Cliff Notes – Colin Farrell had to work 18 hour days as Penguin
- Colin Farrell underwent a three-hour transformation into the Penguin, requiring breaks between filming days due to skin irritation from the extensive makeup and prosthetics.
- He spent significant time in a hotel away from his family, leading to an intense focus on his character’s development and backstory during the filming of The Penguin.
- Farrell’s commitment to the role earned him a Critics Choice Award, and he is set to reprise his character in the upcoming second season.
Colin Farrell had to work 18 hour days as Penguin and the transformation wrecked skin
Colin Farrell has spoken about why he could only go through the process of disappearing behind a pile of prosthetics and makeup for The Penguin every other day while filming. He was completely unrecognisable as Ozwald Cobb, The Batman comic Villain.
Farrell was completely unrecognisable as the DC villain in the hit HBO series, after hours in the make-up chair every morning to transform into the gangster Oz Cobb.
The 49-year-old said it took around three hours to turn into the Penguin and he would run lines and listen to music to pass the time.
Makeup for The Penguin was intense and long
Farrell spoke about the transformation process in a new sit down interview with Danny DeVito – who also played the Penguin in Tim Burton’s 1992 film Batman Returns – for Variety.
Farrell explained the production would not let him work for two days in a row because his skin would start breaking out under the make-up and prosthetics designed by makeup artist Mike Marino.
He told DeVito: ‘I’d come in my pajamas every morning, because I just wasn’t willing to commit to wearing a pair of jeans.
Farrrell spent hours in the make-up chair every morning
‘The music was already playing; the coffee was ready to go. I’d top up on the lines and the day’s work. It was good catch-up time.
‘They couldn’t work me two days in a row because of the makeup. The skin was breaking out. Most weeks it was three 16-, 17-, 18-hour days.’
DeVito went on to say that was a ‘cakewalk’ compared to his own experience of transforming into the Penguin, which required him to be on set every day for 66 days.
Farrell won a Critics Choice Awards for his role in The Penguin
At the time of the eight-part show’s release about reprising the role, after he made his debut in the 2022 film The Batman starring Robert Pattinson.
Farrell said he stayed in a hotel room thousands of miles away from his family during filming, which resulted in him becoming ‘obsessed’ with the project.
‘So you lean into that, and you spend most of your waking hours going over it and thinking about it, and thinking about backstory, and thinking about certain scenarios and situations the character might find themselves in that aren’t in the script or are.
‘All of a sudden it begins to have a life’s energy of itself. So it’s of you, but outside of you, you know?’ he said.
The Penguin will return for season 2.