An avid smoker for 80 years, The Penguin was forced to quit for The Batman
Holy nicorette, Batman! Colin Farrell won’t be smoking in Matt Reeves’ Gotham City
Aux News Batman
For more than 80 years, The Penguin has smoked like a chimney. As anatomically confusing as always, his classic look was that of a 1920s socialite: Top hat, monocle, and, yes, cigarette clutched by elongated cigarette holder. Smoking is to Oswald Cobblepot what breaking the legs of a desperate, hungry criminal is to Batman. And yet, for The Batman, Matt Reeves’ authoritatively titled entry to the canon, the Penguin is left looking for an ashtray.
In a recent interview with Jake’s Takes, Colin Farrell confirmed that The Penguin has given up his trademark habit for this grittier, more noir version of the character. “Big studios make big decisions around such things as the presence of cigarettes in films,” Farrell said.
It’s clear from the interview that this was a sticking point on set. When YouTube host Jake Hamilton asks about the cigarette holder, Farrell’s costar John Tuttoro begins to cackle. Cobblepott must’ve been fiending for a drag between takes.
Farrell looked to compromise—what would he do with his flippers between lines? “I fought valiantly for a cigar,” he continued. “At one stage I said, ‘I can have it unlit! Just let me have it unlit.’ They were like, ‘No.’ Like a bunch of 12-year-olds are going to start smoking Cuban cigars.”
A Penguin without smoking? Obviously, not the biggest deal in the world. Disney managed a Cruella movie without a cigarette, and that worked out ok, right? Of course, Disney has a mandate against smoking in their films, which extends across brands. But it begs the question: Why make a children’s movie about a woman who skins dogs for fur, then draw the line at her puffing a sweet Macanudo?
Perhaps, the children who sneak into the Zodiac-inspired Batman movies—that’s really more of a serial killer mystery than a superhero flick—will glom onto other areas of the Penguin’s personality. Who knows? Maybe the crime bosses of the future will find all the inspiration they need.
155 Comments
Why make a children’s movie about a woman who skins dogs for fur, then draw the line at her puffing a sweet Macanudo?I mean, they basically had Cruella turn to the camera and say “Don’t worry, I would never hurt a widdle doggy” instead of just letting the audience be scandalized after the coat reveal. And that’s after going out of their way to establish that the Dalmatians in this iteration are vicious attack dogs. Anyway, everyone knows that the Penguin is very cool and sexy, so of course studios have to prevent impressionable children from taking up smoking so they can be just like Oswald Cobblepot.
I like how the original 101 Dalmatians does the exact opposite – Cruella’s stream of cigarette smoke is appropriately disgusting, but Pongo’s human smokes a nice healthy pipe, so it won’t seem like the movie is anti-smoking.
Pipe smoking was always seen as more civilized. Professors smoked pipes. Cigarettes and cigars were for gangsters.
They should have made the Dalmations actual Dalmatians — that is human members of an extinct ethnic/language group that used to live around where Croatia is now. They are the original owners of the name — the dogs were named that because the breed was supposedly created by them.
Push the button, Frank!
One look at those jowls and the kids go ga-ga!
I didn’t know this Batman was going to feature the Penguin, so now I have lost a lot of interest. I couldn’t stand Burton’s take on the Penguin – not to mention that the Batman only appeared once in the first 45 minutes of Batman Returns. The whole Penguin story was creepy and tedious (really, downright gross) imo. This flick is at least 3 hours long so even more Penguin. Will the Bird be providing some humor? Because this flick looks pretty dour. I don’t like Farrell at all so I’ll wait for this to hit video streaming.
What value is a life without surprise? What happiness comes from safe predictability?Joy comes from discovery, and while there is risk with that, the opposite is an existence of fear-induced blandness. Comfort zones are self-made prisons.
That’s… that’s beautiful, man.
Arguably more poetic than saying “when you shit on everything, all you make is a big stink”.
If you didnt know this iteration had the penguin, odds are you probably werent going to see it in the theatre anyways.
