Colin Farrell's major transformation for the character of the Penguin in 2022's The Batman shocked fans, but now the Irish actor is revealing how he chose to lose 60lbs and wear a bodysuit along with the prosthetics.
Speaking to press, Colin admitted that when he first met The Batman director Matt Reeves, he had just finished working on the 2021 TV series North Water, set in 1859 and the final years of the whale oil trade in the Arctic Ocean, for which he had gained "50 or 60 lbs".
Matt then told Colin he "looked great," only for Colin to turn around and tell him he didn't want to keep the weight and was already "dropping pounds" and choosing to "get healthy again".
The crew then decided to use the updated bodysuit technology for Colin, and it was that same technology that they brought into the production of The Penguin, the new HBO Max series which premieres on September 20th.
Colin shared that he was "so confused" by the initial sketches of the character but that at the same time "it spoke to me so clearly – it spoke of a sense of history, a sense of threat, a sense of violence, and there was kind of something sorrowful to the visage as well".
During shooting for the new 10-part series, Colin had to spend time between takes sitting solo in a "igloo" tent that helped him to keep cool, something the 48-year-old actor found the hardest part of the show; he joked that he would often call his children and leave them voice messages in his Penguin voice to pass the time.
Colin also revealed that although he was used to the prosthetics and the makeup from shooting the 2022 film – the new series will take fans into the world of Gotham following the events of the movie – the process of application still took around three hours every day, and he sat in the chair around "80 or 90" times in total.
"We'd all have a hug, I'd shave, sit in a chair and then we'd start the clock and it was about three hours," he said of the process.
"We'd play music and we'd catch up with each other and then I'd get the script and I'd think about the scenes that were coming up, and I loved the three hour process. It never felt like three hours – it always felt like two hours and 57 minutes!"