The Penguin: Danny DeVito on if he’ll ever play the iconic villain again and what he thinks of Farrell’s version

Regarding villains terrorizing Gotham, few rule the streets with the creep factor of the Penguin. The stout, bird-like baddie is a tortured soul. In Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, Danny DeVito played the character akin to a rejected circus freak with abandonment issues and an axe to grind. In Matt Reeves’ The Batman, Colin Farrell taps into Penguin’s aspirations to rule Gotham with an iron fist, controlling who lives, who dies, and who patrols the alleyways. Devito and Farrell’s versions are wildly different. Still, they both crave control over Gothamites, while Batman looms like a shadow over their wicked dreams. As a part of this week’s Just for Variety, the outlet caught up with DeVito, who commented on whether he’ll play the Penguin again and what he thinks of Farrell’s version of Batman’s avian adversary.

According to DeVito, he has no plans to play the Penguin again. I’m sorry, friends. It sounds like the giant rubber ducky boat has sailed on that possibility. However, he’s excited to see Farrell play the character. At the Breakthrough Prize gala, DeVito spoke with Variety, saying, “He’s [Farrell] a brilliant actor. I love him. He’s a good friend. He’s a good man.”

“I loved seeing him as the Penguin,” DeVito added before laughing. “He reminds me of a couple of my relatives back in Jersey.”

While DeVito isn’t interested in playing the Penguin again, Michael Keaton returns as Bruce Wayne/Batman in DC‘s The Flash, racing into theaters on June 16, 2023. Keaton and DeVito matched wits in 1992’s Batman Returns, which many consider the best Batman film. Your mileage may vary on that opinion, but there’s no denying DeVito’s grotesque genius as the umbrella-obsessed villain. Farrell is delivering something different with his version, and we can’t wait to see more when The Penguin comes to Max.

Per Max’s official press release for The Penguin:

The series is executive produced by Matt Reeves, Dylan Clark, Colin Farrell, Lauren LeFranc, who writes and serves as showrunner, Craig Zobel, who directs the first three episodes, and Bill Carraro. Based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, The Penguin is produced by Reeves’ 6th & Idaho Productions and Dylan Clark Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, where Reeves and 6th & Idaho are under an overall deal. 6th & Idaho’s Daniel Pipski also serves as executive producer, and Rafi Crohn is co-executive producer.

Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Deirdre O’Connell join Farrell for the gritty crime drama, with Clancy Brown and Michael Zegen recurring.

Max’s Sarah Aubrey has previously said that the series events will pick up immediately after the end of The Batman as it shows Cobblepot’s. “The goal of this is to show what Oz’s life is like, and that’s very much in the streets of Gotham, trying to get up and over as only the Penguin can,” Aubrey said. “As a hustler and a strategist with his own ambitions. It is a great example of having the time over eight episodes to tell a longer-arc character story with a lot of delicious twists and turns and new characters. It’s very much going to be about Gotham at that street level because he’s not flying around like Batman does. We are all embracing that as a very specific experience for audiences to have.”