I honestly didn’t know until, like, a week ago. He’s not in the marketing all that much. All I knew was Pattison, Riddler and very, very dark lighting.
He’s in all the trailers, and any and all internet talk about the movie has mentioned him.
The big money shot of the trailer is Batman crashing the Penguin’s car and ominously marching toward him viewed upside down.
You do know this movie will be different than “Batman Returns”, though?
Wait, it’s not a shot-for-shot remake?
Considering the Dark Knight Rises already was, do you really think they’d risk doing it a third time??
I haven’t snorted enough coke to think like a Hollywood executive!
Michelle Pfeiffer can still rock that cat suit.
People who say “flick” are very annoying
Beneath the rest of this terrible take, it’s easy to miss that you hate Colin Farrell. What???
buddy – who gives a shit.
>Doesn’t like Batman Returns
>Doesn’t like Colin Farrell
Well you’re not coming to MY birthday party, damn.
Happy Birthday!
Colin Farrell started to make some interesting role choices about 15 years ago. He could have just chased the leading man roles, but smartly went for some that he played dweebish guys. I really liked him in The Lobster.
His best role yet is Horrible Bosses..
I tuned out: are you Colin Farell fan, or…? Where do you land on that?
I have never been impressed with his work. As a woman I also just get a lot of Irish Playboy vibes. He’s a smooth talker who projects the kind of ‘boyish’ charm and vulnerability I can’t not see no matter the character he’s playing. I did like The Lobster but, imo, any good actor could have managed the part.So there’s my answer. If I get the kind of shitty responses that resulted from my first comment – at least the Dismiss button still works.
I was going to say, I absolutely cannot judge you. I dislike some actors too and I’m not shy to let ppl know. Jared Leto for example. His career is proof positive that “The Bubble” exists and way too many celebrity worshipers uphold it. Not a John Krasinski fan at all. He’s ok as a handsome worm on the Office, but I’d rather see Rainn Wilson be an smug asshole or a psycho superhero in a movie than ever see John K in anything.
I wouldn’t try to sell you on Colin Farell, but I have to disagree, anyway. I really liked him in Tigerland and the Fright Night remake. Mileage varies I guess.
Thanks for not judging. I agree with your first two assessments.
I pretty much didnt care much for him either, but about 10 years ago my brothers kids were in his sons class, and the parents there are required to put in so many hours a month helping out at the school. My brother and him worked on a project together and they became good friends. Same with Jon Cryer and a few other celebs. My brother told me he was close friends and I was like “Is he a asshole? He seems like it? “ and he said no, he wasnt anything like he is on screen, doesnt come off as a bro. He was going through a divorce at the time with his sons mom and my brother said he would call my brother at like 3 in the morning just to talk or ask him if he wanted to go out and do something. At the time my brother was like 45 with 2 younger kids and not exactly a big partier at that point in his life. After him telling me about the kind of guy he was it kind of changed my opinion of him a bit and not be so quick to judge.. He says Jon Cryer is a real genuine guy and one of the nicest celebs hes ever met..
Leto just puts me off any project he’s involved with, leaving me conflicted about the WeWork show, which I am very much otherwise interested.
You should check out In Bruges. Sort of a crime comedy, and he plays pretty much a moron (very convincingly).
I will.
Plus it has Brendon Gleeson just being delightful, as usual.
Don’t like Farrell? He’s generally the best thing in whatever he is in these days.
(Wait’ll he finds out about George Clooney’s Batman and Jared Leto’s Joker.)
cool story bro
You understand this is a completely different iteration featuring different cast and crew yes? Aside from some prosthetics there’s no indication this Penguin is going to be anything resembling Danny DeVito’s. Your prejudgment is very strange
You’ll fucking watch it in the theaters, pal.
There are like 5 red flags for bad taste in your post.Ignore me. I’m just being flippant.
I mean…The Penguin from Batman Returns was by no means a standard portrayal of the character: not like what we see in the comics or other media, and definitely not like what’s in this film. I would say you’re safe from seeing that kind of Penguin again, but it kind of feels like you weren’t really going to see it anyway.
