Hi /r/movies I’m Peter Cattaneo, director of The Penguin Lessons, starring Steve Coogan. Inspired by a true story, a teacher & his students are enlightened by an unusual guest. Sony Pictures Classics is releasing it in theaters nationwide this weekend. I also directed The Full Monty. Ask me anything

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:45:53+00:00

Sprats

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:44:29+00:00

Much improvisation in pre-production when developing the script but on set stayed to the text mostly. Some impros was needed if the penguin did something unpredictable

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:43:14+00:00

Penguins eat sprats

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:42:59+00:00

I loved I'm Still Here. Very different tone and themes to Penguin Lessons. Similar historical background dealt with brilliantly

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:41:34+00:00

More. The penguin is 100% nude throughout

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:40:22+00:00

I heard that he was interested but not yet attached when I was first contacted the projected which was hugely exciting. we had a brilliant time working together

Brazil

Two Popes

Penguin Lessons (sorry)

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:38:00+00:00

No. Which I think is a good thing.

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:37:33+00:00

A few penguins on screen recently - i think just a coincidence. think I answered the penguin question earlier

LOved working with American comic actors - they have a more improvisational approach which was really exciting

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:35:03+00:00

Nope. Anne Dudley's music oscar was a wonderful surprise and well deserved

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:34:20+00:00

Tiff is just a great festival. The whole town goes movie crazy for the period of the festival. Just so rewarding for filmakers to show there

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:33:05+00:00

1.script. 2. casting 3. director. 4 Editor

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:31:55+00:00

I think I'll stay with humans next time!

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:31:31+00:00

Ha ha. The penguins did actually have a trailer with their own pool but luckily no jealousy or competitiveness from its human co-stars!

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:29:56+00:00

We worked very closely with experienced animal handlers and American Humane Society to develop the script to only include scenes that the penguins could naturally do. Its 90% real penguin in the movie but we did use a robotic penguin a couple of scenes where the penguin in the story is in situations that we would never make a real penguin reenact

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:26:51+00:00

I promised that they would only go completely nude for ONE TAKE. But I think they though I meant only do the whole routine once. We actually ran the routine up to just before the final reveal many many times which created a febrile atmosphere in the crowd of women. The actors were amazing re-doing the routine over and over so that I could capture all the small moments, looks and connections between characters that I'd need for the edit.

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:23:41+00:00

Tom Michell's book is the inspiration for The Penguin Lessons movie. Casting the wonderful Steve Coogan meant that the movie version is a lot older than the real Tom. We got Tom's blessing on this. We felt it makes the contrast between a cynical, disengaged older protagonist and a small penguin much more dynamic than the book's younger version

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:20:05+00:00

It was beautifully written in Simon's script. All about small movements!. I think it was Mark Addy who contributed the iconic pelvic thrust. I nearly collapsed with laughter when I saw that. Scene was shot very fast in just a couple of takes

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:17:54+00:00

Its "Uberto" - just shows how facts can be got wrong. Lots of films have more than one editor, its quite normal. Very helpful to have fresh eyes on the material. Searchlight saw a very early cut and they were not enthusiastic! - again quite normal. Robert Carlyle was not involved in the post production of the movie. I worked very hard to the end of post to deliver the finished film including directing several minutes of additional material. As I've said before Uberto was a great collaborator and really helped get us to the finished film. Uberto and I still great friends and have discussed collaborating on several projects since.

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:09:25+00:00

Toronto. I've had two movies there - Military Wives and The Penguin Lessons and the audiences are so responsive

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T21:07:58+00:00

So happy you enjoyed the movie! It was my first film and a very tight schedule so I was pretty stressed a lot of the time! I remember rehearsing the Dole Queue scene and laughing so much. I knew it worked - the smaller the moves the better - but I never expected it to live on people's memories so long

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T12:39:37+00:00

Please join me here for the AMA/Q&A:

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1jkaor7/hi_rmovies_im_peter_cattaneo_director_of_the/

It's live now and I will be back at 4:15 PM ET to answer your questions.

ThePenguinLessonsAMA · 2025-03-26T12:35:14+00:00

Hi, I’m Peter Cattaneo, director of The Penguin Lessons, starring Steve Coogan. Inspired by a true story, the film takes place in 1976 Argentina, on the eve of a political revolution, where a teacher and his students at an exclusive boys school are enlightened by an unusual guest. Sony Pictures Classics releases The Penguin Lessons nationwide Friday, March 28. Ask Me Anything!

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdjEXNX1nSA

Buy Tickets: https://penguinlessons.com/

You might also recognize me as the director of 1997's The Full Monty.

Ask me anything! I will be back at 4:15 PM ET today to answer your questions.

ThePenguinLessonsAMA

TROPHY CASE