Colin Farrell has revealed that his Penguin character in the upcoming The Batman film will not have several of the arch villain's usual features - including his trademark cigar.
The Irish actor plays Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot in the film, opposite Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader alongside Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as The Riddler and John Turturro as crime boss Carmine Falcone.
The film is reported to be a more realistic portrayal of Gotham City and Warner Bros. decided to avoid the more cliched elements of the comic book franchise.
Speaking during an interview with Jake's Tales on YouTube, Farrell said, "I fought valiantly for a cigar. I even at one stage said, 'I can have it unlit, just let me have it unlit', and they were like, 'Nooooo'. Like a bunch of 12-year-olds were going to start smoking Cuban cigars."
He added, "Listen, I have no idea where it goes, but (pardon the pun) it's the tip of the iceberg. The Oz that we meet hasn’t embodied the energy of the Penguin that we recognise 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."
During the interview, Farrell also said that Danny DeVito, who played The Penguin in Batman Returns, gave him his blessing to play the criminal mastermind.
"Danny was very kind, he sent me a text when he knew that I was going to do this. Which was lovely. Got the green light off him." Farrell said.
Speaking to GQ magazine, Pattinson said creating the classic character of Bruce Wayne in The Batman was "by far the hardest thing" he has ever done.
The superhero reboot was filmed during the pandemic, which Pattinson revealed he was grateful for as it provided him with stability and something to focus on during this turbulent time.
He said: "I just always had this anchor of Batman. Rather than thinking you're flotsam to the news, you could feel engaged without being paralysed by it.
"Everyone I know, if you had a little momentum going in your career or your life, then stopping, you had to have a reckoning with yourself.
"Whereas I was so incredibly busy the whole time, doing something that was also super high pressure, by far the hardest thing I've ever done…. I was still playing Batman at the end of the day, even though the world might end."
The Batman is in Irish cinemas on March 4.
