Colin Farrell credits Penguin makeup artist Mike Marino for inspiring spin-off series
Colin Farrell shares timeline details for The Penguin spin-off, credits The Batman makeup artists for inspiring the show
Aux News Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell is happy to give credit where credit is due. He may be the one portraying Oswald Cobblepot in The Batman and its upcoming spin-off series, but it’s the makeup artists who brought The Penguin to life. So much so, in fact, that Farrell credits their work with spawning the spin-off.
Asked by Variety if he knew that the character might get his own series while filming The Batman, Farrell responded, “God, no.” However, he says, “The only thing I had an idea was that I wasn’t nearly getting to explore the character as much as I wanted to. Because there was all this extraordinary work done by [makeup artists] Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine and his team, and I just thought it was the tip of the iceberg, pardon the pun, that we were getting to do the six or seven scenes that we did in the film. I was grateful for them, but I wanted more.”
“I had a bit of a thought about it, and I talked to [producer] Dylan Clark, and Dylan had a similar thought, and we all kind of came together,” the Banshees Of Inisherin star said of the genesis of the show. “And it was really, honest to god, any thought I had about an extended series was to do with Mike Marino’s work. I just knew there was so much to do with it—age it up, age it down. He’s just such a genius, Mike, so it was his work that was the inspiration, really.”
Farrell revealed that filming will begin on The Penguin in February and “will take around five or six months,” per Variety. He’s joined by co-star Cristin Milioti, who plays Sofia Falcone, daughter of the late Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) and Cobbelpot’s rival for Gotham City’s new Big Boss of the crime world. Farrell previously teased that the series picks up “about a week” after the events of The Batman, when the city is still “somewhat underwater.” He even previewed the series’ first shot: “[It] opens up on my feet splashing through the water in Falcone’s office,” he told Extra. Let the games begin!
16 Comments
That’s great and all but I have no idea, even as a lifelong Batman fan, why they think I’d be at all interested in watching a series about The Penguin.
Woof yeah especially this not very good version of The Penguin, ouch.
I loved his performance, personally. And he’s right about one thing, at least: That is one of the best makeup and prosthetic jobs I’ve ever seen.
I was just amazed that I could not find Farrell anywhere in there. Obviously the make-up does a lot of that, but his voice was so different as well. It was such a full transformation.That said, my favourite description of him is from the ‘Pitch Meeting’ video for this movie: “Oh, a very Italian-American flightless bird!”
I thought the character was badly written.Then again I thought that about pretty much the whole movie.
I felt the same way when I learned there would be a prequel series about Walter White’s smarmy lawyer. Who wants to see that? The acting, writing, and production of Better Call Saul far exceeded my expectations about the Breaking Bad side character. Let’s see what these producers have in mind for The Penguin. Hopefully they have a fascinating angle none of us have thought of.
I didn’t make it past the first season of BB or BCS, they’re both too dour and depressing for my taste.
One of the Batman’s most inexplicable decision was hiring someone as distinctive as Farrell only to use a practical effects deepfake of De Niro’s performance in the Untouchables onto him for the movie.
I was thinking more ‘Pacino in Dick Tracy’ myself:
I damn near forgot that movie existed.
It’s particularly inexplicable when Robin Lord Taylor showed you can have a perfectly fine Penguin without a fat suit and 12 hours in the make-up chair.
Penguins wear makeup?
And tuxedos.
Going against the norm here but I think he absolutely nailed the role, and his casting of the Penguin was spot on. Yes he’s buried in his makeup, but he even he admits that his “transformation” got him into better headspace for the character and even the director (Matt Reeves) was sad to see the shoot end, as he’d gotten to know Farrell as Oswald. It’s worth watching the behind-the-scenes video from The Batman that covers his transformation and acting take.
The Penguin is one of the few extremely smart quasi-villians in the Batman universe, and one of the few that actually gets any respect from Wayne and generally isn’t out to end Batman. Not to mention his involvement and knowledge in Gotham’s underground. Oswald is fascinating, and seeing his progression from nothing to where he is now should make for an interesting show.
Who doesn’t love a good mob boss?
“Woke up this morning, got yourself an umbrella…”