Colin Farrell says that taking off his makeup for ‘The Penguin’ was an ‘utter relief’ every single night

• Colin Farrell looks completely different in “The Penguin” — and that’s putting it lightly.
• Farrell told BI that it was an “utter relief” to remove the character’s makeup each night.
• He said the transformation made him more aware of how he identifies with his own appearance.

Colin Farrell underwent an incredible makeup and prosthetic transformation to transform into Oz Cobb in “The Penguin,” but the actor was happy to take it off each night.

“Utter relief, utter relief,” Farrell told Business Insider when asked how it felt to shed the Penguin after a day of shooting. “Next level, every night.”

Farrell made his debut as the famed Batman villain in Matt Reeves’ 2022 film “The Batman,” which starred Robert Pattinson as the DC hero. “The Penguin,” helmed by showrunner Lauren LeFranc, focuses specifically on his character Osgood “The Penguin” Cobb in the film’s aftermath.

Farrell looks extremely different in the role, and that’s putting it lightly. Makeup artist Mike Marino told Screen Rant that it took approximately two and a half hours a day to get Farrell fully into the prosthetics, after which point the team would monitor him throughout the day to ensure the look was staying in place.

While speaking with BI and other reporters at the show’s New York City premiere on Tuesday, Farrell compared his experience to a cat seeing itself in the mirror.

“It’s strange,” he said. “I mean, I knew I was in there, it’s not like I ever fully lost sense of myself. But it was a very powerful thing to know yourself a certain way for 45 years and to see a reflection, and it also kind of made me aware of how much I identify with how I look.”

Farrell said that the discrepancy in his appearance gave him more of a “blank slate” while on the job, compared to other productions. He also credited showrunner LeFranc and her team of writers for the material to fill that open space.

“It was amazing,” he said. “It was really, really powerful. There was something very powerful and very kind of hypnotic to the experience.”

“The Penguin” premieres Thursday, September 19 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max.