No one is as hyped for the upcoming HBO series The Penguin as its star Colin Farrell. As we near production, the actor is promoting it at any given opportunity and giving thanks to the people who helped create the remarkable transformation we saw in The Batman.
While promoting his work in Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, Farrell spoke to Variety at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala. He dove into what it meant to create his now-iconic Penguin look.
“The only thing I had an idea was that I wasn’t nearly getting to explore the character as much as I wanted to,” Farrell told Variety. “Because there was all this extraordinary work done by [makeup artists] Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine and his team, and I just thought it was the tip of the iceberg, pardon the pun, that we were getting to do the six or seven scenes that we did in the film. I was grateful for them, but I wanted more.”
As for getting his series, the actor credits the impressive makeup work as why it happened. “Honest to god, any thought I had about an extended series was to do with Mike Marino’s work. I just knew there was so much to do with it — age it up, age it down,” says Farrell. “He’s just such a genius, Mike, so it was his work that was the inspiration, really.”
The actor even joked, saying his Penguin look was used as a disguise when he took a trip to Starbucks in it during the first makeup test. “They’re cool about it in Ireland. People don’t be looking,” Farrell said. “People don’t be paying as much attention as you think!”
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The Penguin serves as a spin-off of Matt Reeves’ The Batman. Production of the series will begin in February. The actor notes it should take about five or six months to shoot, meaning a late 2023 premiere on HBO Max is possible, although 2024 would seem more likely.
