Colin Farrell as The Penguin? I Like Burgess Meredith!
I don't care who or how many actors end up inhabiting the role of Batman's nemesis Oswald Cobblepot aka The Penguin, my fave will always be Burgess Meredith in the 1966-68 series 'Batman.'
More recently, The Penguin was portrayed on the big screen by Colin Farrel in 'The Batman' but he was also played by Danny DeVito in the 1992 Tim Burton film 'Batman Returns.' How did the 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' actor feel about Colin Farrell assuming the Penguin role? After all, his take on the Penguin earned him a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
“Colin’s a great actor,” DeVito told ScreenRant.” “He’s a good friend of mine. I’ve known him for many years and I think he’s going to do a great job as the Penguin. It’s going to be really interesting to see his take on it.”
Rumor has it Jonah Hill was offered the role of Penguin but he was more interested in playing the Riddler however that part went to Paul Dano. With three super villains in the upcoming Warner Bros. release (including Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman), it's fortunate director Matt Reeves didn't make the same fatal error the 1990s 'Batman' franchise made - cramming too many characters in one movie, with multiple origin stories that weighed down the plotline.
Remember 'Batman and Robin' (the lowest-grossing live-action Batman film to date) that introduced not only Batgirl but Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy as well. I stopped watching halfway through! The previous film "Batman Forever' had the same handicap with Robin, Riddler and Two-Face origins holding up the action. Same mistake 2007's Spider-Man 3 made. Shifting the focus in too many different directions makes for a disjointed motion picture.
For my money, no one has inhabited the character of Penguin as well as Burgess Meredith in the 'Batman' TV series and 1966 motion picture. Meredith was a fine dramatic actor, considered "one of the most accomplished actors of the century."
No doubt Meredith could have played a big screen Penguin as devilishly fiendish as Colin Farrell, more so I suspect, if he hadn't been playing it for Bat-laughs on the small screen.
Where did that iconic Penguin laugh come from? Meredith had long since given up smoking but his character was required to puff on that cigarette holder. Anytime he started to cough he turned it into a squawk so the scene wouldn’t have to be reshot.
