Penguins Unite! Colin Farrell and Danny DeVito on Lusting After Catwoman, Staying Sober and How ‘It’s Always Sunny’ Is Like ‘I Love Lucy’ on Acid
Danny DeVito and Colin Farrell, who’ve known each other for decades, have both had the experience of being buried under prosthetics in order to play Batman’s nihilistic antagonist — the Penguin. DeVito played the role of Oswald Cobblepot in Tim Burton’s Grand Guignol 1992 film “Batman Returns”; “In Bruges” star Farrell played a grittier version, Oz Cobb, in Matt Reeves’ 2022 film “The Batman” and in this season’s TV spinoff “The Penguin.” Though he hasn’t come back to the part in years, DeVito remains no stranger to shameless amorality: He’s soon to appear as the lewd, delirious Frank in the 17th season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
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Danny DeVito: We met at my house. How old were you?
Colin Farrell: I was 23 or 24.
DeVito: What was the deal? This was you making the rounds?
Farrell: I came for a free meal. Or beer, anyway.
DeVito: We sat in the yard.
Farrell: It was lovely. You were so welcoming. You really were, back then.
Did you like doing the Penguin?
DeVito: I did.
Farrell: I was obsessed with that film. And you were in it. Was it a simple yes when he asked you to do it?
DeVito: A simple yes. And just back up the truck, make a lot of money.
Farrell: Did you have makeup tests and all that? Because that was as extreme a look as I had on mine. It was very different, but just as extreme and just as arduous in the mornings.
DeVito: The first time I saw yours, I said, “Oh my.” It was a total transformation.
Farrell: Burial.
DeVito: How long did it take to do the makeup?
Farrell: The first makeup test was all in. We tested in the Warner Bros. lot about six months before we shot the film. And that was seven or eight hours. That was the first time. Everyone was nervous, and they had a team of 15. They got it down to about three hours in the morning.
DeVito: Same with Oswald. We started with a five- or six-hour makeup job, then they whittled it down. Every morning, I was in the chair for three and a half hours.
Farrell: Did you mind it? I didn’t mind it. You have a coffee; you play some music.
DeVito: My ritual was this: I get there in the morning, 4:30 or 5. I would dillydally, get my tea, and I’d go into the makeup room. The makeup artist would be standing there with …
Farrell: The glue?
DeVito: … the thing of glue.
Farrell: That was a bit depressing, that first paintbrush touching your skin.
DeVito: She’d be there all ready with her weapon, the brush. And I’ll dillydally with my cup until the last minute. She went right on over the nose, because they had to put that big prosthetic on.
Farrell: That was the anchor.
DeVito: Once you got over that initial brush, and they stuck the prosthetic on, it was an easier slope. How’d that feel for you?
Farrell: Pretty much the same. I’d come in my pajamas every morning, because I just wasn’t willing to commit to wearing a pair of jeans. The music was already playing; the coffee was ready to go. I’d top up on the lines and the day’s work. It was good catch-up time.
DeVito: So how long was the day?
Farrell: They couldn’t work me two days in a row because of the makeup. The skin was breaking out. Most weeks it was three 16-, 17-, 18-hour days.
DeVito: It’s a cakewalk. I was there every day for 66 days. In makeup, cooking pasta in the afternoon, having meals, making meatballs. I’m in the middle of a scene in the Penguin’s lair, and this wonderful guy who worked with me, I [call] him over. He goes through all these catwalks; he goes, “What is it, Dan?” And I said, “Stir the sauce.” He had to go back to the trailer to stir the tomato sauce.
Farrell: I want to know about working with penguins.
DeVito: I went down to the zoo in San Diego, and they let me in the back to go hang out with the king penguins.
Farrell: I love the serious actor — you research.
DeVito: I’m all bundled up, went in there, smelled to high heaven. They don’t worry about shitting all over the place.
Farrell: Tell me about Philadelphia. It’s always sunny.
DeVito: What a transition!
Farrell: Fuck “The Penguin”! I want to hear about when you started it.
DeVito: We’ve been together for 20 years.
Farrell: I’ve seen a bit of it because I knew I was talking to you. I might’ve just watched some of your stuff: Danny DeVito’s best moments.
DeVito: You’re a good boy.
Farrell: You’re amazing in it, but it looks bold. Anarchic and fun, and you can go wherever you want with it.
DeVito: You pretty much can. You can go anywhere you want. I love it. It’s not the same thing as what you do with the Penguin, or what I did with Oswald. Oswald, I stuck to the script. There’s no riffing.
Farrell: “It’s Always Sunny.” It’s just about the chaos and the madness of being a human.
DeVito: I always looked at it as “I Love Lucy” on acid. You could do anything you wanted.
Farrell: It must be one of the most fun jobs you’ve had for the looseness and creativity and lack of preciousness. I mean that as a virtue. And it’s shot in Philadelphia?
DeVito: No, it’s all here. It’s in California, where we should make more movies and television.
Farrell: I’m doing a show here now called “Sugar.” We have about 80% of the same crew that we had the first season. They’re all telling stories about how hard it’s been, man. How much they’ve struggled. People are so grateful.
DeVito: Let’s bring the business back to L.A., and every once in a while go to Tahiti.
Farrell: Nice.
