When Colin Farrell saw his reflection after putting on prosthetic makeup for his role as the title character in the Max series The Penguin, he was unrecognizable to himself.
“Something Looking Back That Was Not Me”
“I looked in the mirror, and I saw something looking back that was not me,” the Irish actor said, reported by Wionews.
Farrell noted that, aside from his hands, every part of his body was altered by The Penguin designer Mike Marino.
The crime drama series focuses on the DC Comics villain Penguin and serves as a spinoff of the 2022 film The Batman, in which Farrell also played the Penguin. It explores Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot’s rise to power through crime in the fictional Gotham City.
In addition to The Banshees of Inisherin actor Colin Farrell, the series features Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, the heiress of a mob family, and Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar, a teenager who becomes the Penguin’s driver.
“Sofia comes from such astronomical wealth, and Victor and Oz come from the rough, poor, side of the city,” Milioti stated of the main characters.
“Yet they all go through these horrible things,” she added.
The show is produced by DC Studios in collaboration with Warner Bros. Television and will premiere on Max this Thursday. All three are divisions of Warner Bros. Discovery.
For Farrell, his “powerful transformation” into the Penguin involved more than just external changes; it also brought about a psychological shift.
“There was a particular internal change that happened with such an abundance of external brilliance that was placed upon me,” he said.
Farrell’s Dramatic Change In Appearance
Like Farrell, Feliz was surprised by the dramatic change in Farrell’s appearance for his sinister role.
“You know it’s Colin doing the thing, but then it’s like a magic trick going on because your brain’s telling you that it looks like Oz, but your brain knows that it’s Colin,” Feliz said.
“The makeup is so real, there’s not a part of it that looks like someone’s in makeup. It moves, it feels real,” Milioti said as she found herself impressed by the makeup.
“Even if he would still talk, like ‘How was your weekend?’ I was with the visual of Oz cuz I do feel like I know this other person that’s very real to me and very real to him, and real to all of us that were there.” she said.
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