Colin Farrell says his Penguin makeup had ‘a life of its own’

WASHINGTON – Actor Colin Farrell underwent a full transformation to become the character Oz Cobb in the new HBO series ‘The Penguin’. 

“I felt like a canvas,” said Farrell about the three-hour process in the makeup chair. 

Farrell and makeup artist Mike Marino sat down with FOX 5’s Kevin McCarthy to discuss the character and the “surgical” process of bringing him to life. 

“It’s actually very physically challenging and it’s very exacting, almost like you’re each morning going in to do a non-life saving surgery, like a heart surgery or something, because the pieces are designed in such a specific way to be glued on in exactly the way they’re designed and sculpted,” said Marino. “It’s such an exacting art. It’s so custom-made to Colin’s face that it has to be.” 

The transformation in Farrell’s appearance helped him get into the character of Oz Cobb, according to the duo. 

“There is a moment where all the pieces are on and we’re starting to paint it and glue eyebrows on that it actually starts becoming alive. And Colin’s looking in the mirror. He starts making faces and he’s moving a little and he’s getting into the character more so,” said Marino. 

He would get so into the character, that Farrell said his own Irish accent felt “weird.” 

“It felt like a greater exercise of artifice to talk in my own accent than to talk as the Penguin because it sounds more forced,” said Farrell. “It felt more uncomfortable for me to talk like I’m talking to you now, brother, with all that sh** on. Because having all that on, I was very aware of it and one look in the mirror, I could see this thing looking back. It had a life of its own.” 

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