‘The Batman’: Much Like The Rest Of Us, Jeffrey Wright Didn’t Recognize Colin Farrell As The Penguin
The Batmantrailer dropped last weekend, and in addition to beingreally cool, it also featured our first look atColin Farrellas The Penguin. Although many people didn’t realize that, at first. Farrell pops up in the trailer three quick times and is completely unrecognizable buried under the makeup used to turn him into Oswald “The Penguin” Cobblepot. And if you feel silly for not recognizing him, don’t worry – you’re not alone. Even Farrell’s co-starJeffrey Wrightdidn’t recognize the actor when he saw him on set.
WhenThe Batmantrailer arrived, a few people started guessing that a pudgy, frowning man who bore more than a striking resemblance to Richard Kind seen in the footage was none other than Colin Farrell as The Penguin. However, the make-up work issogood that just as many people doubted it, and we wouldn’t get confirmation until the following day, when the film’s make-up effects artistMichael Marinorevealed via hisInstagramaccount the guy in question was, indeed, Farrell.
While appearing onThe Jess Cagle ShowonSiriusXM(viaThe Playlist), Jeffrey Wright, who plays Batman ally Jim Gordon in the film, confirmed that he, too, had trouble recognizing Farrell once the actor was slathered in all that makeup. “Talk about artists, man. I’ve worked with that makeup artist before and it’s just incredible,” said Wright. “Colin walked onto set one day, and I walked right past him [laughs]. I was like, ‘OK, hey dude, what’s happening, where’s Colin, are we going to shoot?’ It was, it’s pretty remarkable.”
Wright also had plenty of good things to say about the movie. Specifically, in regards to how the film plays up Batman’s detective skills, something other films really haven’t done much with: “When I read the script I said to myself, ‘Yeah this is on it’…You go back to the original [Batmancomics], it’s DC, it’sDetective Comicsand the script is really beholden to that, beholden to this idea that Batman is the world’s greatest detective. I think as Gary Oldman once described, Gordon is something of a Watson to him. The script honors that, and it also set a tone that was very clear, and a tone that has been captured in that trailer.”
This is all music to my ears. I was skeptical aboutThe Batman, but after that trailer, the words directorMatt Reeveshad tosayabout the film, and the stuff Wright says here, I’m excited to see how it all shakes out.The BatmanopensOctober 1, 2021.
