Penguin Bloom Director Glendyn Ivin on Casting Andrew Lincoln and Filming with Real Birds

Sep 23 2020

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One of the many films to world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival was director Glendyn Ivin’s Penguin Bloom. Based on the book Penguin Bloom: The Odd Little Bird Who Saved a Family by Cameron Bloom and Bradley Trevor Greive, the film tells the true story of what happened to an Australian family while vacationing in Thailand in 2013. While there, Sam Bloom (Naomi Watts) fell off a roof due to faulty railing, which left the lower two-thirds of her body paralyzed. As a lifelong surfer, traveler, outdoors-woman, and active mother to three young sons, with her just as active husband Cameron (Andrew Lincoln), she spent many months dealing with depression and trying to figure out who she now was. One day, her children brought home a wounded baby magpie, which they named Penguin, and over time Sam bonded with the bird, which began a process of emotional healing that surprised her husband and sons. Also starring Jacki Weaver, Rachel House, Leeanna Walsman, Lisa Hensley, Griffin Murray-Johnston, Felix Cameron, and Abe Clifford-Barr, Penguin Bloom is an inspiring and heartwarming movie that will remind you how lucky we are to be alive. For more on the film you can read Perri Nemiroff’s review.