To learn about My Penguin Friend, I interviewed actor Jean Reno and director David Schurmann, who shared why they wanted to bring this inspiring true story to theaters on August 16, 2024.

Note: I was invited as media for #MyPenguinFriend screening and interview. However any personal views expressed are always 100% my own.

What appealed to you about this story

David Schurmann (Director): Well, I heard about the story a long time ago being in Brazil, and it was a very popular story and I thought it was amazing and this should be made into a movie.

And somebody called me up and said, we bought the rights, we'd love for you to direct the movie. And I said, I have everything to do with it. I love the ocean. I love penguins and I can tell these stories about journeys, and especially stories that move people.

Jean Reno: The opportunity to speak about the relationship with an animal and how we treat the animals. And what we do with the environment, what we do with the world today.

And also to tell a nice story, because it is a true story. To tell again... that story... very touching.

To tell to families and kids, please do good things to the environment and the animals.

Did you work with the local community

David Schurmann (Director): Yeah, this is one, I think, one of the beautiful things about this movie. We actually went very close to the location where the true story happened. We shot everything in Brazil and we made sure that we had local people involved with it.

I wanted to make sure that we had the faces, of all the people around the village that looked very authentic. So that was one of the reasons why we shot down there. And it was beautiful to see how people welcome, and they're really excited to see the movie and themselves on screen.

David Schurmann (Director): And it was beautiful working with John and all the actors that they really embraced this. And so we were all, we all became a community with filming this movie.

We spent a long time down there. Everybody from 11 different countries came together behind the scenes and some of the actors. And everything else was very, very genuine and very local.

What it's like acting with a Penguin

MY PENGUIN FRIEND | Official Featurette: Penguins POV



Jean Reno: It's not easy to to work with animals because you have to respect them. Because the star of the movie, it is the penguin.

And if the penguin doesn't want to work, nobody works. So to get used to be there, to get used to be with them, to accept them as they are exactly. It is illustration of the the story.

We have to behave, respecting them.

Jean Reno: Because for me, I had a romantic idea about Penguins. Because of the movies. The Penguins acting, etc. They're not romantic at all.

Because they have a tough life, they have to swim days and days, they have to walk days and days, they have to protect one egg, you know?

And you have to understand that. He's doing something nice with you, he's acting. Because he doesn't want to do it. He wants to be with his partner.

Message of Working Through Trauma

David Schurmann (Director): Well, for me, it's about giving it another chance. Connecting it to an animal or be it to other humans. And being giving another chance to come back into society and into a relationship.

I think, nowadays, even people get so isolated with all the technology and everything, and people forget to connect. Be it through trauma or anything else. I think it gives it that hope of reconnecting and finding ways to bring that connection again.

Jean Reno: Absolutely, it's fighting the loneliness. Because he is alive.

The way, he came back, the real true story, yeah. He came back 8 years. Every year to stay a month with the fishermen, how he came back, nobody knows.

Because they (penguins) have a GPS, very elaborat in their mind. It's not the road of the penguin, the penguin, they go to Patagonia, they don't go to Brazil and this one came back and all that mystery.

Jean Reno:I have two dogs, I have to Australian Shepherd and I I don't give orders I speak with the dogs. What are you doing? Why? And he will understand.

And that's the idea also, don't be alone. Speak with them and you will have, warm coming back to you.

And that is a great message for viewers to get from the film. Keep connected with others, even a penguin knows that!

Roadside Attractions MY PENGUIN FRIEND is inspired by the incredible true story of DinDim the Penguin.

A sweeping family adventure, My Penguin Friend is a triumphant tale of friendship between a lonely father and a little lost penguin who recharges his spirit and heals his family with an unshakable, ocean-crossing loyalty.

SYNOPSIS

Humble fisherman João (International star Jean Reno) has turned away from the world in the wake of tragedy. But when he discovers a penguin drifting alone in the ocean, drenched in oil from a spill, his first instinct is to help.

To his wife’s (Oscar nominee Adriana Barraza) dismay, he not only rescues the sea creature, but takes the flightless bird under his wing. For the first time in years João starts to feel joy, even if he cannot fathom just how unbreakable a bond is being formed.

When the penguin suddenly disappears back into the immense wilds of the ocean, João believes it is impossible that he will ever see his friend again.

But thousands of miles away, the penguin is caught in misadventures of his own, determined to use his unique GPS-like powers to find his way back to the place he now considers home.

Based on an emotional true story that riveted the world and filmed on the spectacular coasts of Brazil and Argentina, My Penguin Friend is a tale that traverses the magic of the ocean, the beauty of nature, and the transformative power of love.

Starring Jean Reno, Adriana Barraza

Official Trailer | In Theaters August 16



Directed by David Schurmann
Written by Paulina Lagudi, Kristen Lazarian
Produced by Robin Jonas, Shaked Berenson, Patrick Ewald, Nicolas Veinberg, Steven P. Wegner, Jonathan E. Lim, Andreas Wentz

Learn more, visit - www.mypenguinfriend.com