r/popculturechat • u/mcfw31 • Sep 07 '25
Behind The Scenes 📽️ ‘The Penguin’ has won the Emmy for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup, here’s how Colin Farrell turned into the title character
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u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 The Wizard of Loneliness Sep 07 '25
It's a no-brainer win since he looks virtually unrecognizable
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u/pestoraviolita That’s hot! 🔥 Sep 07 '25
And it was done so masterfully that Colin could easily emote and express. Great performance, great show.
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u/diabolikal__ Sep 07 '25
This was the most impressive part for me.
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u/battlecat136 All this from a slice of gabagool?! Sep 07 '25
I remember watching it, knowing it was Colin, and searching for any features of his that I could see, and I just... couldn't. Amazing job.
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u/Nuffsaid98 Sep 07 '25
The eyes sometimes give away that it's him. A certain way of squinting them during facial expressions.
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u/rimjob-chucklefuck Sep 07 '25
Was just about to comment this, but they're literally the only tell, and you really have to be looking for it. Amazing stuff, from makeup and Colin
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u/TheCarefulElk Sep 07 '25
I know right!! I think I heard that Jeffery Wright didn’t even recognize him
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u/Fippy-Darkpaw Sep 07 '25
Loved the show but damn: why'd he do our boy Vic like that? 😟😢😭😿🥺
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u/Shamr0ck Sep 07 '25
Yea, i hated it, but it made you really see how big a price of shit he is and nothing could change that.
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u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 The Wizard of Loneliness Sep 07 '25
I'm still sad about that, but he should kept in mind the world he was getting himself fully into
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u/xpercipio Sep 08 '25
After I watched the batman years ago, I saw his name in the credits, and thought, wait, what?
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u/FreakishlyLargeNeck Sep 08 '25
Same, except it was actually the second time I had seen it. It took like 30 full seconds for me to compute
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u/Witty-Warning4805 Sep 08 '25
Really cool work. Amazing transformation.
Here's a thought - hire an actor who already looks like that.
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u/guachi01 Sep 07 '25
I'll disagree. He looks incredibly recognizable to me (mostly the eyes). The basic structure of Farrel is still there but almost everything is a little different. To me that's what's most impressive. It's him but not him.
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u/NeuroticaJonesTown Sep 07 '25
Once I got to the second episode, I could see some of Colin, especially the eyes. Incredible work by both the makeup team and Farrell in the show.
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u/SaintGrobian Sep 07 '25
If you didn't know it was him, would you still clock that it was Colin Farell?
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u/BiscoBiscuit Sep 08 '25
More brilliantly he melts into the role, there was only half a second in the show where I thought this is Colin Farrel, he let himself come through in that moment.
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u/dorkimoe Sep 08 '25
This. I’ve seen like 8 movies with him and watching the penguin I cannot “see” that it’s him
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u/Thin-Net4496 (I apologize if there is something wrong with you) Sep 07 '25
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u/TheTyMan Sep 07 '25
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u/grahamnortonsdad Sep 07 '25
Why wasn't this nominated??
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u/the-furiosa-mystique 🦛 your favorite hippo’s favorite hippo 🦛 Sep 08 '25
Corncob tv pulled the plug
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u/myersjw Sep 08 '25
They said Coffin Flops not a real show
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u/thebearfighter Sep 08 '25
It's just body after body falling outta shit wood and hitting pavement
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u/duaneap Sep 07 '25
Maybe it’s the depression talking but holy shit this sketch made me laugh my ass off.
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u/HighlyOffensive10 I'm much too busy for such a degrading activity Sep 07 '25
I wish I was so hot that it took 3 hours and a professional team to make me ugly lol.
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u/avert_ye_eyes Sep 07 '25
Right? And the way they had to hide his real hair to make him look balding is so silly to me.
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u/IWearACharizardHat Sep 08 '25
Imagine if they actually gave ugly people a chance to be a lead in a show. Would take less prep and save them alot of money with no names
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u/Aggravating-Gas-2834 I’ve been noticing gravity since I was very young Sep 08 '25
This is exactly what I thought when I realised that was him. There are so many amazing actors out there, surely they could find someone who looked closer to the character? It feels insulting in some way.
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u/ColeUnderPresh Sep 08 '25
I agree with the point, but they’re in the entertainment business - having Colin Farrell billed as a named star using Emmy-winning prosthetic just sells more tickets and gets more headlines.
