WhenThe Walking Deadbecame one of the highest-rated shows on television, a lot of its cast members started branching out and taking on film work. Lauren Cohan starred inThe Boyand Norman Reedus starred inTriple 9, for example. But the star of the show, Andrew Lincoln, before leaving the series in 2018, avoided taking on any extracurricular roles between seasons ofThe Walking Dead. In a recent interview withColliderto promotePenguin Bloom– his first movie role sincebeforeThe Walking Deadeven premiered– the actor has explained why.
According to Lincoln, the decision was a personal one: “I have a young family and the industry is littered with people that don’t make it as a family. And I spent eight months away from them for a lot of their childhood. It was becoming more unbearable, so basically, when I was home, I was playing catch-up as a parent, as a husband and as a father.”An average movie shootcan take up to three or four months, so if Lincoln had taken on film roles, he might not have had any time in a given year to spend with his wife and kids.
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The actor added that the scripts he was being sent weren’t a refreshingly different tone thanThe Walking Dead, but rather heavily influenced by the facthe was best-known as Rick Grimes. So, he basically would’ve been leaving behind eight months of playing Rick to go and play another version of Rick in a movie before returning to play Rick on TV for another eight months. Lincoln explained, “Unfortunately, what you have to do is, you have to change people’s perceptions of what you’re able to do as an actor. And so, a lot of the scripts I was receiving were great scripts, but they were action and they were horror and I was waiting for the right stories to chime.”
Eventually, after Lincolndeparted from the cast ofThe Walking Dead, the right project did come along. Speaking about being offeredPenguin Bloom, Lincoln said, “I instantly loved it and knew I wanted to be a part of this beautiful story of the Bloom family. And then, when Naomi [Watts] was involved, it just was a no-brainer.” The movie co-stars Jacki Weaver and Rachel House and was directed by Glendyn Ivin.
Based on a true story,Penguin Bloomstars Lincoln as a photographer whose wife, played by Naomi Watts (who also co-produced the film) is paralyzed while on vacation. The family learns to cope with the new situation by nursing an injured magpie back to health. The story couldn’t be less similar tothe zombie-slaying antics ofThe Walking Dead.Penguin Bloompremiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last September and will be released on Netflix in North America, the UK, France, and some Asian countries on January 27.
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