Do you not like Farrell at all, as an actor? Or just how he was cast as the Penguin with a ton of makeup? Like, I think Farrell is a great actor, but buried under a bunch of prosthetics isn’t a good for anyone. I’ll also likely hit this up streaming, cause it is nearly three bloody hours and I’m not trying to stick around in a theatre that long.
You sound like a barrel of fun.
Man, it sure sounds like you just like to bitch about shit you have no interest in from the outset.
Apparently Penguin isn’t in it that much. From what I’ve heard it’s mostly just the beginning. Sounds like they’re maybe setting him up for more stuff down the line.Also Burton’s take on Penguin was really unusual. I’m not sure why they made him a weird, mutant, sewer baby raised by penguins but traditionally he’s more mobster with trick umbrellas. The Batman makes him look more like they’re leaning into noir mob boss.
That’s encouraging.
Call me a freak but I loved Danny DeVito’s Penguin. “Still could be worse, my nose could be gushing blood.” How could you not love that?
To be fair, the main thing that was wrong about the Penguin’s prior cinematic appearance is that he got dragooned into a Tim Burton movie, Mayor Freak, about how an unscrupulous tycoon manipulates a monster from the sewers (but somehow also from the circus, which indicates that in Mayor Freak’s world, people attend the circus in the sewers?) into running for mayor. Batman’s barely in that movie, and is ostensibly that film’s villain. Burton then cut in a short film, Batman & Catwoman, about the title characters having a doomed romance, which is actually pretty cool, except that the big conclusion of that film—where the romance can’t work out because Catwoman’s hell bent on revenge and Batman refuses to kill people—is somewhat undercut by the fact that Batman kills people left and right in Mayor Freak, so he comes off as a bit of a hypocrite.Still, when he’s not being repurposed by Burton into a mutant sex maniac who drools black sludge, the Penguin’s a fine character. If you’ve seen the movies Farrell’s done in the time that he’s been sober (most of the time from In Bruges on, I think) he’s done a fine job. It’s worth a try to give him a shot.
I’m so glad you said it. The plot to Returns was holier than that rusty metal in “Batman Forever.” Another absolute failure in the Bat franchise of the 90s.
The funny thing is, I’ve grown to like Returns over the years, for its sheer weirdness and audacity. But I still respect my younger self’s criticism of the movie: Burton adding a strong dash of Beetlejuice to a Batman story was awesome and tasty. Him slopping a bucket of Edward Scissorhands into the sequel was a lot less so.
Good grief. You really needed to get that out didn’t You? This has nothing to do with Tim Burton or Dark Knight. See it or don’t. Suit yourself.
ugggggh so stupid
is it? Is it more stupid than commenting your thoughts that nobody gives a fuck about?
This is offensive to me! Pengy needs to smoke! ;)Anway what was really offensive to me was Watchmojo doing a list of Batman’s best Villians and when they got to Penguin they only showed Devito and Gotham’s Penguin. Like fuck off! The best Penguin is Burgess Meredith!That’s my old man screaming at a cloud moment.
Robin Lord Taylor did a really good job. He was consistently the best part of Gotham.
I liked him as well but he isn’t Burgess! I was just laughing that they only show those two Penguin’s when for like 25+ years before Devito version, the only version of him people knew was Burgess.I liked Taylor and Riddler in Gothman was more than I liked the rest of the story (I stopped watching after a while) but those two carried a wooden Jim Gordon and an bad young Bruce Wayne.
Gothman? Sounds like Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne.
Ah the humor of 2008
I didn’t stick with Gotham long enough to know if Cobblepot smoked in that. Or if he did from the beginning, I don’t remember.Perhaps they could update the character from 1920s socialite to 1980s yuppie and have him use cocaine instead?
Penguins do live in a snowy environment, so that makes sense.
I think the better bet would be to completely modernize him by constantly clutching his elaborate vape and blowing fat clouds.
Mr. Freeze vapes. A Lot.
He could contract boneitis.
i want my penguin violently addicted to masturbating so i can finally relate to him a little
Your comment made me laugh out loud.Cocaine FTW
Well, Danny DeVito’s Penguin spit out a cigarette in “Batman Returns”, so we should have all seen this coming.
