Through the Critics Choice Association I was presented the opportunity to attend a live press conference for DC’s The Penguin, streaming this week on MAX. The series follows Oz Cobb, portrayed by Colin Farrell reprising the role he’d played in Matt Reeves’ The Batman.
Matt Reeves was not in attendance for the press conference, but he sent a video message to kick things off. In that message he detailed how the idea of The Penguin series came to be.
“… the idea of not only doing films, but maybe doing an HBO-style show that could not be focused on Batman, but instead be focused on one of those Rogues Gallery
characters and see them coming into being, see their origins, and do it
with an HBO treatment.” – Matt Reeves
The series was pitched as a “Scarface-like” story set in the aftermath of Carmine Falcone’s death and showcasing Oz’s rise to power in Gotham. It was a character-driven pitch that worked.
The Penguin Press Conference
The conference started off by immediately recognizing the difficulties of telling a story in Gotham without the Dark Knight himself. Showrunner Lauren LeFranc addressed the absence of Batman head-on.
“… if you have interesting enough characters, complicated enough
quirky, off kilter people that you want to engage with, you’re not thinking about who else I wish could be in this world with us.”
The success of the film no doubt rides on the performance of Farrell as the iconic Batman villain. He was a standout in The Batman, but that was only for a short stint of a feature film. How would his performance hold up as the lead in an eight-part mini-series? Unsurprisingly, it holds up amazingly.
The Oscar nominated actor spoke about the inspiration for his iteration of the character. “I was speaking with somebody earlier and they referenced Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy,” Farrell explained, “Someone else last week said… that Oz reminded them of De Niro in The Untouchables as Al Capone. Someone else said James Gandolfini. So, it’s not an original performance apparently.”
Farrell, who is completely transformed thanks to the makeup and prosthetics of Mike Marino, spoke about the first time he’d seen the design of his character. Up until approximately six months prior to filming The Batman, Farrell had been in the dark on the look of his upcoming role.
“… it spoke to me so clearly. It spoke with a sense of history, a sense of threat, a sense of violence. Also, there was a kind of something sorrowful to the visage as well.” – Colin Farrell
Seeing the concept art and seeing himself for the first time beneath the layers of cosmetics were two very different things. “When the makeup went on and I looked in the mirror, it was like those YouTube videos you see of cats,” Farrell joked, “When you see a cat seeing themselves in the mirror for the first time and they recoil.”
Of course, you can’t talk about the Penguin as a Batman villain without thinking of Danny DeVito and his turn in the role for Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. Farrell shared that he and DeVito had shared text “taking the piss out of each other” by sending texts about who was the better depiction of the character.
“[I’d] send him pictures of action figures and shit, and yours is more accurate than mine. What’s up with that? Who did the paint job on my action figure?”
The surprise performance of the series comes from Cristin Milioti as Sofia “The Hangman” Falcone. The actress is perhaps best known for the playing the mother in the final season of the hit sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Here, she gives a far different portrayal, one that’s as terrifying as it is electric. The actress describes herself as a “life-long Batman fan.” In regards to accepting the role, Milioti said, “it’s such a like incredible dream to play because there’s so much that happens to her and she goes on such a journey.”
“Like you read [the script], and you start like salivating because I couldn’t believe that I was going to get a chance to do this…” – Cristin Milioti
Another new character introduced is Victor Aguilar, played by Rhenzy Feliz. The role of Victor is one of a partner and a friend to Oz. When asked about the relationship between the two, Feliz explained, “I think what he (Victor) sees in Oz, I think he looks up to Oz in a way. And I think he sort of finds something that he’s lost in Oz…”
The Penguin, running for eight episodes, will premiere on September 19th.
