Colin Farrell Matt Reeves Not Directing Penguin Hbo Max Spinoff

“The Batman” scene-stealing star told Entertainment Tonight that it was “so much fun” playing the nightclub owner-slash-mob boss baddie Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot in Matt Reeves’ brooding epic superhero film. “I’ve been around the block man. That was an easy sport, I mean, it was a joy,” Farrell gushed when asked if he would return for the confirmed sequel, offering an emphatic yes. “Oh my god, you kidding me? It’s so much fun, are you joking [with] me?” Yet in the meantime, Farrell’s gangster Penguin will fly onto Warner Bros. Discovery streamer HBO Max with a spinoff series anticipated to film in early 2023. Also revealed in the ET interview? Farrell said that while “The Batman” writer/filmmaker Matt Reeves isn’t directing the spinoff series, the vision will remain hugely his.

“Matt’s up to his bollocks, you know, hovering over the keyboard and just planning the story because he’s just so meticulous,” Farrell explained. “He’s so obsessive about what he does, but he’s all over [HBO Max’s] ‘The Penguin’ [series] as well. I mean, he’s not gonna direct it but he’s all over the structure of the scripts and who’s going to direct them. And so, it’s exciting.” Related ‘I Hate Suzie’ Is the Perfect Feel-Bad Show for the Holidays How ‘South Side’ Pulled Off a Hilarious Batman Parody Tribute Related Influential Awards Bodies Reshape 2023 Best Documentary Feature Race Oscars 2023: ‘Everything Everywhere,’ ‘Nope’ Among Early Favorites
Lauren LeFranc will serve as writer and showrunner on the series. Reeves will executive produce alongside Dylan Clark, who also produced “The Batman.” Clark previously explained that “The Penguin” series will show Oz’s (Farrell) rising to power, “almost like a ‘Scarface’ story,” as Clark told Games Radar. “It’s exciting to do something like that just as a standalone, but it speaks to the character and our movie, so that you’ll go back to the movie [and say], ‘Oh, I see that backstory there, that line refers to this,’” he added. Farrell added at the time, “We have to get into what made him the man he is. And also, it will pick up where this film finished off, I think. I think it’ll pick up a little short time after the last frame of this film. We’ll get to go on a little kind of left turn off to the world of Oz and how he’s beginning to kind of dream of filling a potential power vacuum that may exist.” He continued, “It’s a lovely, lovely character, and explores vulnerabilities. His violence is apparent, his propensity for violence and his ability to use it as a tool is apparent, but [also] to see we all have soft spots. Every single person. And to be able to find that location, dig around it would be fun.” To Entertainment Tonight, Farrell said that he was happy to be “hidden beneath [makeup artist] Mike Marino’s work” when it came to the “genius” prosthetics for becoming The Penguin. “I’ve never had less ownership about a part I played than I have over [Oz]. I really can’t,” the “Thirteen Lives” star said. “It’s 50-50, maybe 49-51 in his favor.”