The Batman Star Colin Farrell Opens Up About Joining the DC Comics Universe

Years ago, Colin Farrell entered the Marvel Universe as Bulleyes in the Ben Affleck-starring Daredevil movie. Now he’s joined the distinguished competition, where he’ll be playing Penguin in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Though the actor himself says the role isn’t a large one, he’s excited to join the world of Bruce Wayne and the mythos that comes along with the biggest superhero character to ever hit the silver screen. In a chat with GMA News, Farrell reveals he was an avid watcher of the Adam West series growing up, before falling in love with the character with Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy.

“It’s all exciting,” Farrell said about joining the DC universe. “To be a part of that universe and just there are certain words that are part of my internal lexicon: Gotham City, Penguin, Joker, Batman, Bruce Wayne, Harvey Dent, all these things.”

Between Tim Burton and Adam West, Farrell says he had plenty of Batman content to pore over during his formidable years. “Tim Burton’s Batman was kind of my, no, I watched the Adam West TV show growing up actually as well,” the actor added. “So Batman as a kid, yes very much, not in comic book form but the TV show I watched ardently when I was a child. And then in my teens I saw Burton’s version and loved it.”

Though production is on hiatus for the time being due to coronavirus shutdowns, Reeves previously confirmed the movie has about a fourth of the way done. Warner Brothers has already pushed the film’s release date back to October from the prime summer spot it previously had.

“It was going great,” Reeves said in a previous interview. “We shot about a quarter of the movie so far; we have three quarters to go. And when the time is right and it’s safe to do so, we’ll return to it. It was a really exciting period to be exploring. Robert is a fantastic actor, and we have so many great actors in it! It’s been really, really exciting to go on this journey with them, and to feel like we are trying to do something different.”

The Batman is now set to hit theatres October 1, 2021.