![Penguin Colin Farrell]()
Even knowing it's makeup and prosthetics and what have you, it's still difficult to believe that Colin Farrell is the actor at the center of
The Penguin. Between the outstanding work done by the artists behind the scenes and Farrell drilling down a thick accent, he's legitimately unrecognizable as Oz Cobblepot.
This series from [HBO] Max is already coming in September despite a lengthy pause in production due to the actors and writers strikes. Its visuals and the way Farrell once again seamlessly slips into character as Oz really make this feel like an immediate successor to Matt Reeves' hit film
The Batman. Here's a look at the latest trailer that came out on Thursday:
https://twitter.com/StreamOnMax/status/1803782751163658579
I'm pretty sure it's unprecedented for a major franchise to reboot with one movie, and then drop a high-caliber TV show as the next release rather than a proper, theatrically-released sequel. That alone, combined with Farrell's jarring (in a good way) starring turn makes
The Penguin worth tuning in for. But the story that's being told here seems to feature a lot of intriguing layers in its own right.
For one thing, we have ourselves a bit of meta stunt casting with Clancy Brown playing Salvatore Maroni. In
The Batman, it was revealed that fellow crime kingpin Carmine Falcone ratted Maroni out as an informant to his massive drug operation, sending Maroni to prison for years. If you dig through Brown's filmography, you'll see he's been in a massive amount of superhero projects, mostly in voice roles for animated shows. It's cool to see him make the leap to live-action for DC. He was also just in
The Boys spin-off,
Gen V.
https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1803793135748689955
As exciting as it'll be to see what Brown brings to the table, not to mention a much deeper dive into the mind of Oz, I might be most excited for Cristin Milioti's Sofia Falcone. She appears determined to not be pushed around by Oz or anyone else amid the power vacuum created by her father's death in
The Batman and the flood The Riddler unleashed on Gotham City. I could see her being frenemies of sorts with Oz. Their most intimate exchange in the trailer has to be her manipulating him, when she says she always knew he was capable of more.
Farrell often plays Penguin as menacing and darkly humorous, but there's a certain undercurrent of brokenness that I'm sure we'll learn more about when this show comes out. Really looks like showrunner Lauren LeFranc cooked here. We'll find out in only a couple months or so.
https://twitter.com/thebatfilm/status/1803786240912961652
