Riddle me this: how much screentime does the Penguin have in The Batman, the upcoming DC standalone film starring Robert Pattinson?

Er, if you read the headline above, you should already have a big hint about the answer to that. But let’s explore what Richard Kind — that is to say Colin Farrell in makeup that makes him look like Mr. Kind — has to say on the matter.

On the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via Collider), Farrell talked about working with director Matt Reeves and joked that The Batman wouldn’t be ruined by too much of his own presence. He explained:

“I’m only in it for five or six scenes, so I can’t wait to see the film because it won’t be ruined by my presence. Really, it’s a freebie to me. I’ll get a little bit uncomfortable for the f***ing nine minutes I have, and then the rest of it, I cannot wait to see how he [Reeves] brought this world to life.”

He further elaborated about what it was like working with makeup artist Mike Marino, who helped design a fat suit for him so that he could avoid having to put on real weight (an acting challenge he had already undertaken for his role in AMC’s The North Water). This is what he said about that:

“Mike Marino is a genius. He’s an absolute and veritable genius. And that word gets thrown out a lot, but he is a drawing, sculpting, shaping genius. And he created this visage for the Penguin. I mean he and Matt talked about what physically the character stature would be, and I had been quite big for The North Water and I didn’t want to naturally go big again cause I had a few little health things as a result of The North Water and I was just like, f***, this acting thing ain’t this important. I know the top actors that go up and down, and God bless them, I wish them good health. But for me, I think The North Water is the last time I’ll go up that much. So, we decided on a fat suit.”

‘The Batman’ Will Show the Caped Crusader Solving Real Riddles

We opened this with a lame faux-riddle, but don’t worry — Pattinson’s Batman will be solving the Riddler’s riddles, which look to be considerably creepier and more Zodiac-like. Speaking from personal experience, I can say that when a fellow cinephile shoots you a sudden one-line email with only the cryptic words “He lies still,” it’s bound to have you scratching your head in real confusion. Unless maybe you’ve watched last summer’s DC FanDome teaser for The Batman (see above).

That teaser gave us our first glimpse of Farrell, in all his Kind-esque glory, as the Penguin. It also gave us a good hint that The Batman would be tapping into the Caped Crusader’s comic book history as the world’s greatest detective. This is an important side to Batman that we haven’t seen as much in the movies so far.

Jeffrey Wright, who plays the new Commissioner Gordon, has teased that The Batman may draw inspiration from the 13-issue comic book miniseries Batman: The Long Halloween. It’s a ’90s classic and it’s currently in the middle of a two-part, PG-13/R-rated, animated movie adaptation. Part Two hits digital platforms on July 27, 2021, and physical media on August 10, 2021.

If you’ve read The Long Halloween (and any self-respecting Batman fan really must), then you know it provides a framework for a solid Batman tale featuring multiple rogues. In Reeves’ film, the Penguin will be one of those villains, but he will also be joined by Paul Dano‘s Edward Nashton/The Riddler, Zoe Kravitz‘s Selina Kyle/Catwoman, John Turturro‘s Carmine Falcone, and possibly other villains. Andy Serkis plays Alfred and Peter Sarsgaard plays Gotham D.A. Gil Colson (who, for all we know, could wind up being an analogue for Harvey Dent/Two-Face).

The Batman is scheduled to hit theaters on March 4, 2022.

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