Colin Farrell Really Doesn’t Want To Play The Penguin Anymore

By Mike Redmond | TV | September 12, 2024 |

By Mike Redmond | TV | September 12, 2024 |

Last week, I posited a theory that Robert Pattinson and Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe is toast. I don’t have any concrete evidence, of course, but there are warning signs that things are headed in that direction as evidenced by two spinoff series being canceled. Plus, the looming launch of James Gunn’s rebooted DC Universe, which might not need another Batman running around to muddy the waters.

Of course, hours after I pulled the trigger on my little thesis that I’d been kicking around all summer, Reeves started teasing The Batman Part II to help promote The Penguin. I’m going to repost those comments because they’re about to become very relevant real fast.

Via Deadline:

“The plan is to shoot next year, and we’re finishing up the script now,” Reeves told SFX magazine for its October 2024 issue. “Colin [Farrell] will be part of the movie. We’ve shared [the script] as we’ve been going along with DC and the studio and they’re super excited.”

Reeves noted that The Penguin, which stars Farrell as the Gotham City villain, is the “entry point” to the Batman sequel and it’s “absolutely connected to where we leave things in the series.”

“There are details that actually connect right into the way the next movie begins, and the way that Oz enters that world as we hand the baton back to Batman, and Batman is on another case,” Reeves added.

As I often state, I am an idiot. With that thought always in mind, I did not buy this talk as proof that The Batman Part II is still moving forward. Again, I could be very wrong, but it reads a whole lot like Reeves is being a total pro by maintaining the status quo while directing all eyes toward The Penguin. However, all that talk about Colin Farrell playing a significant role in the sequel just smacked into a wall.

In a new interview, Farrell all but says he’s done strapping himself in The Penguin suit. He’s asked point blank if he’d return to the character, and he reportedly grimaced while saying, “I don’t know, man.”

Via Total Film, emphasis mine:

So it’s not just the prosthetics and suit that Farrell would have to be willing to get into again, but also the headspace. “Lauren [LeFranc] said, ‘Look, if I could find a way that makes sense, would you talk about it?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ And maybe in a year I would. But when I finished I was like, ‘I never want to put that f*cking suit and that f*cking head on again.’”

Could Farrell be exaggerating? Very likely. Could this franchise be over and he doesn’t want to get people’s hopes up for more of his character? This interview would be the way to do that. Kind of odd to drop something like this one week before the show comes out, but I refer to my prior statement: I’m just some idiot online.

(Via Total Film)