Colin Farrell underwent an incredible transformation in The Batman to play Oz Cobb but The Penguin takes that to the next level. How? By stripping the villain naked for a tense interrogation scene in the first episode.
"I had a bodysuit, so I was basically covered wrist to ankle. Only things that were me were my hands and feet," the actor tells PEOPLE. "Everything else, including ears, were pieces. Everything was covered."
That required spending three hours a day in the makeup chair and Farrell gives full props to artist Mike Marino for turning him into the Gotham City gangster.
"If it wasn't for Mike's design, I'm telling you now, if it was just me with a f*cking cigarette and a top hat and a bit of a limp and an umbrella that was a machine gun, we wouldn't have had the HBO show."
Admitting he "was never bored" during the gruelling transformation process, Farrell added, "I mean, by the time we'd get to two hours and 45 minutes, I'd be a little bit...because they had to spray paint like seven different pieces, ball cap, wig on top of ball cap, and then they'd get into spraying every little pockmark, every little zit, every little crease, every little scar."
Back to that nude scene and while we don't see too much of Oz in The Penguin, it turns out the prosthetics extended to Farrell's most private areas.
"Marino is so twisted and brilliant. He was like, 'I made you a penguin penis,'" Farrell recalled with a smile. "I said, 'Really? They're not even going to see it. I don't know if I want to walk on set with a penguin penis.' And he was like, 'No, no, no, dude. It's detachable, it's Velcro. It's got a beak at the end of it.' So I had a penguin penis."
"I couldn't believe it, yeah. I'd never done anything like it," he concluded. "You're moving your face and seeing what happens. I knew expressions manifested a particular way through the mask and how beautifully it was designed, so I just went for it."
Make sure to check back here later for our full recap of The Penguin's season premiere.
The Penguin's cast includes Colin Farrell (Oz Cobblepot), 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 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 Penguin 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.
The Penguin premieres on HBO and Max on September 19.