Maybe the subtext of Batman Returns is that the Penguin recently quit smoking and he’s suffering horribly from nicotine withdrawal.
“Don’t do drugs, kids!” The Penguin’s dying line, left on the cutting room floor.
That’s a good point! Despite this article’s fishing (PENGUIN! FISH! that’s a joke, son!) for fanboy outrage, Oswald hasn’t smoked outside of the comics since the 60’s
At least they didn’t “modernize” it and have him vaping.
Nah vaping is for old people now. Penguin should be doing what the cool kids do these days, butt chugging. Just in every scene, pants down with a tube of booze up his rectum.
Holy shit not at my kids’ high school it isn’t.
Butt-chugging was my generation’s holy grail, and we’re pushing 40. Based on Euphoria I take it that modern kids exclusively do mad pills that I haven’t heard of.
I heard the kids were back into it again.
Murders murders everywhere, and not a cig to smoke. Virtue signaling in the sky much brighter than the bat signal. Also, an 18 minute interview? Fans be thirsty.
They made Wolverine quit cigars in the comics, and he’s got a healing factor.
To compensate, Mister Freeze now smokes Kools.
Mister Freeze seems way too smart. Although it could lead to a suitably touching moment where he finally resurrects his wife, only to die of lung cancer.
Give this man a script deal, stat
I’m not an expert on how Mr. Freeze’s whole deal works (I know the story, just not all the details), so now I’m curious: *Could* he smoke a cigarette? Or would the cherry and inhaled smoke be unbearably hot to him?
He smoked stogies in Batman & Robin.
True, but I can’t imagine they put any deeper consideration into that portrayal.
Depending on the iteration, he might just not have lungs.
I mean, he needs to technically stay below freezing because he no longer has water in his cells but some sub-zero temperature fluid..so I imagine anything room temperature let alone capable of burning normal human cells would be insanely hot. A warm cup of water would hurt him, a lit cigarette mind as well be a blow torch…
How would Mr. Freeze smoke a cigarette?
And the Riddler vapes!!
Beefy sideburns, War of Jokes and Riddles, Riddler vapes.
Ironically, Kool cigarettes used to feature Willie the Penguin.
and Red Hood smokes Pall Malls.
The nicotine helps him…chill out.
It was my understanding that they were Parliments.
Why make a children’s movie about a woman who skins dogs for fur, then draw the line at her puffing a sweet Macanudo? Because there isn’t a multi-billion-dollar industry dedicated to encouraging people (including children) to skin dogs for fur, while there is such an industry for smoking. What are you, an idiot?
That first, but also .. … don’t these new Disney “villain” movies recontextualize them as effectively heros – or at least characters to sympathize with? It’s one thing to have the bad guy doing bad things, but my understanding is Cruella isn’t really a villain in the re-up version. (I have obviously not watched it.)
Believe it, the sheer outrage of making a movie about a fictional imaginary character who wanted to kill fictional imaginary dogs, and then how she was brazenly rewritten completely to not want to kill dogs, actually, despite Dalmatians killing her mother was the only thing outside of Dalmatians killing her mother that people were talking about before, during, and after that movie came out.
You obviously don’t know where I made my multi-billions of dollars! Muwahahaa haa haaaaa!
The biggest surprise, honestly, is that the Penguin looks like David Paymer.
God we live in such a pussy society now.
A pussy society where people live longer, healthier lives.
Yeah, that really sucks, don’t it?
Capitalism is rollin’ up its’ sleeves and getting to work undermining all of that as hard as it can rn.
It’s because of capitalism that most American adults no longer smoke?
You might think nothing up capitalism’s sleeves can hit the same intersection of addictive, lucrative, bad for individual health, and bad for society as cigarettes. Well, Zuckerberg would like you to hold his kombucha.
But at least cigarettes are still cool in a way that Facebook never could be
No, the “longer and healthier” part.
Living is for pussies
also, a women’s genitals are meant as an insult! ah!
