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Colin Farrell spoke with Extra’s Melvin Robert about the new HBO miniseries, The Penguin, which picks up on the events of The Batman and follows Oswald Cobblepot, AKA The Penguin, as he tries to take control of Gotham’s crime lords.
Colin spoke about how intense the world and character were, and how it left him feeling a bit grumpy by the end of filming.
“It’s a dark world, dark characters… Matt [Reeves] “Matt created the template for what would happen if Oz were to return, and we’ve achieved that with this show. And Matt created the extraordinary world of Gotham, and Lauren took Matt’s template and really dug deep into the psyches of the characters, particularly creating a very complicated relationship between Oz and his mother.”
Farrell admitted, “I was a little cranky by the end… but I still feel very lucky to have had the role.”
He said, “I was greedy while shooting the film because I felt five-six scenes were not enough for the effort I put in. But now I feel okay.”
The star also spoke about why she loves the three hours she spends in the makeup chair every morning.
“It was really fun…I was listening to the music in my trailer, reading the script and thinking about the upcoming scenes that day.”
What was he listening to? “From Puccini to Whitesnake… all kinds of music from all eras.”
“On the last day, a lot of the crew members said they’d never seen me before. I’d been working with them for a year and I’d never seen them like this,” Pharrell said, touching his makeup-free face, before realizing how unusual it was. “It was very strange.”
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He also revealed that he has exchanged text messages with former Penguin actor Danny DeVito, calling him “very supportive” and “super cool.”
“Me and Danny have texted back and forth a few times but we’ve never really talked about the characters seriously, just had some little jokes. He’s been super supportive, DeVito? He’s a magician and he’s super cool.”
“He still thinks his penguin is better than mine,” Colin said, before adding with a laugh: “Thank goodness I can’t give you a concrete answer on that.”
“I grew up watching his ‘Penguins’… as a young cinema-goer, Danny DeVito’s Oswald Cobblepot was absolutely brilliant,” the star recalled.
“Danny was just an incredible, otherworldly guy,” but “he had a human frailty, a sense of helplessness, of being an outsider, but he had ambition and drive and a darkness in his heart.”
Colin sees similarities, but with his Penguin, he’s able to “really understand the psychology of the character and ask why he is the way he is.”
“The Penguins” premieres on Max on September 19th.
