The transformation to turn one of the most recognisable actors in Hollywood into the Batman villain the Penguin is truly out-of-this-world remarkable.
So much so that even he was astounded when he caught sight of himself in the mirror with his hefty prosthetics on, which took several hours to apply each morning by the makeup team.
In 2022, a new iteration of the DC Comics character Bruce Wayne was introduced in The Batman, with Robert Pattinson playing the titular role alongside a cast including Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman and Colin Farrell as a gangster called Oz, known as the Penguin.
Colin, 48, has now returned to reprise the role in a new HBO spin-off TV series, complete with a bodysuit, piles of prosthetics, a balding wig and a heavy New York accent.
In the lead-up to the show’s release, the Oscar-nominated actor has been opening up about his mind-blowing look for the role.
He’s also singing the praises of makeup artist Mike Marino, who was behind the stellar creation.
Even now, we still can’t see Colin when we look at Oz’s face. So how was it done?
How long did it take to transform Colin Farrell into the Penguin?
Colin has revealed that it took around three hours each morning to turn into the Penguin, and around 40 minutes to take it all off at the end of each filming day.
He even likened the experience to being ‘buried’ – although he recollected how much fun he and the makeup team would have each morning in the trailer.
‘I felt like a canvas, I was in heaven. The three hours never dragged. Part of that was because we were playing 80s rock music and eating doughnuts, having good chats, and then I was able to drop in and hit the script for the last hour or two and just get my head ready for the day,’ he told FOX 5 DC’s Kevin McCarthy.
When asked by US talkshow host Jimmy Fallon what it was like to come of the makeup, he shared: ‘Three hours in, 40 minutes out… Like being reborn. I’m not joking.
‘Every night the thing would come off, the hair… start with the wig and the skull cap, and then this piece and then that piece, and by the end of it, it was just like, “Ahh!”’
Did the makeup for the Penguin have to be exactly the same every day?
While makeup artist Mike went into detail over how ‘exacting’ he and his team had to be when applying Oz’s makeup, Colin added that the process was also a constant evolution.
Mike said: ‘During that process, it’s a very unique process because it’s actually very physically challenging and it’s very exacting, almost like you’re each morning going in to do a non-life saving surgery, like a heart surgery, because the pieces are designed in such a specific way to be glued on in exactly the way they are designed and sculpted.
‘If you’re off a fraction of an inch… we’ve done it before where we glued something on a little crooked or something like that and then we find a way to fix it or make it work. It’s such an exacting art.
‘There is a moment where all the pieces are on and we’re starting to paint it and glue eyebrows on that it actually starts becoming alive and Colin’s looking in the mirror and he starts making faces and he’s moving a little and he’s getting into the character more so.’
In their joint interview, Colin then chimed in to add: ‘Until the very last night, you were still all going: “What about this?”…like it was constantly an evolution, even the application, it was beautiful.
‘In an inadvertent way, it meant that the makeup was slightly… and you wouldn’t notice, if you did, it would be way subliminal. But the makeup was slightly different every day. Not by intent, but yes by intent, because they were open to organically trying to constantly as you were doing it reinvent how you were applying it. It was beautiful.
‘Because I look different some days based on whether I get three hours’ sleep or five hours’ sleep, have two cups of coffee, had toxic food the night before, whether I had a cheeseburger or green salad, which is very rare.
‘We all look slightly different, complexion even, and after applying the makeup, Mike Fontaine would spray it and colour it and they’d put the pockmarks in and the blemishes and all the kind of different coloured lines. That would be slightly different every day. It was perfect.’
Was there a surprising aspect of Penguin’s transformation?
What’s even more incredible about the Penguin’s prosthetics is the sensational attention to detail that went into them.
Makeup artist Mike revealed that they even made sure to transform the character’s feet, so that it would be in keeping with his persona named after an aquatic bird.
‘Think of a penguin’s feet, it’s part of them. You can’t call a villain The Penguin without having something that inspires why. In the show, we figure out why, what’s creating his walk, what’s creating part of why he’s called The Penguin,’ he told CinemaBlend.
‘It’s not a fantasy bird foot. It’s something that may resemble something non-human or something that is very human. A weakness. Something that may inspire why he does certain things, or his persona, or why people call him a certain thing. It was interesting to do.’
Colin then cheekily quipped: ‘There was no weakness in my Penguin pecker that you designed, which we never filmed. It was there man, it was there. I was fully anatomically correct.’
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