Penguin Bloom: behind the scenes

Director Glendyn Ivin and leading actors Naomi Watts and Andrew Lincoln talk about working with magpies in the new feature film Penguin Bloom.

After years of working in television drama directing titles such as Seven Types of Ambiguity, Safe Harbour and The Cry, Glendyn Ivin was looking for a change in tone for his new project. Fortunately he found that in the new family feature Penguin Bloom.

The hurdle in making the film was working with trained magpies.

“Yeah, shooting with magpies… it’s tricky… No one really knew what to expect when the birds came on set,” explains Ivin who worked with seven different magpies during production.

“You need a lot of patience and I guess an openness to what a bird wants to do and what they are doing as opposed to what we’re wanting them to do,” he continues. “I was kinda surprised. They’re a little like dogs, magpies. You can kinda train them like dogs.”

This behind the scenes video also features interviews with actress and co-producer Naomi Watts and her on-screen husband, Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually, The Walking Dead).

Penguin Bloom is released by Roadshow and is in Australian cinemas now.