When Matt Reeves’ film The Batman hit cinemas screens in 2022 not only were people impressed by the performance of Robert Pattinson as The Caped Crusader but they were also stunned by Colin Farrell portraying the villainous Oz (aka The Penguin) in such a way many thought he possibly should have had more success at Awards time.
With the release date of The Batman Part II being pushed back repeatedly someone had the bright idea of what would happen if after the events of the film Oz continued his rise in Gotham’s underworld in a Sorpranos style television series – the result is The Penguin which now has all episodes available on HBO Go.
The Phuket News was recently luckily enough to be part of the official press conference for The Penguin during which time Farell was extremely open about what it has been like bringing one of the most iconic comic book villains to life on the screen.
“Oh god, I just get inspired by everything, man. I know that’s a lukewarm answer but it’s the truth, you know,” says Farrell when he is asked whether or not any actor’s past performances as DC villains inspired him in the role.
“Heath’s performance of the Joker is incomparable, you know, God. We actually… Me and the kids were watching The Dark Knight last- last week, and he’s just extraordinary, it hasn’t aged a day, it’s just pure magic every time you watch it. He’s so dangerous, he’s so insane and funny and charming and threatening, and every little – Lauren, you were talking about details – every little nuance of Heath’s performance is just so beautiful. And yet, somehow, he- he doesn’t just… I mean, he commands your attention, but he doesn’t just take up the whole space, he allows all the other actors, he allows Maggie, and obviously Christian as Bruce Wayne, he allows them all to have their space. He’s extraordinary in it so, yeah, no.”
“But I, yeah, I just get inspired by… I just love films,” he continues “And I loved what Danny DeVito did in Burton’s films, I loved it, it was so tasty, love it still. And we go back to it as well, here, in this house, we go back to that film. And I love what Burgess Meredith did in Batman ’66. And I’ve yet to know we have the eight era out, and this is all said and done for now, I’m going to get in and start watching Gotham because I just… I’ve said it before, because I’ve heard Robin Lord Taylor is astonishing in Gotham.”
Like Heath Ledger did with The Joker Colin Farrell just seems to meld to become one with Oz in The Penguin and Farrell says it was enjoyable experience to be able play a character so intensely.
“It was fun,” he says laughing. “It was just all part of the journey of exploration. Yeah, it was just a lot of walking around my hotel room limping about. And I have a dialect coach I worked with for seven or eight projects now over the years by the name of Jessica Drake, and she was extraordinary. I worked with her for about two months before The Batman film. She has a library of accents, different dialects from all over the world, from Hungary, people speaking English in Hungarian accents, people speaking English in South African accents, English, Irish, every part of America. So, we just listen to a pile of tapes, all kind of based around the New York area, and yeah, focused in on this one gentleman who was the manager of an apartment block in- in the Bronx in the seventies, I think, and we just listened to him. It was an interview, a scratch tape interview on a stoop in the Bronx in the late seventies, and he became kind of my guide track.”
“So, that was it,” he says after reflecting for a moment. “It was just, you know, just putting the different pieces of the puzzle together and so by the time we did the first makeup test, which I think was three of four months before we started shooting The Batman film, when we did that, yeah, it was… the accent was kind of there, and the walk was kind of there. It got accentuated, you know. I didn’t walk much in the film, I was- I was in the nightclub, and then I was sitting down having a scene with the Bat, and then I was sitting in the car for that car chase, and then I was tied up with Gordon, Lieutenant Gordon, and Batman for that interrogation scene, but I didn’t get to really waddle so much in the- in the film. But yeah, it was fun, the whole thing, putting it together, was fun. And working with costume was extraordinary. Helen Huang, who did the costumes on our show, was just extraordinary. She had a really tough job, Helen, because she had to take the template of the film, and obviously the show explores a different aspect, you know, the film is in the upper echelons of society more and the show is down in the gutter, but she had to kind of marry those two worlds and also create just a monopoly of different looks and designs, and Helen was astonishing. So, yeah, it was amazing puzzle to be a part of. “
With the press conference about to end – Farrell is asked one final question – did he expect Oz as a character and The Penguin as a television series to be so well received by Batman fans right around the world.
“I knew lots of people, like coming from the material and coming from the mythology of Gotham and Batman and how well that film did, and you know, the world of comic books, whether it’s DC or MCU, I mean, you know, there’s a slew of energy around these worlds and the people are going to find it,” he says.
“I did not expect the response to be what it seems to have been, which is really touching, actually, it really is. Like, myself and Cristin text about, it’s rare, man, it doesn’t happen. We’re both acting for a couple of decades now, at least, and I’ve never had an experience like this where the response… And because it goes out over eight weeks, it’s like the anchor drops more every week, so… And I love films, and in two hours of being in a cinema, or at home, a film can penetrate my very soul, it can stay with me, it can change me, and performances can change me, and how it will change me, but there’s something about this rolling out over eight weeks as well that the anchor every week has just dropped a little bit deeper it seems into people. And the response has been extraordinary, man, I’m just super grateful to do something that we loved to do, that we had such an amazing time creating and that people really seem to be taking to it. It’s… Yeah, it’s cool.” Whether
The Penguin is picked up for a second season is something that is yet to be decided but if you haven’t done so already – go and check it out on HBO Go.
No Comments