A film forged from friendship
Naomi Watts, Emma Cooper and Bruna Papandrea are three of Australia’s biggest powerhouses of film. Here, they talk to marie claire about their new film, Penguin Bloom, and their enduring bond
Emma fucked up my whole plan,” Bruna Papandrea laughs. It’s not the typical way you’d expect to hear a film producer talk about their colleague, but then again Papandrea and Emma Cooper aren’t you’re typical co-workers.
Together with Naomi Watts, they’ve been best friends for close to 30 years – and it shows. Sitting in a Sydney restaurant, Papandrea and Cooper trade stories with the ease of a couple whose lives have been sewn together with intent and care.
Having met around the traps of the Sydney fashion scene before their eventual pivot to movies, they have built three of the most remarkable careers the Australian arts has ever seen: Watts as one of our most celebrated actors, Papandrea as the producer behind behemoths such as Big Little Lies and Gone Girl and Cooper as a publicist for massive Aussie flicks like Rabbit Proof Fence and Ned Kelly.
“It was one of those instantaneous clicks where I realised that we’re cut from the same cloth,” Watts tells
marie claire of meeting Papandrea and Cooper all those years ago. “They’re the kind of people you’d want at your forever dinner table – mischievous and adventurous to boot!”
As friends, they’ve done it all: lived together, travelled together, gone through heartbreak and career success together, but there had always been one thing they’ve never done: work together.
“I always resisted working with friends, for a long time,” Papandrea explains. “You’re always afraid it’s going to somehow mess with your friendship.” Cooper, however, had worked with Watts and was unconcerned about the prospect. “We’ve probably been on a dozen film sets together,” she says. “You’re with each other day and night and working and that’s always been smooth.”
Their platonic triptych finally turned professional in 2020 with
Penguin Bloom. Based on the
“THEY’RE THE PEOPLE YOU WANT AT YOUR FOREVER DINNER TABLE” – Naomi Watts
best-selling book of the same name by Cameron Bloom and Bradley Trevor Grieve, Penguin Bloom tells the extraordinary true story of the Bloom family and a unique magpie who helps them heal in the wake of a devastating accident.
Cooper had learnt of the book from Grieve and immediately called Papandrea and Watts about optioning it. They all invested their own money, won the competitive rights battle, and three years later had a film to show for it. Reflecting on how quickly they were able to turn it around, Cooper puts it down to their friendship. “Having that shorthand between us, it moved it faster,” she tells. “Because we could bring in Naomi and really bounce off each other … I mean, of course we’re always going to take each other’s call.”
With Cooper’s husband, Harry Cripps, co-writing the script with Shaun Grant, and Papandrea’s husband, Steve Hutensky, serving as co-producer, the film is a full-circle moment for the friends.
“There were a lot of organic things that came together and everyone was there for the right reasons,” Papandrea reflects. “It’s only happened to me maybe three times in my life where I’ve made something and people aren’t just taking a job, they’re doing it because of the story. It happened with Milk. It happened with Wild. And it happened with this, because people want to tell that story.”
So, would they do it again? “Absolutely,” Cooper says without hesitation. “Twenty-twenty has made me want to work with people I trust and love, more than ever,” Papandrea adds. “I’m like, ‘What else is there?’ You want to be in the trenches together.”
Penguin Bloom is in cinemas now.