The Batman star Colin Farrell says one thing got him through the grueling makeup tests and psychological griminess of becoming the Penguin: Pixar movies.
Colin Farrell starred alongside Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, and Paul Dano in The Batman (2022), the Matt Reeves-directed latest reboot of the Caped Crusader to hit theaters.
Farrell played the first live-action film version of Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot, AKA the Penguin, since Danny DeVito took on the role for Tim Burton‘s Batman Returns (1992), memorably playing the villain so bizarrely that Rolling Stone described him as “a balloon-bellied Richard III with a kingdom of sewer freaks.”
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The Colin Farrell version of the character is more grounded in “realistic” tropes (granted, there’s still a guy in a bat costume running around), but the Irish actor required numerous hours of makeup and prosthetics to achieve the desired look (per Boston Herald).
Makeup artist Mike Marino, who was co-nominated for an Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for The Batman, has returned to continue turning Colin Farrell into a scar-faced gangster.
In a press event for the upcoming HBO series The Penguin, Marino revealed, “I looked at penguins, to capture that subliminally in Colin’s face. I found a powerful brow in a penguin, a bird’s mouth, and created this person who doesn’t exist. Colin tried it the first time — and the walk came out and the voice came out. It took many months to fabricate, sculpt, and develop so many things to make it move.”
For his part, Colin Farrell chimed in to say, “The first application was eight hours long, and everyone was taking their time…After we did the film, we got to three hours every day. We had our own trailer for the Penguin, nobody could come in. It was a great time for me. I’d shave, sit in the chair, and then I’d think about the scene. It was seamless, never a drag.”
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Apparently, the makeup process turned into a grueling psychological examination of Oswald Cobblepot, which could only be alleviated by nightly viewings of Pixar movies. Farrell continued:
“I had conversations with Matt [Reeves] about the psychology of Oz. How paranoid he was and how he didn’t want to be seen as someone crippled. I’d done loads of thinking but when you put on the makeup, if you put something on that 100 percent changes everything you are, it will be different at first and strange.”
“Six months before shooting The Batman, I looked at this creation. I was confused by it, but it spoke to me so clearly with a threat of violence. And also, so sympathetic.
“Taking the makeup off every day was helpful. It was 45-minute removal and by the end after being in it for 15 hours, I’m not (expletive) feeling sorry for it to go. The relief every day was like being reborn. At the end, he is so dark and so remorselessly cruel, I was glad to be done. I would go back to my hotel and watch Pixar films. I watched Finding Nemo (2003).”
Many actors are known for “going Method” or employing drastic or even dangerous means to get into character for a role. Apparently, all Colin Farrell needs is a whole lot of makeup and Pixar.
The Penguin will premiere on HBO on September 19. It stars Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Mark Strong, and Clancy Brown.