The Penguin Lessons director on filming The Full Monty and Steve Coogan’s bond with his feathered co-star

Who could forget the final shot of The Full Monty, an iconic moment in British cinema featuring a disparate collection of male buttocks? Full Monty director Peter Cattaneo pauses for a moment when asked which was more challenging: wrangling six naked British actors or a live penguin on the set of his latest movie, The Penguin Lessons, starring Steve Coogan? “Well, of course, the penguin was naked, too,” Cattaneo quips over a video call with PLAY. It’s incredible to think The Full Monty is over a quarter of a century old, but the director remembers preparing for that final scene like it was yesterday. “I said to the actors, ‘You’re only going to have to strip naked once’, and I think maybe I was a bit coy, or maybe they heard what they wanted to hear, but I meant they literally are completely naked just for one take,” he reveals. “What I didn’t say was, ‘You’re gonna have to do the whole routine up to that point all day’ . . . but you could tell when we got that final shot it was really, really special.” His new movie is based on the memoir of Tom Michell, a British teacher who taught at a boys boarding school in strife-torn Argentina in the 1970s. Coogan is perfectly cast as Michell, a man who has slumped to an uninspired existence, but is emotionally reawakened after rescuing a penguin from an oil slick. The producers initially asked Cattaneo if he was planning to use CG penguins for the film, but a desire for authenticity and budget constraints meant the director always had the real thing in mind. So multiple penguins were cast to play Coogan’s co-star, a Magellanic penguin named Juan Salvador. “Patience was the main thing with the penguins, and listening to the handlers and not trying to force something into the story that was never going to naturally happen,” Cattaneo says. “And if it did something unpredictable, Steve would just stay in character and improvise, and there were some great moments where Steve just delivered a little line.” Coogan’s efforts to familiarise himself with, and to, the animals inspired the rest of the crew to do the same and, by the end, the penguins were intent on following the Oscar-nominated actor around the set. The result is a heartwarming film — classic British feel-good cinema, even if that term may seem reductive — but one that is set against very serious historical subject matter. “I suppose if there’s any message here, it is that you may not be able to change the world, but if there’s something going on that concerns you, stand up and make a noise about it,” Cattaneo says. “But, first of all, as Tom Michell does in the film, start by being better to the people immediately around you.” The Penguin Lessons is in cinemas now.