BATMAN RETURNS: Behind-The-Scenes Look At The Making Of The Penguin

BATMAN RETURNS: Behind-The-Scenes Look At The Making Of The Penguin

Check out some amazing never-before-seen images of Danny Devito's transformation into The Penguin for Tim Burton's Batman Returns. The dramatic metamorphosis was created by legendary four-time Academy Award winner, Stan Winston.

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By nailbiter111 - Sep 15, 2012 02:09 PM EST
Filed Under: Batman
Source: stanwinstonschool



Stan Winston and Tim Burton had previously collaborated on Edward Scissorhands, and once again the quirky director would seek Winston and his crews help in order to bring The Penguin to life for Batman Returns. Even though Dustin Hoffman was Warner Bros. first choice, actor Danny Devito (Taxi) would end up playing the villainous role. Surprisingly the makeup only took two hours a day to apply, but the transformation was so powerful that Devito actually stayed in character during takes. He even wore The Penguin makeup while doing voice-over sessions for the film, because without it he struggled to find the character's voice.



The look of Tim Burton's Penguin was a huge departure from the comic book and television versions, which for the most part only included a pointy nose. For Batman Returns, Stan Winston and his crew created prosthetics so that Devito's face had a bird-like quality to it, flipper-like hands, crooked rotting teeth, pale white skin and dark-circled around his eyes.


Click Images to Enlarge


“The initial concept was just a pointy nose,” Winston said, “but I wasn’t really happy with that. So I got my hands back in the clay, which I love, and started playing with the look myself. Years ago, for The Wiz, I had created crow characters with enormous beak faces, which involved whole forehead and brow appliances. I’d always loved that design; and, although crows had nothing to do with penguins, I felt that I could use a similar concept for the Penguin. That turned out to be the look that was selected.”





The look was so scary that the toy company, Kenner, wouldn't produce a likeness of DeVito's Penguin for their Batman Returns' toyline. Instead they used a Penguin figure created from a previous toyline, and changed the paint scheme of the costume from blue to black.

Stan Winston was nominated for Best Makeup for his work on Batman Returns along with Ronnie Specter and Ve Neill. I should also mention that Winston's crew made-up of John Rosengrant, Shane Mahan Mark, "Crash" McCreery, and others deserve credit for their contributions on the film.


BATMAN RETURNS - was directed by Tim Burton and starred: Michael Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Danny DeVito as The Penguin/Oswald Cobblepot, Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman/Selina Kyle, Christopher Walken as Max Shreck, Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth, and Pat Hingle as Commissioner James Gordon

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toco89
toco89 - 9/15/2012, 2:57 PM
Great, disgusting, and disturbing.
blvdnoise
blvdnoise - 9/15/2012, 3:01 PM
I just love shit like this. Kool find!
RidiculousFanBoyDemands
RidiculousFanBoyDemands - 9/15/2012, 3:07 PM
Very interesting. I'm not the biggest fan of Batman Returns, but I am always fascinated with anything that has to do with the behind the scenes work of making a movie. Even though I bash Tim Burton for only having 1, decent, creative idea since Edward Scissor Hands (Big Fish), him and his team do and extraordinary job when it comes to art direction.

I really think Tim Burton could be an asset to certain comic book franchises, just not as a director, or someone that has ANY say in the screenwriting process.
blvdnoise
blvdnoise - 9/15/2012, 3:14 PM
The boot-leg music video was kind of annoying though.
GuardianAngel
GuardianAngel - 9/15/2012, 3:14 PM
I never really liked Batman Returns, but I like the fact he tried to make the Penguin more interesting rather than just a rich guy who got bored and became a criminal.
ItsLiveFeed
ItsLiveFeed - 9/15/2012, 3:15 PM
this film was okay
GuardianAngel
GuardianAngel - 9/15/2012, 3:16 PM
HOLY SHIT! The Penguin's dad is SHIA LABEOUF!
danird
danird - 9/15/2012, 3:16 PM
Beetlejuice is Tim Burton's best movie !
Darkknightman
Darkknightman - 9/15/2012, 3:32 PM
People like to cite Forever or Batman and Robin as the beginning of the end of the franchise but in reality it started right here. Burton was given far too much creative control and what we ended up with was a strange,whimsical, and twisted movie. It just didn't work on any level for me. I went on opening night to see this and the whole audience just watched in silence. When it was over, everyone was talking about how much it sucked. A stark contrast to the first film which I remember everyone stood up and cheered. Too bad, I never felt we got a true sequel to Batman 89.
jimpinto24
jimpinto24 - 9/15/2012, 3:38 PM
I enjoyed Danny Devito's performance as The Penguin. The Penguin had a more darker, and scarier side to him in Batman Returns.
EggsBenedict
EggsBenedict - 9/15/2012, 3:45 PM
Batman Returns was my favorite Batman movie before the new ones came out. But, because of how young I was at the time, looking back now at this - and all of Burton's films - only after growing up a little do I have a sense of the aesthetic of Burton's films, and how cheap they seem.

