‘Penguin Bloom’ Sees Stars Naomi Watts and Andrew Lincoln Work Alongside Real Life Bloom Family.

Naomi Watts is shining a light on disability in her new film Penguin Bloom. The film also focuses on a character healing from trauma with an unlikely hero at its center.

Penguin Bloom is based on the true story of Australian mother Sam Bloom who, while vacationing in Thailand over the holidays with her husband Cameron and three boys, fell 20 feet from the roof of their hotel’s balcony after a rusty railing gave away and fell to the concrete below. The accident fractured her skull, ruptured her lungs, shattered her spine in several places and left her paralyzed from the chest down. Same Bloom was an avid surfer and adventurer, the accident and subsequent disability left her depressed until a baby magpie named Penguin entered the family’s life and renewed her sense of hope. The Blooms’ experience sprung the book Penguin Bloom, which eventually made its way into the hands of Naomi Watts, who immediately knew she wanted to bring this story to the screen.

Andrew Lincoln, who stars in the film as Sam’s husband Cameron, alongside Naomi Watts had many conversations with the actual Bloom family on their story during the course of filming and notes that the couple was heavily involved in the production even offering up their actual house to use for the films set.

We are looking forward to Naomi’s performance, perhaps this will be the year she takes home the Oscar, long overdue after the robbery that occured post The Impossible. If you haven’t been awestruck by her performance in the true life survival of a family during the south east asian tsunami disaster, we entreat you to give the movie a viewing. Naomi Watts shines on screen as she brings depth, empathy, and impossibility to life. A quality we’re looking forward to seeing again in Penguin Bloom.