DeVito: Are you still fire-blowing? I do it in my backyard.
Farrell: Juggling, unicycle …
DeVito: I’m going to stay off the unicycle. Balance isn’t what it used to be.
Farrell: That’s because you’re 60 now.
DeVito: Who was your Catwoman?
Farrell: Zoë Kravitz. I did a couple of scenes with Zoë. Only briefly. She was wonderful.
DeVito: I had Michelle Pfeiffer. I’m not comparing anything, but I’m just saying, she was a goddess. If I knew she was going to be in a scene that day …
Farrell: Did you brush your teeth that morning?
DeVito: I got all flushed. Put extra makeup on — “Give me another pound of makeup.” It was very difficult.
Farrell: I’m going to watch “Scarface” tonight. How’s it to work with her?
DeVito: Just so wonderful. And I lusted after her.
Farrell: We’re moving on from your lust. Just tell me what form did the lust take, behaviorally?
DeVito: It was Oswald that was lustful.
Farrell: Was she nervous working with you? Did she call security? Did she say, “Tell him to stop stirring the sauce”?
DeVito: I kind of feel like she liked it. She liked Oswald.
Who plays your mom?
Farrell: Deirdre [O’Connell]. Dee Dee. She’s brilliant, wasn’t she?
DeVito: That was one of my favorite moments on the show — well, there’s so many — you get in bed with her. I mean, she’s in bed.
Farrell: I get on bed with her. Let’s make it clear.
DeVito: You’re a mama’s boy, and she just says, “Get off.” It was
so priceless.
Farrell: The rejection cut deep. Somewhat toxic between Mama and her little Penguino.
Would you do the Penguin again if there was a revisitation? If Tim called you up?
DeVito: Absolutely.
Farrell: What do you like about the character?
DeVito: I loved it because it gave you a freedom that burst out. For you too. You can go off the rails with something. The operatic element of Tim Burton’s “Batman Returns” was my favorite thing about it — the music and sets and the whole thing. The Shakespeare of it — “All the world’s a stage.” Oswald’s realm and his penguins and his minions and his passion. I loved that.
Farrell: Did you take it home with you at all? If a character you’re playing is having very extreme thoughts, emotions, behaviors, it doesn’t come home at all?
DeVito: No, I go home to Rhea [Perlman] and the kids.
Farrell: Lovely, lovely. The line is clear.
DeVito: I played some really despicable characters; you’ve got to shed that.
Farrell: There’s an ugliness that your Oswald and my Oz shared, a kind of uncouth grotesqueness that they shared. But “The Penguin”’s Oz was so dark by the end, I was just over it. I was still grateful for it; I never lost sight of the fact that I used to watch you, sitting on my arse in Dublin when I was 13. And when I was 6, watching Burgess Meredith — “Quack, quack, quack.” I never lost sight of how lucky I was. But by the end of it, I was glad it’d come to an end. I was being completely buried. I had nothing of myself.
DeVito: You should take “In Bruges” and a little bit of “The Penguin” and put it together to see how different it is.
Farrell: “In Bruges,” it was great because there were 460 different beers on tap, and I was about 14 months sober. It was depressing. I was like, “Ooh, shouldn’t have come here. Should have come here a year and a half ago.” Chocolates and linen was all I could shop for.
DeVito: If I don’t drink, I’m in great shape. So I’ve been cutting way, way back on the booze.
Farrell: Wine?
DeVito: Just a sip of wine. But I’m a martini guy. I go for the gin. Smoking the cigars. But when I’m on the health kick, which I am now, I’m staying off the booze.
Farrell: Do you miss it? The booze?
DeVito: No. Don’t.
Farrell: Me neither.
DeVito: I feel much better. Sleep better. I understand staying off of it totally. I do understand.
Farrell: For me, it was a very particular thing.
DeVito: It’s very important to do, if you need to do that. I do understand that. But I used to make limoncello.
Farrell: Oh, limoncello.
DeVito: Are you ever calm? Are you ever relaxed?
Farrell: Yeah.
DeVito: Tell me how you relax.
Farrell: I watch films. I read. I sauna. I started running a few years ago.
DeVito: You’re in great shape.
Farrell: I’m in decent shape. But I do relax. At times, I get very heightened. At times I would buzz with an anxious energy.
What does Batman mean to your Penguin?
DeVito: Who was your Batman?
Farrell: Robert Pattinson.
DeVito: And I had the great Michael Keaton, who was trying to kill me.
Farrell: Robert, what a thing to step into. I thought he was brilliant in it and completely original. It was gorgeous. In the world that Matt Reeves presented in the film, Batman was known of, but he hadn’t quite become the staple of Gotham society. My Penguin knew of him, because Oz is dreaming of rising to the top; he’s a very aspirational character. And so Batman represents that. There’s an envy, but there’s also an admiration.
DeVito: You knew that he had the penthouse, and you didn’t. I think Oswald was all about the power. He wanted to be the guy.
Farrell: Yours is more operatic, and my fella is more in the gangster genre.
DeVito: You’re looking for a real palatial place to live.
Farrell: I’m looking for what you had. You had that empire. That underground sewer was such a castle — a place of power.
DeVito: I would be very content staying in my sewer as long as I could get Catwoman to visit me every once in a while: Be still my beating Penguin heart.
