The Batman: Colin Farrell's Penguin Spin-Off Will Be "Like a Scarface Story"

By Jamie Jirak

DC fans are mere days away from finally getting to see The Batman on the big screen. Despite not being released yet, the movie already has a spin-off in development for HBO Max which is set to follow Colin Farrell as Oswald 'Oz' Cobblepot AKA The Penguin, and his rise to power in Gotham's criminal underworld. In addition to starring in the show, Farrell will also be executive producing with Agents of SHIELD and Impulse alum Lauren LeFranc attached to write the script. The Batman director Matt Reeves will also executive produce alongside The Batman producer, Dylan Clark. During a recent interview with SFX Magazine (via Games Radar), Clark spoke about the upcoming series and compared it to Scarface. 

"We're doing one with Colin [Farrell, as Oswald Cobblepot], seeing Oz rise to power, almost like a 'Scarface' story," Clark shared. "It's exciting to do something like that just as a standalone, but it speaks to the character and our movie, so that you'll go back to the movie [and say], 'Oh, I see that backstory there, that line refers to this'."

"We have to get into what made him the man he is," Farrell recently told Entertainment Tonight. "And also, it will pick up where this film finished off, I think. I think it'll pick up a little short time after the last frame of this film," he explained. "We'll get to go on a little kind of left turn off to the world of Oz and how he's beginning to kind of dream of filling a potential power vacuum that may exist."

During another recent interview with MovieMaker, Farrell revealed that his version of the Penguin was inspired by another famous movie mobster, 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. 

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