Colin Farrell made his debut as "Oz Cobb" in Matt Reeves' The Batman, but only appeared in a handful of scenes. The Irish actor is set to return as the iconic DC Comics villain for HBO's The Penguin spin-off series, and it sounds like the greatly extended period of time spent under the heavy prosthetics used to transform him into the titular character took its toll.
During an interview with Total Film, Farrell was asked about potentially reprising the role for a second season.
“I don’t know, man,” he responded. “Don’t get me wrong – I loved it – but it got in on me a little bit. By the end of it, I was bitching and moaning to anyone who would listen to me that I f*cking wanted it to be finished. I tried to remind them that I had ‘grumpy gratitude.’ I was still grateful, and still honored – I grew up watching Burgess Meredith [who played the role in the ’60s TV series], and then Danny DeVito [in Tim Burton’s 1992 film ‘Batman Returns’] was my Penguin – so being a part of the lineage of that storytelling, I really did feel privileged. But by the end of it…”
"f you take what Matt Reeves created and then what Lauren [LeFranc, showrunner] did and what Mike [Marino, prosthetics and make-up designer] did and put them all together, it was a really powerful experience,” he continued. “Lauren said, ‘Look, if I could find a way that makes sense, would you talk about it?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ And maybe in a year I would. But when I finished I was like, ‘I never want to put that f*cking suit and that f*cking head on again.'”
Reeves has already confirmed that Farrell's Penguin will appear in The Batman - Part II, but there's a big difference between shooting scenes for a movie and staying in the suit to film a multi-episode series, so hopefully he won't be quite as hesitant to return to Gotham City when the sequel begins production next year.
The Penguin also stars Cristin Milioti (Sofia Falcone), Rhenzy Feliz (Victor Aguilar), Michael Kelly (Johnny Viti), Shohreh Aghdashloo (Nadia Maroni), Deirdre O’Connell (Francis Cobb), Clancy Brown (Salvatore Maroni), James Madio (Milos Grapa), Scott Cohen (Luca Falcone), Michael Zegen (Alberto Falcone), Carmen Ejogo (Eve Karlo), and Theo Rossi (Dr. Julian Rush).
The eight-episode DC Studios drama series continues The Batman epic crime saga that filmmaker Matt Reeves began with Warner Bros. Pictures’ global blockbuster The Batman, and centers on the character played by Farrell in the film.
The series is executive produced by Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark, Colin Farrell, Lauren LeFranc, who writes and serves as showrunner, Craig Zobel, who directs the first three episodes, and Bill Carraro. Based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, the show is produced by Reeves’ 6th & Idaho Productions and Dylan Clark Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, where Reeves and 6th & Idaho are under an overall deal. Daniel Pipski also serves as executive producer.