Colin Farrell Spills The Full Bodysuit He Wore To Play The Penguin In New HBO Series Even Included 'A Bird Male Member.'

Colin Farrell Spills The Full Bodysuit He Wore To Play The Penguin In New HBO Series Even Included 'A Bird Male Member.' 

"Colin Farrell is utterly unrecognizable in his role of Oz Cobb in the new HBO limited series The Penguin.

"I had a bodysuit, so I was basically covered wrist to ankle. Only things that were me were my hands and feet," the actor, 48, tells PEOPLE. "Everything else, including ears, were pieces. Everything was covered."

Farrell's transformation, created by artist Mike Marino, who previously worked with the actor on The Batman in 2022, meant spending about three hours every morning during production in the makeup chair. "If it wasn't for Mike's design, I'm telling you now, if it was just me with a f---ing cigarette and a top hat and a bit of a limp and an umbrella that was a machine gun, we wouldn't have had the HBO show."

Despite the time and effort it took to create the look, Farrell insists he "was never bored. I mean, by the time we'd get to two hours and 45 minutes, I'd be a little bit..." he allows. "Because they had to spray paint like seven different pieces, ball cap, wig on top of ball cap, and then they'd get into spraying every little pockmark, every little zit, every little crease, every little scar."

One scene in particular called for his character to appear to be naked. "Marino is so twisted and brilliant. He was like, 'I made you a penguin penis,'" Farrell recalls with a grin. "I said, 'Really? They're not even going to see it. I don't know if I want to walk on set with a penguin penis.' And he was like, 'No, no, no, dude. It's detachable, it's Velcro. It's got a beak at the end of it.' So I had a penguin penis."

In fact, the biggest piece of the bodysuit was actually around Farrell's shoulders and back. "That was kind of the anchor and it came up to the chin," he explains. "And then the bodysuit would go under it. They were nice enough to give me a hump as well."

When the actor first saw himself in the mirror, "I couldn't believe it, yeah. I'd never done anything like it," he says. "You're moving your face and seeing what happens. I knew expressions manifested a particular way through the mask and how beautifully it was designed, so I just went for it."

The limited 8-episode series was ordered in March 2022, almost immediately after the Robert Pattinson-led take on the superhero was released in theaters. 

Although Pattinson’s Batman will not be in the show, the series stars Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, Clancy Brown and Michael Zegen. It picks up right after the events of The Batman, and shows how Oz tries to take a leadership role in the Gotham City underworld. 

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The Penguin premieres on Thursday, Sept. 19, at 9 p.m. on HBO and Max." - People.com