The Penguin star Colin Farrell recently opened up about his favorite villains in the Batman franchise, the character that resonates with him the most. He also reveals his favorite version of The Dark Knight, and it’s not Robert Pattinson.
During a recent interview with MovieWeb, Farrell said: “My favorite Batman actors or movie…I mean, Heath [Ledger]. Heath takes it, you know. I mean, I don’t want to sit on the fence, but I’ve enjoyed so many of them. I love Jack [Nicholson] as well as the Joker.”
He continued: “And these characters of lore are so well-designed initially that they just withstand. It was like, Christian Bale was asked a question, I saw once, about the new Batman that was coming and about Robert [Pattinson] playing Batman, and Christian said something along the lines of, and I paraphrase, that these characters, they survive and they invite multiple interpretations.”
He goes on to name a few more, saying: “And I love Danny [DeVito] of course, as the Penguin. I grew up watching Tim Burton’s films,” Farrell noted. “But I go back with the show as well, to Adam West and Burgess Meredith, the first Penguin I ever saw. You know, there are so many of them, who my favorite is, I don’t know.”
As for his favorite version of Batman: “I have a soft spot for Michael Keaton because I was like, maybe 10 or 11 or 12 when I saw that, and I was just obsessed with it, you know?” Of course, he’s going to choose Keaton! Keaton was awesome in the role!
The topic of superhero fatigue was also brought up in the conversation, and Farrell went on to compare superheroes to the Greek Gods of our times and called them “aspirational and questionable.”
The eight-episode Penguin series has been described as a “Scarface-like” series that will see the rise of the villain in the criminal underworld of Gotham City. When previously talking about the movie Farrell said: “I think it’s going to be eight parts for HBO around Oz’s rise into power, filling that power vacuum that was created when Falcone was killed. Matt [Reeves]’s idea originally was to have the Penguin show begin about a week after the end of the Batman film. And then, if it works, if the trajectory is interesting enough and if the audience go for it and we do our jobs right, have the second film – Penguin feature in the second film and pick up where the HBO show will end.”
During another interview, Farrell shared that he read the first script and teased what we can expect from the opening scene of the series, sharing: “Gotham is still somewhat underwater. I read the first script for the first episode, and it opens up with my feet splashing through the water in Falcone’s office. Even just that alone, I read it, I was like, ‘Oh, jeez.’”
The series stars Cristin Milioti, who plays Sofia Falcone, and Rhenzy Feliz, who is playing a teen whom The Penguin befriends and makes his driver. The rest of the cast includes Michael Kelly (House of Cards, Jack Ryan), Shohreh Aghdashloo (The Expanse, House Of Sand And Fog) and Deirdre O’Connell (Outer Range) have joined the DC series.
Lauren LeFranc will serve as writer and showrunner on the series, and when talking about it, he said, “I have long been a fan of the world of The Batman, and Matt’s film is such a powerful and bold entry into the canon. I am excited and humbled to continue telling stories in the grimy world of Gotham City – and what better excuse to channel my inner villain than to tell the story of Oswald Cobblepot? I am thrilled to work with Colin, Matt, Dylan, 6th & Idaho, Warners, and HBO Max as we work to bring this story to the screen.”
The series is set to premiere sometime this fall.
