There are several aesthetic things about Batman rogue Oswald Cobblepot that make him ‘The Penguin’. Besides his penguin-like appearance, he also comes with a monocle, a top hat, and a cigarette holder. We don’t have any of those latter things in the upcoming Batman movie, but Collin Farrell apparently fought for his character to have a cigar in the film.
Talking to Jake’s Takes (via ComicBookMovie), Farrell revealed that he wanted to have a scene where his Penguin is smoking. He says, “I fought valiantly for a cigar… I even said at one stage ‘can I have it unlit’ and they were like, ‘no.’” He goes on to say that the studio didn’t want any kids starting to smoke because they would watch him doing it.
If anything, Farrell reveals that his version of the Penguin still has a ways to go before he becomes one of Batman’s most formidable villains. In the film, he’s actually more of an underling of crime boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro). Farrell continues:
“The Oz that we meet hasn’t embodied the energy of the Penguin that we recognize from the source comics and from previous films… so I’ll see if it goes again. I’d love to explore it because he’s not an underboss, he’s not a boss, he’s just a soldier of Falcone at this stage. But he has great ambition and dreams of doing big, big things.”
We don’t know how Penguin’s role will look next to the Riddler (Paul Dano), but you can catch them both when The Batman premieres on March 4.
