Ever since its debut on HBO, the Batman spinoff series The Penguin has captivated audiences with its alternate look at Gotham City, its rich characterizations of new characters like Sofia Gigante (played masterfully by Cristin Milioti), and the Emmy worthy performance of Colin Farrell as the title character, Oz Cobb. We first met Oz as a role player in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, but this series has done so much more to peel back the layers on this complicated gangster, and also showcase some incredible prosthetic work by the behind-the-scenes team. Something Farrell apparently assisted with, to maintain the illusion.
Stop reading this now if you are not up to speed on The Penguin through Episode 5, which aired on October 20.
After it was revealed that Sofia (Milioti) had been imprisoned in Arkham Asylum by her own family, she re-enacted revenge. She gassed the entire crew, save for her niece Gia, and longtime “Family” henchman Johnny Viti, played by the incredible Michael Kelly. Following the episode, which didn’t end well for Viti, I got a chance to dig into The Penguin with Kelly, and he told me amazing stories about working with this dream ensemble… particularly Colin Farrell. As Kelly explained to CinemaBlend:
I had met Colin at the table read, and he was lovely. But he wasn't The Penguin. He did the accent. But he wore a ski mask for the table read. It was the most baller move I'd ever seen. It was baller. It was. But the first day on set, when he was… I didn't see him go through the works, or anything. So he came out, and the first time I saw him as The Penguin, I was just like, ‘Oh my God.’ I'm walking up to him, and he's like, ‘Hey buddy, how are you?’ And I was just like, ‘I can't believe what I'm looking at.’ And he was like, ‘Get in here. Look! You won't find it.’ The makeup was so unbelievable.
This is hardly breaking news. Fans were impressed by Colin Farrell’s transformation when they first saw him as Oz in The Batman. He’s only increased our appreciation by disappearing further into the part as The Penguin plays out. In fact, as Michael Kelly went on to explain:
We did the Comic-Con panel (the other day), and Colin's up there being Colin and I – just for the shortest second – I was like, ‘Wait, where is…’ And I was looking for The Penguin. I was like, ‘This is crazy.’ Like, it was that thing of like, ‘Who's missing?’ And then I was like, ‘Where's The Penguin? Oh, right. There is no Penguin.’
That’s insane. Kelly compared the full immersion of Colin Farrell as The Penguin to the time he worked with Jim Carrey on Man on the Moon, when the Ace Ventura star “lived” as comedian Andy Kaufman for the duration of the shoot. We heard similar sentiments from Cristin Milioti, which makes the transformation that much more incredible:
We can only hope that this transformation continues to get Colin Farrell the awards recognition he deserves. It also makes me wonder if The Penguin will be a major part of The Batman: Part 2. Because this show is such a showcase for Farrell, I also want some of the other Batman villains to get proper treatment, as well. Give us The Penguin season 2, instead. But that’s just me being greedy.
Keep watching The Penguin with your HBO Max subscription. The end of the season is phenomenal.