How can you even use “pussy” in a sentence without cringing? Sounded corny in the 90s, sounds goofy as hell now.
Some words withstand the test of time.
Words like mukluk.
Nothing about this movie sounds good.
give those kids cellphones and youtube and tiktok accounts immediately, though.
It’s 2022 and journalists are still doing “Holy ______, Batman!” copy gags, I see. Remember when seemingly every single article about superheroes or comics (even none superhero stuff like books by Chris Ware) included that and/or “Biff! Bam! Pow!”? I guess the fact that this is the first one I’ve seen in a while.is progress, but man, Pepperidge Farm remembers.
It’s intentional trolling at this point. Most of today’s journalists weren’t even alive when the Adam West show was on the air, so it isn’t that they think that’s how modern superhero depictions are like. But there is something to be said for superhero entertainment that realizes that the concept of superheros is kind of silly and modern MCU and (especially) DCU takes themselves far too seriously.
also most of them just aren’t very clever
Unfortunately, people are that stupid and easily led that they would let a comic book or cartoon character influence them to smoke. I seriously doubt the last few years can leave any doubt about that.
Batman maybe. I doubt many kids look up to The Penguin.
No, probably not Penguin. If someone did a character as cool as Snake Plissken in a modern movie and had them smoke, *I* would consider starting again. I almost did after watching Mad Men.
But I work in retail. I know for a fact that there is no bottom to people’s gullibility and stupidity, especially when it comes to self destructive habits.
I was not aware that The Penguin was a role model. So, should I assume that Warner Brothers is actively encouraging us to commit crimes and kill The Batman?
Just because you haven’t rounded up a band of henchmen with theme outfits doesn’t mean the rest of us haven’t.
I’m generally okay with movies and TV eliminating smoking to the point where the lack of it is just kind of an accepted anachronism in most period movies and TV shows . . . like everyone in dark-ages England speaking in received pronunciation, or people in the old west and colonial times all having perfect teeth.
How horrible. A bad guy doing “bad things”.
I picked up my habit of carrying trick umbrellas from the Penguin. As long as we have that I’m fine.
I haven’t kept up with spoilers or even trailers for Batman, but no smoking? Meh—does he wear a tuxedo, though? That’ll be the real make-or-break for Penguin.
They make up for this by introducing a new character: Bruce Wayne’s billionaire playboy friend Joe Camel. “Sorry I’m late, Bruce. My pool game went long at the jazz club.”
…as if this movie matters enough that people will be influenced by it?
Actually, showing cool and trendy people smoking in media WAS a major influence on popularizing cigarettes for women and children in the 1920s and 1930s. Prior to that it was mostly a guy thing and it was mainly cigars. We are very easily subconsciously influenced by these factors. (Reference: the documentary “The Century of the Self”)
Why they rate protecting kids from smokers against protecting people from images of violence against women, that I can’t tell you, but movies are definitely way cool about the later.
Do we get a lot of cool and trendy people in media slapping their wives around?
Ahhh this classic
#OnlyBlueCouples
Is that a cool guy that kids will want to be like?
Do elevator security cams equal “media”?
It’s not promoted but it’s not condemned. It’s normalized. Remember those “to the moon” jokes? People laughed at them. They were funny. We still remember them. But he was talking about beating his wife.
Granted today we do less of that, and we demonize the men who do it, but we still show it. It’s still an acceptable character arc.
It was just an example of things that Hollywood thinks is fine, but smoking is not. Hollywood also makes guns look ultra cool.
Those ‘to the moon’ jokes were 60+ years ago. Back when smoking was cool. Are there any cool guys hitting, or threatening to hit, their wives or girlfriends in the media these days? Or even in recent years? The statement ‘It’s promoted but it’s not condemned’ seems to be contradicted by the statement ‘Granted today we do less of that, and we demonize the men who do it’.So are there any examples, especially recent examples, of men committing violence against women being portrayed in a positive light the way smoking used to be?
Men and women slapping in each other, often in direct proximity to making out and/or having sex, used to be extremely common.
