Colin Farrell Looks Unrecognizable as Penguin on Set of Max’s ‘The Batman’ Spinoff
Colin Farrell is headed back to Gotham as one of DC Comics’ most iconic villains — whether you recognize him or not.
Farrell, 47, was spotted in character as Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot on the set of Max’s upcoming The Batman spinoff series, The Penguin, on Wednesday, January 31. While filming in New York City Farrell donned head-to-toe prosthetics makeup to transform into the series’ titular antagonist.
Much like his comic book counterpart, Farrell fit the Penguin’s signature fancy style in a white button-up and a gray suit vest with black dress pants and shoes. He also sported a long gray coat with a sherpa collar while walking around what appeared to be the aftermath of an explosion.
Farrell made his debut as the Penguin in 2022’s The Batman, playing a secondary villain to Paul Dano’s Riddler. The action flick also starred Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Zo? Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman and Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon.
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The eight-episode miniseries was announced in December 2021, three months before The Batman’s March 2022 release, and will follow the Penguin as he looks to take over Gotham City’s criminal underworld following the downfall of crime boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro).
In addition to Farrell, the series will also star Cristin Milioti, Michael Kelly, Rhenzy Feliz, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, Carmen Ejogo, Clancy Brown, Fran?ois Chau, Theo Rossi and David H. Holmes.
“This, this is one of those moments where you gotta ask yourself, ‘What kind of life do I want?’ The world I built for guys like us, that’s why we gotta take whatever we decide is ours,’” the Penguin states in the show’s first look footage, released in April 2023.
The teaser ends on a tense note, as the character declares himself “the new kingpin of Gotham” after shooting an enemy and laughing.
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The Penguin began filming in March 2023 but hit delays due to the Hollywood strikes. The series resumed production in November 2023 after SAG-AFTRA reached a tentative deal with the AMPTP, ending the union’s strike for fair wages and contracts for actors.
According to the show’s IMDb page, The Batman makeup artist Michael Marino will return to work on the Max series. Marino scored a 2023 Oscar nomination for his work transforming Farrell and the rest of The Batman cast alongside Naomi Donne and Mike Fontaine.
The Batman director Matt Reeves previously told Variety that he never intended for Farrell to be so unrecognizable as the Penguin, but credited Marino’s work for helping bring the character to life. “What it did to Colin was amazing. I was like, ‘Who is that guy?’ And Colin was so funny,” he shared in March 2022. “He was already talking in the voice that he uses in the movie. It was not the intention to hire Colin so he could look like that. It was one of the things that the evolution of what we did took us to that.”
