The Batman: Colin Farrell Wore His Penguin Prosthetics Out in Public

DC fans are officially one week away from finally getting to see Matt Reeves’ The Batman. After multiple pandemic-related delays, folks are eager to see Robert Pattinson don the cape. In addition to Pattinson, the new movie will also feature Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, and Colin Farrell as Oswald ‘Oz’ Cobblepot. During a recent interview with Collider, Farrell revealed that he went to Starbucks in the Penguin make-up that made him nearly unrecognizable. 

“The first day we tried the whole thing out, we took it for a drive – a spin, metaphorically speaking,” Farrell shared. “We did it in Burbank. It took about six or eight hours. It was a team of 10 or 15 people. And it was really fun. I went into Starbucks and ordered myself a very un-Oswald drink, an oat milk latte with two stevia sweeteners. I got a couple of stares but only because it’s such an imposing look. [Designer] Mike Marino did so much of the work for me on this, so much of the heavy lifting.”

Back in 2020, Farrell revealed that the Penguin doesn’t play a huge role in The Batman. However, it was announced in December that Farrell is officially on board to star in and executive produce an HBO Max spinoff of The Batman, which is expected to revolve around his portrayal of Cobblepot. The series was first announced to be in early development earlier last year, but it was unclear at the time if Farrell would be involved. The series will follow Penguin’s rise to power in Gotham’s criminal underworld, with Agents of SHIELD and Impulse alum Lauren LeFranc attached to write the script. Reeves will executive produce alongside The Batman producer, Dylan Clark.

During another recent interview with MovieMaker, Farrell revealed that his version of the Penguin was actually inspired by Fredo, the character played by John Cazale in The Godfather and The Godfather: Part II. 

“There’s a certain amount of brokenness in Oz that, I think, as a reference, not for me performance-wise, but just emotionally, as a reference for Matt – I think Fredo from The Godfather was a bit of a reference,” Farrell explained. 

“Matt was just talking about somebody who had very real and very lofty ambitions, but never really had the opportunity or the chance to explore them, and was maybe looked upon as someone who was handicapped, whether it was psychologically, intellectually – Fredo was frowned upon as less than the other brothers, and maybe Oz as well, in his life, was looked upon as somebody who wasn’t capable,” Farrell added. “And so that’s one of the things that fuels Oz.”

The Batman hits theaters on March 4th.