I must say, as a kid I loved Tim Burton stuff, but now...I don't. I agree with the above poster about Big Fish. Although it wasn't an original story of Burton's, I feel it is his 'best.'

Anyway, cool pics of the Penguin from 'Returns. Now all I want to see is behind-the-scenes Pee Wee Herman talking about his cameo in the film.
jessepostal
jessepostal - 9/15/2012, 3:56 PM
I love returns, prob my fav batman actually. It was so dark and different for that time. I was a kid and I remember my dad taking me to see it. I was 9 or 10 and it almost frightened me which was a feeling I grew to love. I wish I could still get that feeling. Devito was fantastic and sick in that role
jessepostal
jessepostal - 9/15/2012, 3:57 PM
And besides the bats movies, peewees big adventure is Burton's best, and beetlejuice for nostalgia batting cleanup
ComicFan523
ComicFan523 - 9/15/2012, 4:07 PM
While I prefer Nolan's films, Batman Returns is definitely my favorite film of the original series. When I was a kid I was obsessed with Batman The Animated Series, and it's pretty obvious that the show's tone was mostly inspired by Batman Returns.
LP4
LP4 - 9/15/2012, 4:09 PM
This has always been my all-time favorite Batman movie

Step aside Nolan ;)
LegacyFilms
LegacyFilms - 9/15/2012, 4:14 PM
This film was just so weird and unnecessary in a lot of places. Batman murdering I guess I can get over slightly because of this interpretation, but Batman couldn't even really fight. He just seemed to throw his fists around, and people complain about the Bale, but don't realize how impressive it is that they pretty much created a whole new fighting style and debuted it with Batman instead of copying Bruce Lee. Also, so much of it was unresolved and unexplained.

1) Selina is brought back to life by stray cats who inexplicably lick her face until she awakes with superpowers... Ok
2) Gordon's a fat old man who, along with the rest of the GCPD does nothing to add to the plot or stop crime... Ok
3) Batman is framed and people believe it, but it is never mentioned again because the city hates Penguin more after Batman DJs his career into the ground.... Ok
4) Batman sets someone on fire... Ok
5) Penguins are remote controlled to blow up Gotham with missiles... Oh ok.
6) Bruce Wayne has no social life, and walks arouns in a Gotham seemingly set in the 40s. Not to mention Bruce has no mention of owning Wayne Enterprises or being charming, in fact he's quite awkward at times... Oooookaaaayy
7) "Eat Floor. High in fiber.".... NO! NO NO NO NO!
MOSESivviOC
MOSESivviOC - 9/15/2012, 4:14 PM
i always enjoyed Devito's penguin. I remember seeing this in theaters, as I did "Batman '89". Will be very hard to top this interpretation, but not impossible.
jessepostal
jessepostal - 9/15/2012, 4:40 PM
@legacy, it was an early 90s movie, those ?s didn't have to be answered, today's movies explain everything down to the title characters first orgasm. It was a diff time and if you watch it again it does answer some of your ?s, especially the fighting scenes. I take it your younger than these movies
Preston
Preston - 9/15/2012, 4:48 PM
Out of 9 theatrically released Batman movies; only 4 live action movies out of 8 are watchable without downing a bottle of Tylenol afterwards (the other is an animated feature).


Batman (1966) – Great movie that represents the Batman of the era (it has Joker, Catwoman, Riddler, and Penguin). The whole A-list rouge's gallery in one film. Campy, but still loyal to the source material of the era.

Batman (1989) - The best Joker VS Batman movie ever made. Batman and Joker fight in every shape and form within the span of that movie (Bruce vs Jack, Jack vs Batman, Batman vs Joker, Joker vs Bruce). Plus, it's the most loyal take on the modern Batman and Anton Furst's Gotham makes Gotham City from the comic come to life.

Batman Returns (1992) - The best take of Catwoman and Penguin on film to date. Plus, Catwoman and Batman sizzled on screen.

Batman Forever -

Batman and Robin -

Batman Begins -

The Dark Knight (2008) - Interesting take on the Joker (great performance by Heath Ledger). The ending and story are weak. Yet, it still stands as the second best Batman movie of all time. Nolan can still construct a beautiful movie even if it rapes the source material.

The Dark Knight Rises -

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) – People forget that this animated movie was released in theaters. It had the Joker. Some will argue that the most loyal adaptation of Batman ever was in the Animated series (and here you have proof).