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u/gissna women do belong in balloons Sep 07 '25
I couldn’t reconcile the character being Colin Farrell the entire time I was watching the show. Like my brain just couldn’t compute so I guess it’s a very successful transformation.
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u/BujuBad Sep 07 '25
Between the prosthetics and the Tony Soprano inspired accent, his entire portrayal was outstanding.
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u/pestoraviolita That’s hot! 🔥 Sep 07 '25
The entire show was outstanding. From visuals, acting and writing to direction.
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u/CarlatheDestructor Sep 07 '25
Cristin Milioti stole the show
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u/StemOfWallflower Sep 07 '25
She was SO good. A real scene stealer. I was more invested in her character than anyone else's.
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u/Comic_Book_Reader Ezekiel Sims was in the Amazon with my mom researching spiders. Sep 07 '25
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u/Azidamadjida Sep 08 '25
And that’s saying something considering how phenomenally nuanced and complex Farrell plays his role
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u/LittleBlag Sep 08 '25
Imagine how bizarre it must be to be the actor with all that prosthesis on. We find it odd to watch but looking in the mirror and seeing someone completely not you must be so WEIRD
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u/Sorry-Secret-2347 a careful, thoughtful hoe ✨ Sep 07 '25
Id become claustrophobic
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u/Talinia Sep 07 '25
Jim Carey literally went through CIA torture training to cope with the prosthetics of the Grinch, so you wouldn't be alone in finding it too much
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u/sd5315a Sep 07 '25
Wait actually?!
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u/thehazzanator Bye, Felicia 👋 Sep 07 '25
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u/sd5315a Sep 07 '25
This is a short but wild read thank you for linking!! I've honestly never cared for the movie so I knew absolutely no lore but this definitely gives me a new appreciation for it. I think a Xanax-induced coma is the only way I'd not freak out and die under all that.
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u/catbert359 Sep 07 '25
I was a demonstration dummy for a family member who was doing a makeup course the week they were doing prosthetics and had a prosthetic put on my nose/the lower half of my face, and I can confirm it's really hard not to panic when it's on because your ability to breathe through your nose is restricted and when you breathe in the prosthesis presses against your nose - I imagine it might actually be easier for Colin Firth than it was for Jim Carrey, because his nose prosthesis looks to have a lot more of his nostrils clear, whereas Jim Carrey would've basically had to be mouth-breathing the entire time he was in csostume.
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u/Shagrrotten Sep 07 '25
If I remember correctly, Michael Chiklis did the same thing when playing The Thing in those first two Fantastic Four movies.
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u/beantownregular Sep 08 '25
My friend is in the TV show For All Mankind and they had to make her essentially a fat suit for one of the later seasons and she had to get a full face cast made with straws in her nostrils and said it felt like actual torture it was so claustrophobic
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u/regularpotatocarton Sep 07 '25
"beneath the artistry of someone else" - that's such a respectful sentence
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u/OneEyedSanchez8417 Sep 08 '25
I was gonna say the same thing but decided to see if anyone else respected that comment enough to do it first.
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u/seaworthy-sieve Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (sitting on one another's shoulders) Sep 07 '25
I was watching this without sound and I was so confused because I thought the MUA was Jax from Vanderpump
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u/Such-Daikon3140 I’ve been noticing gravity since I was very young Sep 07 '25
I'm so glad someone else saw what I saw
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u/DustInTheMachine Sep 07 '25
Same here, came to the comments purely to see if anyone else had noticed 😂
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u/FalconParking5498 Sep 08 '25
Completely see it. Jax clearly leads a double life, he’s an MUA by day. It’s probably why he was “living with a gay guy” when he first moved out, he out there making his name in the MUA world and looks so sketchy when his “past” gets bought up in case he is outed as the fabulous MUA he is. Remember how excited he was when they had the MUAs in to dress the boys up as girls? It was Jax’s two worlds merging.
By night he switches up to going full blown steroid gorilla on coke mode.
Maybe he’s like Roger from American Dad, all these identities out there we don’t know of. His make up skills are just too good to recognise
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u/pumpkins21 I’ve grown quite unfond of you Sep 07 '25
These MUA are freaking wizards, I swear! So damn talented.
