After “The Penguin” finale shocked DC fans, the team behind HBO’s DC series gathered to discuss bringing their characters to life, with a panel led by Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz and Deirdre O’Connell, as well as showrunner Lauren LeFranc and executive producer Dylan Clark.
While Colin Farrell found himself sitting in the makeup chair for as long as three hours every day to become the Penguin, he described it as a “period of grace to start the day like that.”
“It also gave me space just to get my head in the game for what was coming up that day because Oz’s journey through these eight hours is incredibly intense, with so much antagonism and so much deceit, of course, and so much violence,” Farrell said. “There were very few days that were dramatically light.”
Oz’s relationship with Francis Cobb (Deirdre O’Connell) marks a core element of the show. Of their complex connection, O’Connell said: “Oh, there’s so much, so much love and so much, so much hate that sometimes they almost cancel each other out. It’s very, very intense and it’s very passionate on both sides. I think she loves him so much and she also hates him pretty deeply.”
While “The Penguin” is deeply entrenched in the world established in Matt Reeves’ 2022 blockbuster “The Batman,” Feliz saw the opportunity to play Victor Aguilar, an original character not from DC Comics, to be particularly freeing.
“There weren’t any restrictions on what was going on,” Feliz said. “It was always an open conversation between me and Lauren about where we wanted this character to live, just like tone-wise and feeling-wise.”
The significance of bringing a comic book character to life wasn’t lost on Sofia Falcone actress Milioti, who says she felt pressure to seize such a large opportunity.
“I don’t want this to sound rote, but I love her so much. People’s reactions to her have been so moving because I’m really obsessed with this character,” Milioti said. “I was really aware of the rarity of a role like this — that wasn’t lost on me, both as an actor and as someone who really loves these types of movies. I was definitely aware of that and wanted to serve it justice. I would explore Sofia for years. I just love her, and I would love for her to continue on.”
When it came to crafting the sharp-dressed, sharper-tongued Sofia Falcone, showrunner LeFranc emphasized how much it meant to her to be able to develop her own version of the character.
“So much of the reason why I created Sofia was just to give my younger self a female character that I didn’t feel like I had growing up,” LeFranc said. “The idea that I could be a part of creating a new canon and a new version of Sofia Falcone-Gigante is the most exciting, coolest thing to me ever. Like, that’s the fangirl inside of me being able to do that. Any idea that she could live on and that there could be more stories told of her character would be really thrilling to me.”
LeFranc’s psychologically-based approach to character development impressed producer Dylan Clark, who says she pitched a fully realized version of Oz’s emotional arc in two weeks.
“That’s rare. For a writer to come in that early and say ‘I would like to take him from this point all the way here emotionally’ and to actually see that through in the making of it exactly as she pitched. Matt and I turned to each other and said ‘This is incredible.’ I’m a big fan of Lauren LeFranc. I’m in awe of her. We’ve built these two characters up and left them both in very precarious places. Power corrupts, and now he has it. What’s he gonna do? Probably some more bad stuff.”