Danny DeVito Loved Playing The Penguin, Excited For Colin Farrell

One of the great things about the popularity of comic book and superhero movies is that because the stories and characters are so popular it’s not uncommon to see those stories being told in different movies and television shows over time. It means that fans often get to see different actors take on classic characters and this is especially true when it comes to characters in Batman’s orbit. Over the years there have been several films to feature Batman stories, including 1992’s Batman Returns which starred Danny DeVito as classic villain The Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot. The Penguin is set to return to the big screen in Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman, this time with Colin Farrell taking on the role and while that casting may have come as a surprise for some fans, DeVito feels like the role is in good hands — high praise considering how much he loved during his turn.

Speaking with ComicBook.com, DeVito said that he’s excited to see what his Dumbo co-star will do with the role, especially since DeVito is himself a fan of the comic books and had so much fun in his time playing The Penguin years ago, as directed by Tim Burton, who also happened to direct Dumbo.

“Collin is a great actor. I’m excited to see what he’ll do in the part,” DeVito said. “It’s a really great, many-layered character so I’m very, very excited to see that because I was a big fan of the comic books and I loved working with Tim, Tim Burton and I had a hell of a shorthand with that one and I love doing Oswalt so I’m very much looking forward to my friend Collin and see what he has to do.”

Reeves’ The Batman has steadily been building a talented, diverse cast over recent months. It was announced earlier this year that Robert Pattinson would star in the titular role, joined by Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Paul Dano as The Riddler, Andy Serkis as Alfred, John Turturro as mobster Carmine Falcone, and Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Jim Gordon. In addition to the incredible cast, the film is set to take on a bit more of a darker tone than perhaps one might expect from a comic book-inspired movie, something Pattinson himself teased in a recent interview in which he said that he wasn’t so much interested in playing a heroic comic book character, but instead the darker, more nuanced character that ultimately is Batman.

“The only time I want to play someone an audience knows they’re supposed to like is when they really shouldn’t like them,” Pattinson said. “That’s the only time. He’s a very, very, very troubled person. There’s very few of a character that’s regarded by everyone as a heroic character that they know that they need to save the day and they know they’re good. And I always find it interesting to know that Batman, he’s always struggling a little bit, in some iterations of the stories anyway. He doesn’t know if he’s that great or not. And that’s kind of interesting. Walking the line all the time.”

The Batman is scheduled to hit theaters on June 25, 2021. Other upcoming DC Films movies include Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.