"We had to challenge the cuteness the whole time," admits Steve Coogan, star of "The Penguin Lessons." But when you're up against an adorable, feathered scene-stealer, that's a tall order.

Debuting at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, “The Penguin Lessons” follows a cynical teacher at a posh boarding school in 1970s Argentina whose conscience is restored after he rescues an oil-soaked penguin from a beach. And that’s a real live bird appearing opposite Coogan, not a CGI creation. For most of the film, the actor appears opposite two penguins, Papa and Richard, forcing him to spend weeks getting to know his costars before filming even began. In a few complicated sequences, the production used a puppet or robot penguin, but the rest of the time, it’s that dynamic duo onscreen.

"I would visit the house where the penguins lived," Coogan says. "I would talk to them and hold them, so they would get comfortable with me. By the time I got on set, I felt comfortable picking them up. By the time we said goodbye, it was very emotional. They disarm you. People are too self-absorbed and preoccupied with things that don't matter. These birds remind you not to take everything so seriously."

But “The Penguin Lessons” isn’t just an exercise in uplift. The film is set during a turbulent period in Argentina’s history, one when the country was ruled by a military dictatorship that tortured and killed political dissidents. Coogan’s character begins “The Penguin Lessons” by trying to keep his head down. After the bird reminds him of the empathy he’s lost touch with, he begins encouraging his young students to reconnect with their moral compass and use their privileges for good. “The Penguin Lessons” was directed by Peter Cattaneo, an expert at blending humor and heart in films like “The Full Monty,” and produced outside the studio system.