Steve Coogan felt like he was often being “heckled” by his penguin co-star while filming his new movie The Penguin Lessons.

In the upcoming comedy-drama, the British actor plays Tom Michell, a disillusioned teacher who worked at an Argentinian school in the 1970s. Michell’s life was transformed when he rescued a penguin from an oil slick and reluctantly took it back to the school as his pet.

During an interview with Cover Media, Coogan admitted working with a penguin required patience because it often didn’t do what was needed for a scene, or it would spontaneously poop during a take and he’d have to improvise.

“It pooped on the floor and sometimes I had to improvise a line if that happened because you’ve got to be ready. It’s like being heckled,” he shared. “You get heckled on stage as a comic, you need to have a line, a put-down line. Effectively, the penguin’s heckle was to basically s*** in the middle of your scene.”

The Alan Partridge actor revealed that the penguin didn’t do what the team needed 85% of the time, so they had to be prepared for the rare moments when it did.

Sharing an example, Coogan said, “In one scene we tried to get it to nod to a question I ask to see if everyone agrees with the plan I have and all the pupils nod. I turned to the penguin to see if he’ll nod. I asked him if it was all right with him and the penguin just didn’t do anything. But on the tenth take, it nodded right on cue.”

He continued, “You have to be ready and not be thrown. ‘Oh my God, it did what we wanted’ and then you go to pieces. You just say, ‘Oh, that’s good.’ You have to just be ready. You have to wait and be patient and know that 85% of the time, he won’t do what you want, but 15% of the time, it will, so you have to not rush it.”

The Penguin Lessons, based on Michell’s memoir, is only in cinemas from Friday 18 April.

© Cover Media