August 16 sees the release of the much-awaited movie My Penguin Friend (rated PG) in cinemas across the states. The film stars Jean Reno — known for Hollywood hits such as Leon: The Professional and Mission:Impossible.
The 76-year-old plays a fisherman, João, who is so consumed by grief after his young son drowned at sea that he cuts himself off for decades from all his friends. The only relationship you see him have is with his wife Maria, played by Adriana Barazza.
As an elderly man he comes across a washed up penguin who needs help. It’s the start of a beautiful, although unlikely, friendship that saves both João and the penguin, Dindim.
The movie is based on the true story of a Brazilian bricklayer named João Pereira de Souza, who found the penguin and developed an incredible bond that saw Dindim spend from late June until mid-February with Pereira de Souza for a number of years.
What is most incredible about the story is that the Magellanic penguin had to swim for hundreds, if not thousands, of miles to find his friend every year: from Patagonia in Argentina to Ilha Grande in Rio de Janeiro.
The movie is both heartbreaking and delightful, speaking to three core values that help us thrive: friendship, family and faith. However, it also encourages us to think of our responsibilities as stewards of God’s creation and caring for all its inhabitants.
Aleteia had the opportunity to chat with one of the movie’s producers, Jonathan Lim, a devout Christian who happens to be both a bio-tech CEO fighting to cure cancer, and movie producer.
Aleteia: Jonathan, how did you get involved in the movie?
Jonathan Lim: First of all, I love penguins so as soon as I heard that there was a script about a penguin and a fisherman I was in… What’s amazing is that the fisherman that found the penguin was a true story… The fact that this was inspired by a true story and we could knit together a beautiful, heartwarming tale that families could see of all ages is what drew me to the project to begin with.
But I think it was really just the fact that we could do something in terms of putting penguins in situations that people have never seen before and then really tell the tale about this beautiful friendship is what really drew me to the project.
How do you go about getting a penguin to play these sorts of roles?
Isn’t that amazing? I’ll just tell you a little story. We were initially planning on shooting the movie in the Canary Islands because there’s a nice tax incentive out there… We realized that the aquarium that we were going to work with had Humboldt penguins, and that was the wrong species. The real penguin Dindim actually was a Magellanic penguin. You and I would probably not have even realized the difference because I think there’s one stripe that separates the two species. But I really wanted to tell the authentic tale and have the true species of penguin.
We found this aquarium in Ubatuba, Brazil, that had 10 rescue penguins. So what you’re seeing is up to 10 different penguins playing the role of Dindim. We had this amazing trainer named Fabian Gabelli, we call him the penguin whisperer, who basically spent a month training these penguins beforehand. We had Jean Reno go spend a week or two in prep to really bond with those penguins.
The penguins were interchangeable and they look alike, but they have vastly different personalities. And they’re also a little moody! So when one penguin is not feeling particularly friendly or hungry, and can’t be motivated by food, then we swap them out and put in a different penguin that is in a different mood. So it’s really funny to work with these penguin actors.
Some of the scenes are a little disturbing. Did you have stunt penguins?
[Laughs] Rule number one is do no harm to any of the penguins. So, we didn’t want to put any of the penguins in peril. I would say that 80 percent of what you’re seeing is real penguin. Then about 15% is CGI — computer graphics imagery — and 5% is animatronics. There are some far off shots where you can see the penguin’s head, we can get the animatronics where the head can move, and the beak can open. It looks real from far away and even up close you really can’t tell.
Jean Reno, who is playing the lead part, is usually in big movies where he’s a little bit of a baddie. Why did you choose him to play the part of a grieving fisherman?
He was at the top of our list. I think it was almost a full circle moment for me, as a fan of Jean Reno, to see him play this baddie with a soft heart in Leon: The Professional. The way he acts is really as much what he doesn’t say and what he says. He really acts with his eyes and his expressions in a very powerful way. And this performance in My Penguin Friend was reminiscent of The Professional where he conveys so much emotion just with the non-verbal cues. We thought he’d be amazing based on what we’d seen in the other films he’s been in, and he knocked it out of the park — he and Adriana Barazza and the rest of the amazing cast.
