Much like the movie that spawned it, Matt Reeves ‘ 2022 The Batman , new HBO series The Penguin invites the viewer to creep into Gotham City’s dark, gritty underworld . There’s nothing bright and glossy about Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) and his life on the mean streets—he may have comic-book origins, but authenticity is the buzzword here. That commitment extends even to the character’s prosthetic make-up.
Sure, there are the facial layers that make Farrell largely unrecognizable, but The Penguin is also going below the belt when necessary. In the opening episode for the spinoff series, Cobb and his foe Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) share a scene in which he’s tied up and tortured by her henchman as she takes him to task for his role in the death of her brother, Alberto. It’s a tense interrogation but the scene is made even more agonizing by the fact that Cobb is completely naked.
The audience only gets a glimpse at his fleshy body from the side, but apparently care was taken to transform all of Farrell into the character. Speaking to Variety , Farrell explained how the show’s prosthetics designer, Michael Marino, who also made the face and body additions he wears while in character, crafted an “anatomically correct” appliance for him to wear..
. down there. “I had a velcro piece to stick on, and a nice retro bush,” the actor said, calling the prosthetic a source of “surreal discomfort.
” Even though he was technically fully covered, he felt so vulnerab.