LOS ANGELES (Askume) – When Colin Farrell looked in the mirror after wearing makeup and prosthetics to play the title character in the Max series “Penguins”, he didn’t recognize himself.
“I looked in the mirror and saw something that wasn’t me,” the Irish actor said.
Farrell said every part of his body except for the hands was customized by “Penguin” designer Mike Marino.
The crime drama is based on the popular DC Comics villain The Penguin and is a spin-off of the 2022 film The Batman, in which Ferrell also plays the Penguin. It tells the story of Oswald “Ozzie” Cobb aka The Penguin, who rose to power through crime in the fictional Gotham City.
In the drama, Cristin Milioti plays Sofia Falcone, the heiress of a Mafia family , and Rhenzy Feliz plays teenager Vic who becomes the Penguin’s driver.
Milioti said of the main characters, “Sophia comes from a very wealthy family and Victor and Oz come from a poor part of town.”
“Yet they all went through these horrible things,” he said.
The series is co-produced by DC Studios and Warner Bros. Television and will air every Thursday on the Max channel. All three companies are subsidiaries of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD.O) .
For Farrell, what he calls the Penguin’s “powerful transformation” is more than just a physical change; it’s a psychological transformation;
“So much external talent brought about some kind of internal change in me,” he said.
Like Farrell, Feliz was also surprised by the drastic difference in Farrell’s appearance when playing the sinister character.
“You know it’s Colin who did it, but it’s like a magic trick because your brain tells you it looks like Oz, but your brain knows it’s Colin,” said Felice.
Milioti was also impressed by the makeup used on the show.
He said: “The make-up is so real, it doesn’t look like someone has put make-up on. It moves and looks absolutely real.”
However, Milioti found his co-star’s connection to the character particularly interesting.
“Colin is very committed to the role,” he said.
On set, Milioti noticed Farrell wearing more Oz attire than his usual attire.
“Although he still talks about, like, ‘How was your weekend?’ I did the Wizard of Oz scene because I felt like I knew another person and she was very real to me, and that’s true for all of us here.
