How Colin Farrell Became Unrecognizable For 'The Penguin' | Cast & Crew Interview

There was no weakness in my penguin pecker. No, there wasn't. It was designed. There wasn't. There was no weakness. Which we never filmed. Oh, yeah. It was there, man. It was there, anatomically. I was fully anatomically correct. Oz feel about the nickname, the penguin. Oh, not a fan. Yeah, not a fan. I mean, it's never been used in any way, but a derogatory way. You know, anyone that uses it, whether it's Michael Kelly's Johnny VD or whoever it may be in the show, they're using it to put him down. and he's somebody that's he's been put down a lot in his life and he's been kind of pushed outside of the communal experience and and he's been made feel like a quote-unquote cripple he's been called a cripple he's been laughed at so it's something that he doesn't truck with at all, Matt please let swearing and f-bombs be part of your script for Batman Part Two it's necessary one turns them into poetry please you know there's i mean isn't that what's so exciting on the show to really be able to be unleashed i will say we had uh happy ******* halloween uh from Alex Ferns which is that was a very well delivered line too he did it great yeah and so you know we're as unleashed as we can be in the movies uh in PG-13 but uh it is really exciting to be able to hear Oz's voice in full flower i mean he gets very poetic with his use of profanity, which is a delight. Well, it's so fun for us to be able to really focus in on in the movie exploration with Rob's character, the Batman, to be in a certain tonal lane, but then to also then shift gears and go into our first series with the Penguin, obviously a very well known marquee character played by the great Colin Farrell, and go into a different lane, and that's creatively really exciting. And I think it's fun for the fans, too. Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt. So, I thought you were I'm still at a... Arco, I've been rehabilitated. I spent a year with Oz. Yeah. I wouldn't really see Colin out of makeup. I think I've seen Colin out of makeup three times. Okay. And it was all in like pre-production. It's very strange when I hear his voice, it really flips me out. And certainly when I see him in his like real form, because I associate those eyes and that voice with someone who I spent a year with. Right. Who is not real, but feels like a person I know better. Like it's so hard to describe. Your brain is telling you the person you know is the person who your brain sees that you're talking to. Now, deep down, I know that it's Colin, but on the surface, it's like a magic trick. On the surface level, it feels like that's what's really happening. There would be times where like I wouldn't, you know, it isn't Colin Farrell. It was a different person and it was a different, he was not that when he was in, you know, in between takes he stayed he stayed in the voice and stayed in the the the physicality of it and i like would get worried about his leg you know just like like my brain would be like no he's he's i would forget that he didn't actually have a disability i you know never saw him without it for the whole time that we were working together and i never needed to sort of handle the nervousness that somebody might have when you're working with somebody who, a movie star who you are such a huge fan of. No, I never had to think about the Colin Farrell-ness of it all. You promised me Oswald. I know that. I deserve a better life. I'm working on it. Knowing that people haven't seen it, what's the one word you would use to describe Francis's relationship with Oz? Weaponized. Yes. That made you happy. that's great that's fantastic yes and very true i'm at times desperate for them to heal their wounds or evolve out of you know some of this psychological dysfunction but i'm also i'm entertained by it at moments i'm horrified by it at moments it's true i know they're delightful and they're and it's heartbreaking and it's wrenching you're like whoa that is and it's demented you're going i mean weaponized is a great word it's like and that was the thing you know from the beginning what we're talking about is the idea of if we wanted to do this gangster tale that it's all about you know in a dark american dream story when you're doing a gangster tale it's always about what's driving the character and what's creating the void within that character that makes them be willing to go at any lengths to get what they want to grasp at power at money at something to look for recognition and so that's why that relationship is so key because she's the answer their relationship and their past is the answer to that hole those broken places in oz and the broken places that they both share it's really it's very messed up it's it's quite something matt is oz a smart guy or is he just super smart like colin i think he's super bright i mean he is fast on his feet he's like jazz he can respond in the moment and he is i think he has got an exceptional intelligence absolutely i mean i think he um that's the thing i think he's easily underestimated and that was the that was the initial sort of idea for him in the movie was this idea that here's this character that we know becomes the kingpin who, when Batman first encounters him, and he sort of is threatening him, Oz says back to him, You better watch it. You know my reputation. Yeah, I do. Do you? And the idea is that people think he's a joke, but he's no joke, as we see in the series. America's a hustle. Not that I'm complaining. Mike, I need to ask you about the creation of Oz's feet. I only want to talk about Oz's feet. if we could. I think it's the first time in live action that we actually get to see the feet. Can you elaborate on the design, some of the conversations you had about them? Well, if you think of the namesake penguin, I mean you'd think immediately of a shape of a body, you'd think of the way they walk and the way their face is and their whole, it's part of them. You know, so you can't call a villain the penguin without having something that inspires why. So I think in the show we figure out why what's creating his walk what's creating part of why they call him the penguin so we were looking at references that were kind of like oh you know i i actually thought it was really interesting that it was like right like this talks about class just in the fact that this person is a person that couldn't have gotten the surgeries that you would need for that like we're having a conversation even if we're just talking about it existing in a way it's not a fantasy bird foot you know it's something that may resemble something non-human or something that is very human you know um a a weakness you know something that may inspire why he does certain things or may inspire uh you know his persona and what what why people call him a certain thing so uh it was interesting to do there was no weakness in my penguin pecker no there was designed. There wasn't. There was no weakness. Which we never filmed. It was there, man. It was there. I was fully anatomically correct. Listen, Sal. Carmine Falconer is dead and I'm here now. I'll be calling the shots.