Note: The best Batman movies always have the Joker.

Joker
angus666
angus666 - 9/15/2012, 5:00 PM
I find these Batman movies almost unwatchable. They look like Broadway plays
Oxbow
Oxbow - 9/15/2012, 5:03 PM
i think i was just the right age when this was released to really get it. The dark circus, the weirdness, the political jadedness, plus, the sexist catwoman ever! I loved it, it was like a modern fairy tale, in the same vein as Edward Scissorhands.

Batman 89 was a better batman story but Batman Returns was like a whole nother world.

Cipher got it right, this was true to the roots of batman as any movie has been... even though Tim Burton's fingerprints are clearly there, it is still absolutely a faithful adaptation.

They played up catwoman's origins somewhat ambiguously, but for those who have a notion that cats somehow gave her supernatural powers, I've saved you the trouble of googling it yourselves:
http://gothamalleys.blogspot.com/2011/01/catwoman-supernatural.html

It's nothing supernatural, but still a very mysterious and interesting birth for the character that harks back to some previous incarnations we have seen.
LegacyFilms
LegacyFilms - 9/15/2012, 5:32 PM
@any responses no I'm not younger than the film, Catwoman was supernatural for surviving Shreck's attack, I didn't say it was unrealistic that people thought Batman killed the woman, I was saying it was weird that it was never brought up again. Plus, before Batman met Gordon, he was still had a bigger role than the cameo stuff in those films. Also, I don't expect him to be arresting people, but none of the cops were, they all seemed incompetent. That line was more of a joke than actually ruining the film for me but it was REALLY lame. I just didn't like the film in general. It just seemed like Batman was bland in both Burton films. There was no real complexicity. In the first one I liked how Bruce's parents' death were kind of a mystery, but all signs of a dark conflicted character went away with Returns
LegacyFilms
LegacyFilms - 9/15/2012, 5:37 PM
Plus you're assuming he doesn't have the rule yet and you're assuming he hasn't learned to juggle dual identities yet. Since this is never said, you can only go by what we see and we see a bland Wayne, a bland weird non brawling murdering Batman. He was an uninteresting character in this and I have no doubt Keaton could've played a better Batman but unfortunately this is what he got to work with. The main problem with the films is that they made important convoluted, and complex characters and made them minor and bland. Keaton had less acting range in these films then Seth Rogen.
LegacyFilms
LegacyFilms - 9/15/2012, 5:40 PM
@ cipher then, in the next one I want Batman with Robin bent over his knee getting the beating of a lifetime. Then, he can live on rats in the batcave... Lol jk. But seriously, I see what you're getting at but, just because it's faithful doesn't mean it works.
AUSSYACE
AUSSYACE - 9/15/2012, 5:52 PM
Tim Burton classically screwing everything up as usual...
LegacyFilms
LegacyFilms - 9/15/2012, 6:07 PM
@cipher thanks everyone's got their opinions and the fact that this is a film you grew up loving is plain as day and I respect that. Hell, when I was a kid, every halloween I was Batman, except one Halloween where my mom made me be Robin >:( No one will ever know the rage I felt that day...
LegacyFilms
LegacyFilms - 9/15/2012, 6:10 PM
@cipher And even though the Batman killing thing bothered me a little, it didn't really bother me that badly til I realized that he killed the Joker, which is like one of the biggest themes in Batman mythos that he doesn't do and refuses to. When you think about it, even if he didn't know the gargoyle would fall, sending the Joker his death, the swing from the helicopter into the wall would've broken his neck, ya know?
NeoBaggins
NeoBaggins - 9/15/2012, 6:36 PM
Shitty ass Zombie "Penguin". Can't wait to finally see him come to life on screen.
cmax
cmax - 9/15/2012, 6:38 PM
Half Bird Half Man

Evil Ebenezer
LegacyFilms
LegacyFilms - 9/15/2012, 7:23 PM
@cipher well said.
Ichaos
Ichaos - 9/15/2012, 8:14 PM
People that keep bringing up Batman not killing in the early comics he did occassionally.

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/12/25/the-abandoned-an-forsaked-batman-kills-people-with-guns/
MutantEquality
MutantEquality - 9/15/2012, 8:37 PM
BEST BATMAN EVER
Minghagz
Minghagz - 9/15/2012, 9:50 PM
ugh... I can't stand how this movie was botched. Batman (89) is the superior movie.
SaveMartha
SaveMartha - 9/15/2012, 10:53 PM
Batman 89 is the best Batman film ever made, Nolan's pseudo Batman movies are nothing but police/drama thrillers, on Rises Batman barely makes a came, such a boring movies to me.
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