It should be a stunt, hiring a man of Colin Farrell’s particular good looks and physicality to play the Penguin, a venal creature of the Gotham City underworld. Not because the Penguin is actually subhuman, mind you, but because his literal stature and appearance in various comics, cartoons and movies — short, squat, bald, pointed nose — features any number of physical attributes lacking in Farrell. (And present in countless character actors; Danny DeVito still required tons of makeup to become the “Batman Returns” version of the character, but he sure wasn’t snaking the part from a shorter man.)
And to some extent, Farrell’s version of the character, first seen in the 2022 feature film “The Batman” and revived for HBO’s eight-episode companion series “The Penguin,” does come across as a feat of make-up, transforming a leading man into a supporting mobster.