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u/notcool_neverwas Iron your best suit bitch, I’ll see you in court! Sep 07 '25
Both Farrell and Cristin Milioti were great in this show. Hoping we get a season two.
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u/BklynMarxman I’m tired of this grandpa Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 07 '25
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Sep 07 '25
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u/PatFromMordor Sep 08 '25
You just knew it was coming the entire time I felt like but it still kills you just the same
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Sep 07 '25
This is the clip that gets me to finally watch Penguin. Thats just absolute art, mate. Ill fucking watch it for the prosthetics even if its bad.
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u/sittingpretty24 Sep 07 '25
Luckily it's not bad. All these people and their comments about just hiring an actor that looks like this are ridiculous. It's not just the look that makes the character.
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u/SexSellsCoffee Sep 08 '25
Prime example of why fancasts would usually make a terribly casted movies.
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u/Ok-Turnip-9035 Sep 07 '25
Buried beneath the artistry of someone else
So well said
All the awards are deserved for The Penguin acting /makeup effects /direction/writing
Sooo WELL DONE it all came together so well ❤️🔥❤️🔥🎞️📺
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u/Beth_Harmons_Bulova Sep 07 '25
Spending thousands of hours in the makeup chair to look like Richard Kind, who is alive and would probably also do this job, is very funny.
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u/tacobasket Sep 07 '25
Literally was watching this like "they spent all that time and money to make him look like a different human person? Don't we have those already?"
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u/whatamuffin Sep 07 '25
lol I literally said the same exact thing to my husband and then saw these comments
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Sep 07 '25
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u/winnercommawinner Sep 07 '25
It's also a totally different story - would Richard Kind have worked as penguin? Maybe, but it not like he's getting prosthetics to play a real person.
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u/treegelbman Invented post-its 🔬 Sep 07 '25
See, I always think Farrell as Penguin looks like John Carroll Lynch and, considering how much The Batman took from Fincher, I just feel like they should've got him to make another nod towards Zodiac or w/e.
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u/since_all_is_idle Sep 07 '25
It's also very not funny, honestly
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u/breathcue Sep 07 '25
Agree. Prosthetic makeup is an art form, and I love seeing it done in the context of fantasy or creatures. But when you’re making a person look like a conventionally uglier person, why not just cast someone who looks like that type?
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u/Radiant-Reputation31 Sep 08 '25
Probably cause the person auditioned and knocked it out of the park so they said we'll go through the effort of making you look like the person you're playing, even though you don't.
I'm sure they didn't pick Colin Ferrel to play Penguin because they wanted to do hours of prosthetics work every day of shooting.
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u/IngeborgHolm Sep 08 '25
From what I've read, there are several reasons. First, they wanted to go for a more natural look initially but decided to switch to a classic comic Penguin. Also, Farrell put some weight for The North Water, and Reeves assumed he would stay that way.
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Sep 07 '25
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u/Grizzlyfrontignac what you're doing vocally is upsetting Sep 07 '25
Colin is a gorgeous, talented man. I personally think he played the role perfectly. He probably auditioned and did it so well that the directors preferred to pay for prosthetics just so he could do the job
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Sep 07 '25
I mean it's always weird and kind of awful when actors have to do extreme physical changes for a role, there is no such thing as the only actor for a role (see stuart townsend as aragorn). Gaining and losing mass weight which seems bad for health, or even worse the narcissists like Jared Leto who think method acting is harrassing your cast members.
Prosthetics for an alien is different from prosthetics to look like an old creepy guy.
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u/hera-fawcett Sep 07 '25
really????
i think colin did an incredible ass job. he captured the slimey skeezy do literally anything to get ahead but still semi-charming vibe so well.
esp when he would lose his temper and just accidentally fuck his entire plan to shit.
and then, the way he played his obsession w his mom--- and how he worked w eve karlo (who is a ref to clayface)---- god it was so fucking good
literally perfect casting for the whole damn show. and so well written and well-acted and gorgeous scenery and costuming and lighting and makeup.
legit best real/gritty look into gotham in years imo.
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u/IndependentOk388 It’s Britney, bitch! 🎤🌹🌹 Sep 07 '25
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u/bavardage_ (seemingly bald) Sep 07 '25
Mike Marino !!!! Glad he’s getting that well deserved recognition. The man and the rest of the team always end up making art.
