In The BatmanRobert Pattinson presented us with a detective version in “The Caped Crusader” – a dark knight on the hunt for clues with a noir-like flair. Next up is Matt Reeves’ bat-verse? Get ready to greet his little friend. Or rather, enemy – because before Batman – Part II we will see The Penguina crime streaming series that takes Colin Farrell’s standout supporting performance from Reeves’ film and launches him into the headline role. Previously, Farrell’s Oswald Cobblepot was a lovable, sleazy gangster with everything to prove. Now, in the power vacuum created by the death of Carmine Falcone, Oz is determined to take control of Gotham’s underworld.
As showrunner and executive producer Lauren LeFranc puts it: The Penguin will play on one of the most archetypal gangster stories in cinema. “Matt (Reeves came up with this) Scarface History – a rise to power,” she explains. “I made it a psychological character study of this man.” As with The Batmanexpect a convincingly human interpretation of a role that, in other incarnations, has involved exploding wind-up penguins. “Gangsters are historically larger than life, so there’s a slightly exaggerated quality to the whole thing, but he’s just a man,” says LeFranc. “A very complicated man.”
Audiences get a deep look into what makes Oz Cobb who he is, including insight into his relationship with his mother. “This sets him apart from previous versions of the Penguin in the comics, where he came from a wealthy, well-known family,” notes LeFranc. “Matt had already made him an outsider by having him be number two to Carmine Falcone in the movie, but we didn’t know anything about his family. So it was important to me that he comes from nowhere and really longs to gain more status and be seen as more important.” First you get the money, then you get the power – and then you get the bat.
To read Richis full The Penguin Story – talking to Lauren LeFranc about what we can expect from the next chapter The Batman History – in the Joker: Foil A Deux Issue will be published on Thursday, August 1. Order a copy online here. The Penguin is coming to Sky Atlantic and NOW from September.