There are so many elements in the movie that speak of human growth. There’s the friendship with Dindim the penguin, and that of the friendship between João and the villagers who rallied round to help him. What do you think, personally, is key to a good friendship?
The notion of just giving of yourself in a selfless way and expressing kindness and unconditional love and acceptance, which the fisherman offered to the penguin in rescuing him, and then vice versa. So he actually received so much more than he gave and this beautiful creature just kept coming back and forged this unbelievable bond that really transformed the fisherman and his family.
I think the broader theme of how love, friendship and kindness can change the world, and really in the context of this beautiful fishing community which is almost a throwback. Social media doesn’t enter the movie until two-thirds of the way through. Before that it’s pretty much off grid… Those themes really came out. The look and feel of the movie, which is very authentic looking in terms of intimacy coupled with the scope of Patagonia, really helped reinforce those themes.
Another standout part of the film is the marriage between Maria and João. They’d been through the loss of their child, and she is there gently supporting him, and you see their marriage go from strength to strength within the movie. What do you think people can take away from the grieving process and the importance of staying strong in your marriage through these difficult times?
Life is full of ups and downs and there is incredible joy. And the same can be said of marriage, where there’s incredible joy and there’s also hardship and adversity. And it’s really how we band together to get through these difficult times.
[In the movie] it’s that love, loyalty, and commitment that got them through those very dark years to really reach that point where the friendship with this beautiful creature could help lift up their spirits and provide joy again.
It was really a picture of what we go through in real life. And there’s a lot of very difficult things going on in the world and we really wanted to put something out there that could show a picture of that, but also what it looks like from the other side.
It’s interesting that this story is about a penguin, and they’re known for their loyalty, if I’m correct?
That’s right. Penguins in nature are pair-bonding species so once they find their mate they actually mate for life. In fact, two penguins on our set, so two of the 10, fell in love so they were useless for the rest of the shoot. They would stand back-to-back and stare off in different directions and they just would not leave each other. We couldn’t separate them so really, I misspoke: there were 8 penguins that acted as a penguin, not 10. [Laughs] You hear this happening in Hollywood, and yes this does happen, there was love in the air!
I believe you’re a man of faith, which is key to this movie. There’s the faith João has that Dindim will come back and see him each year. And there’s also the scene where Maria and the villagers are in church praying for Dindim’s safe return. How important was that element for you personally in the movie?
My faith is the reason why I do everything that I do. It’s super important to me; it’s just central to my life and my work. I’m really proud of being able to work on a project where I didn’t really have to be overtly out there about this, but people know who I am and what I stand for and I was really able to have incredibly deep and really meaningful conversations with people on set, even people visiting.
Just having faith conversations very openly with each other, and it was a lot of bonding. And people of diverse backgrounds and beliefs could come together and see the beauty and what unites us. And I think that comes through very organically and powerfully in the movie.
What was your biggest takeaway from the film?
At City Hill Arts our mission is revitalizing people, planet and perspective. And I think that this movie really embodies that mission. I’m really proud of it because it does touch on all three of those aspects.
As I zoom out and think about how love, kindness and friendship can change the world, I think it’s also a call to stewardship for all of us to be better stewards of this beautiful world that we live in, as well as of each other and its inhabitants. That’s really my overall takeaway.
I have a final question for you. Would you like your own penguin friend?
Oh, my goodness, I would love my own penguin! One of the highlights was visiting Patagonia and seeing the hundreds of thousands of penguins on the beach. When we were scouting locations the director and a few of us had the chance to take a nap on the beach where the penguins were, and we could hear little footsteps, and they were so curious coming up to us.
I’ll never forget that feeling of the wind on my face, the sound of the sea, and those little penguin footsteps coming up to me. That memory I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life. I made a lot of penguin friends that day because they’re so curious and such beautiful creatures.
And today we celebrate...