Colin Farrell's Penguin Wasn't Allowed To Smoke In The Batman

In a recent interview with the cast of The Batman, actor Colin Farrell revealed that despite fighting "valiantly" for his pre-Penguin Oswald Cobblepot to smoke his customary cigarette affixed in its cigarette holder, the powers that be in the production declined his request. Speaking with the Jake's Takes video podcast, Farrell added that the Penguin will appear without his familiar top hat and monocle, as well.

"Big studios make big decisions around such things as the presence of cigarettes in films," said Farrell, who also explained he fought the studio to let Penguin have a cigar. "At one stage I said, 'I can have [the cigar] unlit! Just let me have it unlit.' They were like, 'No.' [As if] a bunch of 12-year-olds are going to start smoking Cuban cigars because [the Penguin is smoking cigars in a movie]."

Variety pointed out, via a 2021 New York Times story, that Emma Stone ran into a similar ban Disney placed on smoking in its films while filming Cruella--a character whose appearance and attire has historically included a cigarette holder. Disney banned smoking in its films in 2007, and then implemented that ban in 2015 to all Lucasfilm, Marvel, and Pixar content.

Elsewhere in the interview, Farrell shared details about testing out Penguin's prosthetics in a local Starbucks. "The first day we tried the whole thing out, we took it for a drive--a spin, metaphorically speaking," Farrell said. "We did it in Burbank. It took about six or eight hours. It was a team of 10 or 15 people. And it was really fun. I went into Starbucks and ordered myself a very un-Oswald drink, an oat milk latte with two stevia sweeteners. I got a couple of stares but only because it’s such an imposing look. [Designer] Mike Marino did so much of the work for me on this, so much of the heavy lifting."

The Batman opens in theaters on March 4.