Colin Farrell Went to Starbucks as the Penguin Unnoticed (And Ordered This…)
How unrecognizable is Colin Farrell in The Batman? The usually svelte, handsome actor is playing Oswald Cobblepot/the Penguin in the upcoming reboot, and he’s balding, portly, pockmarked, and scarred. The makeup and prosthetics took as long as four hours to apply, transforming the dapper Irishman into Gotham’s hulking villain. Farrell revealed to Collider that after his first day of doing prosthetics and makeup tests with designer Mike Marino, the two of them went to a Starbucks in Burbank to test how well they’d transformed Farrell into a believably obese Cobblepot. Here’s what Farrell had to say:
“The first day we tried the whole thing out, we took it for a drive, a spin metaphorically speaking. We did it in Burbank. It took about six or eight hours. It was a team of ten or fifteen people. And it was really fun. I went into Starbucks and ordered myself a very un-Oswald drink, an oat milk latte with two stevia sweeteners. I got a couple of stares but only because it’s such an imposing look. Mike (Marino) did so much of the work for me on this, so much of the heavy lifting.”
Marino’s dazzling work proved up to the challenge. If you can not only make Colin Farrell so unrecognizable nobody in a Burbank Starbucks even notices it’s him but does find the heavy-set old guy intimidating, you’ve done your job.
Marino and Farrell’s work on the character is far from finished. The Penguin will his part to play in writer/director Matt Reeves’s The Batman, for sure, but a larger exploration of the character awaits via an HBO Max spinoff series. At that point, it might be a little harder for Farrell, in full Penguin prosthetics, to get through an oat milk latte order without someone asking for an autograph (or at least discreetly snapping a photo).
As for The Batman, Farrell shares the villainous spotlight with Paul Dano’s Edward Nashton/The Riddler, while Robert Pattison leads the way as Bruce Wayne, and Zoë Kravitz plays Selina Kyle/Catwoman.
The Batman hits theaters on March 4.
For more on The Batman, check out these stories:
“The Batman” Limited-Edition Tourbillo Watch Includes an Actual Working Bat-Signal
“The Batman” New Photos Reveal a Long Dark Journey Into Night
Robert Pattinson Says His Batman Was Partly Inspired by Kurt Cobain
“The Batman” Writer/Director Matt Reeves Says a “Grounded” Mr. Freeze a Possible Villain for Sequel
Featured image: Caption: COLIN FARRELL as Oswald Cobblepot/the Penguin in Warner Bros. Pictures’ action adventure “THE BATMAN,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures/™ & © DC Comics
