Matt Reevesdidnt start out wantingColin Farrellto disappear behind a pile of prosthetics.
Related Stories
The Penguin Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?
All The Actors Who Have Played Or Voiced The Penguin
We talked a lot about Fredo.
Colin Farrell in ‘The Penguin’MAX
Mike is an incredible artist, and he did this sculpture.
Im telling you, the sculpture was exactly the way that Oz looks right now.
And I was like, Wait, what?
We had never said, Lets just take Colin and turn him into something that weve never seen before.
I said, This is Colin Farrell.
I got to now tell the studio hes not going to look like Colin Farrell.
Despite an absurdly fake schnoz and some extra girth, Steve Carell was still recognizable in the 2011 movieFoxcatcher.
Watch on Deadline
But nothing, absolutely nothing, about the Penguin screams Colin Farrell.
He talks with a raspy New York accent.
He limps from an unexplained childhood disorder.
They should have just cast Alfred Molina who The Penguin ended up looking like, anyway.
In other words, why cast a hot guy for an ugly part?
Colins not talented because of his appearance, arguesPenguinshowrunner Lauren LeFranc.
Im sure that doesnt hurt.
I understand the question of why wouldnt you just cast someone who you want to look like Oz.
Hes a really emotional, incredible actor, and Colins charm is really so much a part of Oz.
I actually see Colin a lot through Oz now.
I am not there, he acknowledges.
But Farrell also recognizes the upside to undergoing such a drastic change for the sake of art.
It was a bit like that.
Theres a kind of essence of possession.
If you give yourself over to it, it tells you so much.
You start to move a different way.
You start to look a different way.
You start to feel powerful.
Your actual face isnt there.
So you almost dont exist in a way.
It wasnt like I ever lost who I was or anything.
Sometimes maybe you hold yourself back, but this time there was no holding back.
It did so much of the work for me.
I was never nervous, Sarah Aubrey, HBO Maxs Head of Originals, tells Deadline.
And all of that could be the jet fuel for an epic series.
At the very least, Marino probably deserves a little recognition when the 2025 Creative Arts Emmys come around.
And Mike was like, No, no one will ever know hes wearing makeup.
His expressiveness will all be completely Colins.
Youll never know this is makeup.
And he was true to his word.
