Colin Farrell recently revealed that despite his best efforts, Warner Bros. refused to let his Penguin smoke in The Batman. The PG-13 blockbuster is obviously fine with having a serial killer as the main antagonist, but a villain lighting up onscreen is one step too far.
On the plus side, Oswald Cobblepot could realistically be depicted as a two packs a day man when his HBO Max spinoff eventually arrives, because James Gunn’s Peacemaker has shown in no uncertain terms that WB and DC Films are a lot more open to expressions of creative freedom and outright insanity on the small screen when there aren’t any box office dollars to worry about.
Speaking to Rotten Tomatoes, Farrell offered up some vague tidbits on his hopes and dreams for the show, as well as outlining his excitement that the Penguin’s solo series will be leaning into R-rated territory, which would in turn allow him to dig a little deeper into the character.
“His ambition and his vulnerability, his humor. I mean it was just the tip of the iceberg in this film for me, but there were little moments in the scripts that Matt wrote, in relation to Oz, little bits of humor and awkwardness, as well. And his origin, you know why he is the man he is and all that stuff.
If we get six to eight hours to do it, I just think the character could be endlessly fun and fascinating and brutal. I hear that we’re going to be allowed to kind of do an R-rated version, perhaps, which would be nice to explore the violence that could permit, perhaps, and the darkness that could allow us to explore. So, all of those things.”
Matt Reeves’ BatVerse is already shaping up to be an ambitious operation, with the two streaming shows expected to debut before The Batman‘s standalone sequel arrives, and it’s set to neatly tie together as a cross-platform multimedia franchise with the World’s Greatest Detective at the center.