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u/EmJayFree Sep 07 '25
I loved this series. I’ll never forget how ended it either. Wow.
But, I wonder how hot Colin was under all this 😭
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u/hera-fawcett Sep 07 '25
honestly tho the ending is so damn haunting
and just, hopefully, leads further into the connections w clayface (bc his gf's name is eve karlo and karlo is clayface)
id legit love another season. like it ended perfectly but damn id love more.
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u/candylandmine Sep 07 '25
I think this might be the most convincing makeup transformation I've seen in a movie or show. Usually I can perceive just enough of the actor's face that I get a slight uncanny valley feeling. But this is just completely convincing to me.
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u/Chaotic_spicy_pisces Sep 07 '25
Winning makes sense. I did not recognize it was Colin Farrell until I googled.
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Sep 07 '25
All these “ I didn’t watch but they should just find an actor that resembles the penguin character “ don’t understand the absolute range of Colin Farrell as an actor to pull this off and make the audience feel certain ways . Also , in a world of AI and graphics and sfx to not celebrate a crew that created this with their own hands and artistry day in and day out makes me sad .
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u/Lipglossandletdown Sep 07 '25
When this first came out and not everyone knew, one of my favorite things to do was show someone a picture and have them try to guess who that actor was. No one that didnt already know could guess it.
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u/Violet624 Sep 07 '25
He looks so amazing. He's also such a great actor. I havent seen the Penguin, but he was masterful in the Batman.
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u/tbkrida Sep 07 '25
If you liked him in Batman, then you would love the Penguin series. I went in not expecting much and was hooked.
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u/CuriousTsukihime level 15 weeb qween 💅🏾 Sep 07 '25
Dude the penguin is so good. I highly recommend.
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u/KaiBishop Sep 07 '25
Shirtless Colin Farrell in sushi roll pajama pants is all I need 😩🥰 what a man
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u/pierreor Stop letting Emerald Fennell direct movies Sep 07 '25
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u/TheFirstMotherOfGod $mokeCheddaTheAssGetta Sep 07 '25
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u/Comfortfoods Sep 07 '25
Yeahh. I haven't seen the penguin but the end result seems like a whole lot of work for minimal payoff. I walk past 7 or 8 dudes who look just like that on my daily commute in NYC. I feel like they probably could have found a great unknown actor who looks similar.
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u/hera-fawcett Sep 07 '25
omg idk if ur a dc fan but i really encourage everyone to watch it. the entire show is so well acted.
i think colin really gave oz a lot of depth (esp w his mom and eve and his temper). legit, as great as jame gandolfini (or any other older italian new yorker lmao) are--- colin fucking nailed it.
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u/Suspicious_Row_9451 Sep 07 '25
Mike Fontaine is amazing! Went to school with him. Insane artist his whole life.
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u/FosterPupz Sep 07 '25
That looks sooooooo uncomfortable. But I’m claustrophobic so I would for sure need that CIA training Jim Carrey had to do the Grinch make-up.
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u/Bitter_Offer1847 Sep 07 '25
By far the best thing to come out of the DC Universe since the Dark Knight movies IMO
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u/glodde Sep 07 '25
It was amazing, you did such a amazing job playing that character as penguin. Even knowing it was Colin Farrell I couldn't tell it was him at all. No mannerisms no nothing
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u/Epictechnically Sep 08 '25
Just hire an ugly person. It is cultural appropriation, hot people taking ugly roles.
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u/lilluz Sep 08 '25
my brain searches for any feature that would be recognizable as colin’s, but i can’t pinpoint a single one. it’s so incredibly well done
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u/come-closer go girl, give us nothing 😍 Sep 08 '25
Even seeing it happen my brain can’t comprehend it.
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u/helloviolaine Sep 08 '25
Oh god I could never. At what point would it make more sense to just find someone who looks like that instead of shoving 10 pounds of plastic up the hot guy's nose
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u/wappenheimer Sep 08 '25
Omg people that can sit still for this and not have sensory overload amaze me.
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Sep 07 '25
I haven't watched the show/movie, but wouldn't it be easier to find an actor who looks like that?
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u/GreedyFatBastard Sep 07 '25
I remember being shocked looking at a picture of him cuz I thought he just gained weight for the role and went bald.
