Colin Farrell’s Penguin Look Inspired by Fredo from ‘The Godfather’

Colin Farrell’s look in the new Penguin series is inspired by Fredo van The godfatheras has been shown.

Starring Farrell as the DC supervillain alongside How I Met Your Mother‘s Cristin Milioti and Runaways‘ Rhenzy Feliz, the new HBO show is set to debut in the US on HBO Max on September 19 and Sky Atlantic/NOW today (Sept. 20). Clancy Brown, Michael Zegen, Michael Kelly and Mark Strong are also joining the cast.

Farrell is unrecognizable in the series as gangster Oz Cobb, having undergone extensive makeup and prosthetics to transform him into the villain.

Speaking about the inspiration for the character’s appearance, director Matt Reeves said The godfather was something they talked about before filming.

He explained: “We talked a lot about Fredo. We talked about John Cazale in The godfather, and the idea of ​​maybe giving him a penguin nose, or doing something to mess up Colin’s face to get the sense of someone who had been overlooked, someone who had this ambition within him, but who was being mocked and looked down upon,” Reeves said Term.

He continued: “One day, (prosthetics designer) Mike Marino said, ‘Let me show you what I’ve been working on.’ Mike is an incredible artist, and he made this sculpture. I’m telling you, the sculpture was exactly what Oz looks like now. It’s incredible. And I thought, ‘Wait, what?’ We never said, ‘Let’s just take Colin and turn him into something we’ve never seen before.’ I said, ‘This is Colin Farrell. I have to tell the studio now that he’s not going to look like Colin Farrell.”

Farrell recently said he was relieved when filming for the project wrapped, having spent so much time wearing makeup and prosthetics.

When asked if he would reprise his role for a second season, he said: Total movie: “I don’t know, man. Don’t get me wrong – I loved it – but it kind of wore on me. By the end of it, I was whining and complaining to anyone who would listen that I fucking wanted it to be over.”

He continued: “I tried to remind them that I had ‘grumpy gratitude.’ I was still grateful and still felt honored – I grew up watching Burgess Meredith (who played the role in the 1960s TV series), and then Danny DeVito (in the 1992 Tim Burton film) Batman Returns) was my Penguin – so being part of the lineage of that story, I felt really privileged. But at the end…”

Farrell explained that he needed a break from the role and that it would be partly up to showrunner Lauren LeFranc to reprise the role for another series.

He said, “Lauren said, ‘Look, if I could find a way that makes sense, would you talk about it?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ And maybe in a year I would. But when I was done, I was like, ‘I never want to put that fucking suit and that fucking head on again.'”

Despite his reservations, Farrell will return as The Penguin in the upcoming The Batman 2said director Matt Reeves, who recently confirmed that the series will serve as an “entry point” to the second film.

The sequel was originally set to hit theaters in October 2025, but delays stemming from last year’s SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes have pushed the film back to October 2, 2026, pushing its release date back a full year.

In a four-star review of the new Penguin series, NME said: “…What does The Penguin is the richness of his characters and the complexity of his stories. Cobb could be an archetype – a mobster who loves his mother – but the roots of his ambition and simmering resentment against the world are gradually exposed, creating a compulsive story.”