Steve Coogan & Jonathan Pryce are starring in The Penguin Lessons, based on a memoir of a true life story.
Steve befriends a penguin in the film, but Jonathan is not a fan!
The Penguin Lessons is in cinemas on Friday 18th April. Report by Jonesl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Steve befriends a penguin in the film, but Jonathan is not a fan!
The Penguin Lessons is in cinemas on Friday 18th April. Report by Jonesl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Fun isn't the word.
00:01I'd never heard of Steve.
00:04Pick up a penguin.
00:06I tried my best to dress as a penguin today.
00:08I think I woke up pretty near.
00:09You're doing good.
00:10Yeah, you're doing quite good.
00:12Thanks.
00:12I'm sat in front of two legends.
00:14I want to ask you, what did you like about each other's work?
00:17What were you fanboying over from each other's past catalogue?
00:21I'd never heard of Steve.
00:25No, I was very excited.
00:27Two things, very excited.
00:28Working with a penguin and working with Steve.
00:32I've been a fan of his humorous work very much.
00:37And also there is straight things like Philomena and all that kind of stuff.
00:41So I was very much looking forward to working with him.
00:44Well, I was a huge admirer of Jonathan's, like for years, when I was at drama school.
00:50In fact, when I was at drama school, I did a production of a play that Jonathan did called Comedians.
00:53And I played Gethin Price, which was one of Jonathan's first jobs, I think.
00:58Early, yeah.
00:59Early jobs in theatre.
01:01So I was very aware of him.
01:02And so, yeah, it's sort of one on the bucket list for me, definitely.
01:07Oh, that's so lovely.
01:08And good friendship for him from hanging out with the penguin, I'm assuming?
01:10Um, different stories there for both of us, yeah.
01:15Um, Jonathan's, well, do you know, I can answer for you, you can answer for me.
01:20Okay.
01:21So Jonathan's not very keen on penguins, or in fact animals, but tolerated it in the most professional
01:28way possible, I guess.
01:29That's true.
01:30And he got up close and personal with penguins because he had to, and he enjoyed the experience,
01:36didn't he?
01:37I think.
01:38Oh, I meant more about hanging out together as a friendship with bromance, you two, but
01:42we...
01:43Bromance is, I'm not sure if they're bromance, but mutual respect and sort of, and yeah, it
01:47was always, it was great.
01:48I never saw Jonathan in the morning.
01:49It was like, you know, it was, it was, we have a sort of quiet, I think probably share a
01:54sort of dry sense of humour.
01:55Yes.
01:56That's a perfect combo.
01:57And with the penguin, did it make you love animals even more?
02:00Did it make you want to go home by pet?
02:02Did it make you want to go to the zoo?
02:03Did it have any impact on you?
02:06Not for me.
02:07Uh, not for me either.
02:08I mean, I've already got two dogs and two cats, and that's, that's, uh, that's enough,
02:13frankly.
02:14Um, also, you know, if I, if I had a penguin live in me, I'd get the animal rights people
02:18on my back, and I've got enough people after me.
02:21You probably would.
02:22This is full of amazing quotes, metaphors.
02:25Are there any quotes that you love that you kind of lived by?
02:28Um, why?
02:31Just that word.
02:32Just why?
02:33Why?
02:34Very powerful word.
02:35Very, very powerful quote, that.
02:36What?
02:37It's like, I'm quite hard of hearing these days, you know, as I get older, so.
02:40And just how much fun was this?
02:42Or was it quite tricky compared to what you've done in the past?
02:46I wouldn't say fun, fun isn't the word.
02:49It was, it was rewarding, but you, you couldn't be complacent.
02:53Um, uh, certainly for me.
02:55I mean, like to the kid, the kids were great as well.
02:57You know, the, I like the sort of irreverent, uh, humor.
03:02That was, that was always good to be part of.
03:05Yeah.
03:06And I think what's nice about the film and about our work in it is, I certainly didn't,
03:12I think Steve did, I set out to make a comedy.
03:15You're, you're making a drama which is incidentally amusing and funny.
03:20And, uh, the Penguin takes care of a lot of that.
03:24It really is wonderful.
03:25And the memoir, did you enjoy kind of researching into it and looking at it?
03:30And did you learn much from it yourselves?
03:32Well, from my point of view, the, the film is very different from the memoir.
03:36I mean, the Penguin is the common denominator, but, uh, my character is far more irascible
03:41and, uh, cantankerous than the real Tom Michelle.
03:44He's actually quite a nice bloke.
03:45Um, so we had, we had to find a sort of a journey to go on and make, make, make the character
03:50start at this point and end at that point.
03:53Um, and the Penguin really was the, the catalyst for that.
03:56Brilliant.
03:57And just quickly, can we sum it up in a sentence?
03:59Uh, pick up a penguin?
04:05That's quite, that's very economical.
04:07Um, in a sentence, this is a film about a penguin and fascism.
04:11That's it.
04:14Perfect.
04:15Mic drop.
04:16Thank you very much indeed, chaps.
04:17I really enjoyed it.
04:18Great.
04:20Cheers.