to the current HBO Original series and the main char- acter portrayed by the Oscar-nominated Colin Farrell, who is truly unrecognisable in this role... On the series’ relationship to the film “One of the priorities of the whole thing [was that] it should be able to work if you didn’t know any of the mythology. Even if you’re not familiar with the story of Batman and haven’t even heard of him, this story is strong in its own right, paying plenty of attention to the minutiae of human psychology – to trauma, ambition, greed, sorrow and loss. And all of those things that we all contend with in our own ways. It should stand alone.” On becoming Oz “I was so fascinated and overwhelmingly impressed by the brilliance of what Mike Marino designed for The Penguin in The Batman. I’d never done anything with prosthetics. I’ve had a little cut here and there through the years, or a swollen knuckle, or some little gelatine piece put on me, but I’d never been totally consumed by costume. ‘Did you see what you’re gonna look like’, the director asked me in the beginning, to which I respond- ed, ‘It’s beautiful’. There was the whole history of a hu- man being on this face. There was a scar, there were the pockmarks, the remnants of teenage acne. There was a harshness and a sense of tragedy to it. I was just over- whelmed by what I was seeing. The character spoke to me in much clearer terms, and a whole world of possi- bility opened that my imagination wouldn’t have been strong enough to concoct.” On what the role means to him “It was one of those gifts that you don’t see coming. I felt like this extraordinary marionette was created and I was tasked with the mission of animating it. I’ve tru- ly never felt less ownership of a character I played than I do with this.” On acting under prosthetics “It’s incredibly liberating. There’s a power to it. You feel protected. I could be having a really bad day and no- body would know. It was basically mask work. I would find it hard, I think, to even give myself permission to be as vulnerable and decrepit and narcissistic and psy- chopathic if I didn’t have the bells and whistles of be- ing completely hidden behind this mask. I felt very lib- erated. The process of doing it became more and more taxing as the episodes descended into Oz’s psychology. Because it really feels like a descent rather than an as- cension into power, a descent into the kind of poison of human psychology.” On the logistics “I was on set for 14 hours a day. I loved the make- up crew. We had our own little truck. We’d play music and we’d have a laugh. And I’d read my lines, maybe have a bit of a nap. They were an amazing team of artists. I
would shave every morning. They would clean my face, then they would put glue and other pieces on. Then they would put a bald cap and put a wig on top of the bald cap, and they would spray all the marks and scars, and all that kind of stuff. I had a cooling tent because the body suit was very hot, the makeup was hot, and we had to protect it and preserve it as best as possible. I realised I must have spent anywhere between 300 and 500 hours in the tent, just staring into space. Every time they said ‘cut’ I would just sit in the cooling tent on my own, star- ing into space.” On inspiration “There’s no doubt that every gangster I’ve ever seen, whoever portrayed them, is in my consciousness. I wasn’t intentionally drawing from The Sopranos or from The Un- touchables, but there’s no doubt that those performanc- es—Bobby D. [Robert De Niro] and Jimmy G. [James Gandolfini] and all of them—they’re all floating around in my noggin.” On whether he stayed in character “I’m not someone that stays in character all day. I stay close to the energy of whatever the scenes we’re shooting are that day. But this one was all so encompass- ing. I waddled around a lot. I spoke in character quite a good bit more than usual. Some of the crew came up to me and they were like, ‘It’d be nice to meet you some- day’. And I knew exactly what they were saying. Because I would pretty much get there three hours before crew call and I would leave an hour after everyone finished. Nobody saw me.” On how this Penguin differs “It’s just a reinvention, a reinterpretation, a reima- gining. But it’s set in a very different-looking Gotham than any that’s been created before. This one is grubbi- er than the Gotham that was in the film. Oz travels in lower circles than Falcone and Bruce Wayne. Aestheti- cally, it’s all very different.”
Interview » Intervju | 35
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