How recently? I’m sure I’ve seen such depicted, but I can’t really think of an example of it that’s from this century. Seems like the kind of thing that was really at home back in the ‘60s and maybe the ‘70s, but really began to fade away after that (even before smoking stopped being portrayed as cool in media).
There was still a bit of it as late as the early oughts, in films like Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005) and Daredevil (2003) where the protagonists fight, and then hook up, and then fight some more. It’s worth noting that even in the 60s and earlier, the various references, threats, and slaps weren’t really supposed to stand for or promote domestic violence: “To the moon!” was an ironic indicator of Ralph’s impotent anger, not a threat to actually slug Alice; Lucy acting like Ricky was going to smack her after whatever hijinks she got into was a setup for the fact that he always laughed and kissed her instead. The protestations and violence that accompanied people in movies making out were often side effects of the various decency codes, which often required that you couldn’t suggest that a “good” unmarried woman actually desired sex, so you needed a bunch of “No! We can’t!”s and exchanged slaps to make it clear that yeah, they were making out, but no, it absolutely wasn’t her idea! Which is still toxic, and arguably promotes (or at least normalizes) violence, but isn’t quite the same as the way that people in movies constantly and casually smoking directly promoted tobacco products.There’s also something to be said for the fact that the shine of smoking as glamorous stuck around long after its heyday (which was really the 40s and 50s), just by reference, even as smoking on screen became less and less acceptable. I think we underestimate how long lasting cultural influences can be.
So…he could have had the cigarette holder and somebody points out it’s empty. He says “I quit!” And then later he shoots a blowdart out of it. Solved.
Well where the hell am I meant to go for my fix of profane, drunk, nude smoking penguins now?
Norway.
I say make him constantly pop nicotine gum and act like he’s desperately trying to quit cigarettes. The Arkham games gave him a voicebox and made sure he was extra disgusting.
Other inside Penguin smoking cigarettes holder bit goes way back to Batman Returns with “reclaim your birthright!” by the PR guy which Penguin spits out.
Even when you do see someone smoking in a movie or TV show now, they pull a gross face and put it out after one drag
Damn, I remember when NBC did this to “Constantine” I mean, I know they want a PG-13 rating, but a wee bit of smoking shouldn’t be much compared to Battinson breaking arms and legs all over the place.
If The Penguin isn’t smoking, how is he “left looking for an ashtray?” Why would he want one?
He’s looking for butts that are still long enough to get a few drags out of, natch
This is so asinine. With all the filth kids are exposed to these days…Even their toys! The Tammy Craps doll is like smoking 5 macanudo cigars! What’s even the difference?
So we shouldn’t make small efforts at all then and just let kids be exposed to everything. Is that the point you’re making??
I’m literally eating Flamin’ Hot Cheetos for the first time because of having seen them on Peacemaker and I’m a grown ass man. Product placement isn’t nothing.
Cool movie has cigarette smoking = cigarette smoking is cool.
My point is. And i think it should be obvious. I dont want to spend my hard earned bones and worms on garbage like the Tammy Craps doll (which if you’re under 100 lbs is like smoking 5 macanudo cigars.)Its enough to make me want to pull my hair up, but not out.
These mandates are weird.For example, Warner also has a mandate against any toys/collectibles coming with guns, meaning any figures based on film properties can’t have guns.Really weird when the Peacemaker figures are missing his trademark accessory, as well as the holster on his belt. And weird that Bloodsport only comes with two swords and not the multitude of guns he is able to construct from just about anything.And that Harley, with her signature scene of mowing down bad guys with assault rifles, only gets Javelin’s staff as her accessory.
I mean honestly whether the Penguin smokes or doesn’t smoke…who the hell cares, really?
The underlying issue at play here is the way the major Studios micromanage everything and makes all these mandates that take creative options away from artists so that everything ends up as the same cookie cutter, mass marketed trash.
This is a younger version of The Penguin, life hasn’t hit him so hard that he’s taken up smoking yet.
Rumours are swirling that the post-credits scene features Penguin emerging from the rumble of that flipped car and lighting his first dart.