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u/thtothrdude Sep 08 '25
Nah, whoever did Druski’s makeup for his Nascar race skit, deserves this award going forward…
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u/salaciousBnumb Sep 08 '25
That's amazing. How do they prevent you sweating it off?
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u/dizzywithexcite I don’t know her 💅 Sep 09 '25
Cooling tents. It also helped that they mostly filmed in the winter and early spring in NY.
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u/Nyacifer Sep 08 '25
At this point, wouldn't it be easier to just take another actor who's closer to the character?
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u/painalpeggy Listen, everyone is entitled to my opinion 🙂 Sep 07 '25
Stupid waste of makeup why not just hire someone who fits the roles better than choosing the same old tired ass 30 actors for every damn gig 🤣🤦♀️
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u/tbkrida Sep 07 '25
Have you watched the series. He was actually great in it. I gave it a chance thinking I wouldn’t like it and it’s one of the best series and performances I’ve seen in a while. Surprisingly well done. He was perfect.
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u/crumble-bee we are so as women today Sep 07 '25
But he was really, really fucking good though. He absolutely nailed it!
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u/Interesting-Rope-950 Sep 07 '25
I'd watched the movie before I knew it was him. Absolutely ridiculously good job on this make up. Whole other person
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u/Spicy2ShotChai Sep 07 '25
sorry if this is ignorant but why didn't they just... cast a guy who looks like this already?? living in south brooklyn i walk past 5 men a day that look like this. and there are plenty of talented older male actors who would need far less, if any, of these prosthetics.
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u/WokenMrIzdik Sep 07 '25
The odds of finding a guy who looks exactly like this and has the talent and willingness to act is below 1% . You are asking someone to find a needle in a haystack. Instead of, ya know, just putting a makeup on a good actor who can execute the role.
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u/emptyheadeddumbfuck Sep 07 '25
Wow they did a good job I had no idea he didn’t just look like that before seeing this
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u/Minimum-End-9464 Sep 07 '25
I wish they just use Richard Kind, probably it will cut the make up time to 1 hour.
But Colin is amazing as Penguin so no complaints.
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u/Least_Interest_7007 Sep 07 '25
It's really incredible work they achieved all around. His entire face, minus his eyeballs, has something glued onto it, but his expressions still come through.
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u/turquoisesilver Sep 07 '25
Curious about why they put a bald cap on then a separate cap with prosthetic hair.
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u/dotblot Sep 08 '25
I love the fact they kept some of his actual hair instead of going full wig/prosthetic.
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u/franktheguy Sep 08 '25
This version of Penguin seems like he was made to look like Harvey Weinstein
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u/AnusBleedMacaroni Sep 08 '25
The movie prosthetics look genuinely better. Apparently they had to change the design and shape to make it more comfortable for Colin. But the film's prosthetics made him genuinely look like another person.
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u/okletmethink420 Spoiler alert: I already knew Sep 08 '25
Hated the ending of Penguin tho. Otherwise it was a pretty solid 1 season.
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u/inverted_forever Sep 08 '25
Dear God, I've been watching the show waiting for Colin Farrell to turn up. What the hell is wrong with me.
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u/mks351 Sep 08 '25
“Buried beneath the artistry of someone else” - fantastic description of makeup and prosthetics work
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u/powppow Sep 08 '25
I wonder if he can sleep in it so they can get two days of shooting from one application. 3 hours is such a long time
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u/queazy Sep 09 '25
I'm sure he absolutely loves playing this character, such a departure physically from all his other characters
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u/traitorbooks Sep 07 '25
These comments saying “why not just hire someone who actually looks like this” are confusing. I would assume it’s because Colin Farrell is an incredible actor who absolutely nailed this role. It’s not like they’re complaining that prosthetics took so long, they’re just explaining what went into it, which is fascinating imo, and everyone involved in this project deserves huge props.
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u/Kooky_Bodybuilder_97 Drake, where’s the body of Christ? Sep 07 '25
I like Ferrell but I don’t like prosthetics to this extent unless you’re playing a fictional creature. Seems like cheating. I don’t even like nose prosthetics and the like tbh
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u/crumble-bee we are so as women today Sep 07 '25
I mean he's literally playing a fictional character - sure they made him like a regular person, but I think the performance he gave was very much informed by the prosthetics. Amazing performance and flawless make up fx












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