Animal Outshines Jean Reno in Filming of “My Penguin Friend”

The film “My Penguin Friend” features two main characters: a Hollywood star and a newcomer, yet on set, it was clear who deserved the most attention.

The rookie actor had a “trailer” equipped with a natural saltwater pool and worked only until 3 pm. To protect the star from tropical Brazilian beach mosquitoes, a flamethrower cleared a path before and after each scene.

At the end of each day, a weigh-in ensured the actor hadn’t lost weight due to filming stress.

“I had to tell Jean Reno, a cinema legend, ‘Jean, the penguin is more important than you in this film’… he was incredibly respectful and understood,” said director David Schurmann.

The film, which premiered in the US on 16 August, is inspired by a true story of an unlikely relationship between a Magellanic penguin and a retired fisher from Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro.

Between 2011 and 2016, João Pereira de Souza, or Seu João, now 80, received visits from the penguin at Provetá beach. Seu João first met the penguin in March 2011 when he found it covered in oil. After bathing and feeding the bird, named Dindim, it decided to stay.

“It was an amusing scene,” said Cyro Scarpa, an executive producer for TV Globo. “They would swim together, then the penguin would return home, go to the shower, and wait for the man to turn on the tap.” Scarpa added, “Seu João would sit on the sofa to watch TV and the penguin would sit right next to him.”

A team from the Ubatuba Aquarium confirmed Dindim was male through a blood test and placed an identification band on him. “Some months later, a penguin returned, and it was indeed Dindim,” said the aquarium’s director, Hugo Gallo Neto.

Magellanic penguins have breeding colonies along parts of the coasts of Chile and Argentina, such as Patagonia. During the southern hemisphere winter, they swim to southern and southeastern Brazil in search of food. Therefore, it is not uncommon for penguins to appear on Brazilian beaches due to factors like ocean currents and industrial fishing.

What was unusual was the bond between Dindim and Seu João; for five consecutive years, Dindim spent eight months on the beach and four at sea.

In September 2016, Dindim returned to the sea earlier than expected and never reappeared. As he was of breeding age, it’s possible he found a group and returned to his place of origin. “But obviously, he could have fallen victim to many natural and human threats,” said the oceanographer.

From the same Ubatuba Aquarium, 10 penguins appeared in “My Penguin Friend”. They were all rescued or born in captivity and took turns playing Dindim, with limited working hours and resting in climate-controlled “penguinariums”.

“Two of them fell in love during shooting,” said Schurmann. “Our penguin whisperer, Fabian Gabelli, said ‘these two won’t be working anymore, let’s let them enjoy their romance.'”

Of the eight penguins left, Maui, a seven-year-old, stood out. “He worked very well with the actors. In one scene, he calmly sat on the sofa while Jean petted him,” said the director.

Jean Reno, born in Morocco, raised in France, joined Mexican actor Adriana Barraza, nominated for an Oscar for “Best Supporting Actress” for Babel (2006). She played Maria, the Brazilian fisher’s wife. The dialogues are all in English.

There is an environmental angle since Dindim was rescued covered in oil, but it’s not “heavy-handed,” says Schurmann, who is CEO of Voice of the Oceans Institute, an organization combating marine pollution.

“We tried to convey the message subtly, to first inspire people. When you like something, you’ll want to take care of it,” he added.

Schurmann spent most of his life sailing and, at 10, was part of the first Brazilian family to circumnavigate the planet in a sailboat.

As “My Penguin Friend” is inspired by true events, there are changes to Seu João’s story. In the plot, he loses a young child during a fishing trip; in real life, the fisher went 25 years without seeing the boy. He used to say that finding Dindim felt as if he were reconnecting with his son – a reunion that happened on the same TV show that made the story viral in Brazil in 2016.

“People always talk about how Seu João rescued the penguin. But for me, the story is also about how Dindim rescued him,” said Schurmann.

There is no scientific confirmation about why the penguin returned year after year, but there are theories.

“I’m not sure, but I think Provetá somehow became his ‘Patagonia’ for a while,” said Neto. “Penguins are social animals… So I think Dindim saw Seu João as a member of his group.”

In 2022, the Brazilian media widely reported that Seu João was visited by a penguin he believed to be Dindim; that was later disproven. Seu João attended the film’s premiere in Los Angeles last week.

“For me, this is a story about how even small acts of empathy towards another being, not necessarily a human, can have lasting effects,” said the film’s director. “I tried to create something that would give people some comfort, a bit of relief, and hope in this harsh world.”

Source: The Guardian