Contains spoilers!
CNN reported that Farrel told a reporter about ‘The Penguins,’ saying “I know it was dark,” with a hint of concern on those famous eyebrows. “But was it too dark?”
Audiences witnessed scenes of fratricide, attempted infanticide, a kink of Oz’s mother, and the murder of Victor Aguilar, Oz’s right-hand man. According to CNN, Farrell still seems affected by the scene months after filming. He recalled that the day of shooting was the toughest of a lengthy production interrupted by the SAG strike.
Victor, portrayed by Rhenzy Feliz, became entangled in Oz’s after being caught trying to steal Oz’s Maserati. The naïve teenager, orphaned by the events of ‘The Batman,’ was taken under Oz’s wing and pushed into increasingly high-stakes tasks to prove his loyalty. Victor became a reminder of Oz’s past and his love for his mother. In a pivotal moment, Oz ultimately strangled Victor on a park bench overlooking the city, leaving his body in the dirt and making the death appear like mugging.
“We had a lot of time to prepare for that and to think about it. There was a lot of road that was set between (Oz) and Victor and the friendship we had,” Farrell said.
“The crew were very invested in the story, genuinely – we’d spent a year on and off together – and the mood on the set that night was pretty dark,” he said. “Everyone, the focus pullers, the camera operators, the boom operators, craft service … it really wasn’t pleasant. We all knew what had to happen; it was only fiction. But it was so dark and it was so ugly and so unjustifiable.”
“We moved through it as quickly as we could,” Farrell added. “Everyone was very on point and we flew through it. But it was it was really, really ugly.”
The scene, which begins with Victor thanking Oz “for taking a chance on me” and calling him family, ends with him begging with his final breaths.
‘The Penguin’ was developed by Lauren LeFranc for HBO and based on the DC Comics character of the same name. It is a spin-off sequel to ‘The Batman’. The series stars Colin Farrel, Christin Milioti, and Rhenzy Feliz.
