Argentina's history, and even considered changing the movie's timeframe.
"When I started researching it, one of the first things I came across was 'disappeared denial' being a growing thing in Argentina, and that swung it. I thought, well, I'm not going to deny it. I'm not going to write it out because it's difficult to deal with," said Cattaneo.
"It's a story about how we can do something to affect those around us, small acts of kindness, small acts of generosity. When all around you seems lost, there is still something you can do," Pope said.
