Colin Farrell on The Penguin – and going incognito in public

Published

1 year ago

October 1, 2024

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Colin Farrell has said he went undercover in his prosthetic make-up playing Penguin in the early days of production on The Batman.

The Irish actor stars once again as the infamous DC villain Oswald Cobb in the new Sky Original series The Penguin, recreating his version of the character viewers first met in Matt Reeves’ 2022 film starring Robert Pattinson.

After three hours a day in the make-up chair, he is unrecognisable as the star best known for films including In Bruges and The Banshees Of Inisherin.

“I’m left alone most of the time anyway,” Farrell told Sky News about being out in public – but said curiosity got the better of him when he first wore the prosthetics.

“I went to Starbucks once after we did the first make-up test, about six months before the film, the original Batman film,” he said. “I got a few side glances, but not nobody had any context or reference for it. But you couldn’t notice, I mean really, up-close and personal.”

For the Oscar nominee, playing Penguin had been on his bucket list.

Previously depicted by Danny DeVito in the 1992 film Batman Returns, Farrell said he appreciated that Reeves allowed space for him to put his own stamp on the comic book character.

“I mean when I heard that Matt Reeves wanted to talk to me about playing the Penguin – honest to God, for the film, I was so tickled,” he said. “Then I read it and I was kind of pissed off because it was only five scenes.”

Referring to the film’s other villain, played by Paul Dano, Farrell joked: “I got really greedy, and I thought, who is this Riddler fella?”

However, he has now “been spoiled with this eight-hour” series.

The Penguin moves away from the animated characteristics of DeVito’s iteration and centres itself instead in a Soprano-esque environment of the criminal underworld.

The limited series opens in the aftermath of the events of the 2022 film, with Oz Cobb trying to find his way to succeed in a flooded Gotham.

‘I didn’t know who I was or what I was doing’

The 48-year-old actor said his motivations behind choosing roles have changed over the years.

“It’s probably gotten purer… In a way, you would be forgiven for thinking that it would be the other way around,” he said.

“You would start from a place of purity and then it would get a little obfuscated with money and ambition and trying to maintain the idea of a career and all that stuff that we should be deeply suspicious of. And as essential as money is… it’s probably gotten purer.”

Farrell added: “I started off in a very playful place when I was 16, acting, and then I had a lot of success really young and it was very noisy. No complaints, I was very fortunate, but it was very noisy and I didn’t quite know who I was or what I was doing or why I was doing it.”

The actor said money came flooding in but his career hit a hurdle “very dramatically”.

“I was given the opportunity through whatever grace to kind of relocate the 16-year-old’s love and curiosity for just telling stories.

“I just want to do different things – not because I want to have this varied career, I don’t have a macro look at it like that, it’s just staying in the present.”

The actor said the arts have a special ability to help people deal with emotions and sort through real-world issues.

“It’s why drama is such an extraordinary tool for young kids who might be struggling in life in their early or mid-teens, to get together and tell stories,” he said. “You get to access certain emotions.

“You could ask certain questions of a character, but you’re always asking them of yourself as well, because you are essentially the filter that every character has to be born through. It’s more fun now than ever before, which is cool.”

The first two episodes of The Penguin are available to watch on Sky and streaming service NOW, with new episodes out every Monday

Entertainment

Dolly Parton says ‘I ain’t dead yet’ after health fears triggered by singer’s sister

Published

13 hours ago

October 9, 2025

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Dolly Parton says 'I ain’t dead yet' after health fears triggered by singer's sister

Dolly Parton has declared she “ain’t dead yet” after her sister raised concerns about the singer’s health by asking people to pray for her.

“There are just a lot of rumours flying around. But I figured if you heard it from me, you’d know that I was okay,” the 79-year-old singer said in a new two-minute video posted on social media.

“I’m not ready to die yet. I don’t think God is through with me. And I ain’t done working,” she added.

In the footage, captioned “I ain’t dead yet!”, the 9 to 5 singer is seen on a set speaking directly to the camera.

On Tuesday, a Facebook post shared by her sister Freida Parton escalated concerns around Parton’s health when she wrote that she had been “up all night praying for my sister, Dolly”.

Hours later, Freida Parton followed up with a clarification. “I want to clear something up. I didn’t mean to scare anyone or make it sound so serious when asking for prayers for Dolly,” she wrote.

“She’s been a little under the weather, and I simply asked for prayers because I believe so strongly in the power of prayer.”

Last month, Parton postponed her first Las Vegas residency in 32 years, citing “health challenges”.

She was scheduled to perform six shows at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in December. The dates have been moved to next September

Parton offered her own clarification about her health condition in Wednesday’s video.

“Everyone thinks that I am sicker than I am. Do I look sick to you? I’m working hard here! Anyway, I wanted to put everybody’s mind at ease, those of you who seem to be real concerned, which I appreciate,” she continued.

“And I appreciate your prayers because I’m a person of faith. I can always use the prayers for anything and everything.”

She also referenced her late husband of nearly 60 years Carl Dean who died earlier this year at the age of 82.

“I want you to know that I’m OK. I’ve got some problems as I’ve mentioned. Back when my husband Carl was very sick, that was for a long time, and then when he passed, I didn’t take care of myself. So I let a lot of things go that I should’ve been taking care of,” she said.

“So anyway, when I got around to it, the doctor said: ‘We need to take care of this. We need to take care of that.’ Nothing major, but I did have to cancel some things so I could be closer to home, closer to Vanderbilt, where I’m kind of having a few treatments here and there.”

And in true Parton fashion, she ended with a joke: “I wanted you to know that I’m not dying”.

Entertainment

Dolly Parton is ‘going to be just fine’, country singer’s sister says

Published

1 day ago

October 8, 2025

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Dolly Parton is 'going to be just fine', country singer's sister says

Dolly Parton’s sister has said that the country singer is “going to be just fine” after worrying fans by asking for prayers.

Freida Parton had asked people for prayers for the Jolene and I Will Always Love You singer on Tuesday.

“Last night, I was up all night praying for my sister, Dolly. Many of you know she hasn’t been feeling her best lately,” Ms Parton wrote in a Facebook post.

“I truly believe in the power of prayer, and I have been [led] to ask all of the world that loves her to be prayer warriors and pray with me.

“She’s strong, she’s loved, and with all the prayers being lifted for her, I know in my heart she’s going to be just fine. Godspeed, my sissy Dolly. We all love you!”

After shocked fans took to social media expressing worry about Parton’s health, her sister said in a second post on Wednesday: “I want to clear something up. I didn’t mean to scare anyone or make it sound so serious when asking for prayers for Dolly.

“She’s been a little under the weather, and I simply asked for prayers because I believe so strongly in the power of prayer. It was nothing more than a little sister asking for prayers for her big sister.”

It comes after Parton announced in September that she had to postpone her upcoming Las Vegas residency over “health challenges”.

“As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures,” the singer said at the time.

“As I joked with them, it must be time for my 100,000-mile check-up, although it’s not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon!”

Parton said she was postponing the shows because she is “not going to be able to rehearse and put together the show that I want you to see. You pay good money to see me perform, and I want to be at my best for you”.

The country star was set to perform six shows at Caesars Palace in December, but her performance dates have been moved to September 2026.

“Don’t worry about me quittin’ the business because God hasn’t said anything about stopping yet,” Parton said as she announced the postponement of her shows. “But I believe he is telling me to slow down right now so I can be ready for more big adventures with all of you.”

Entertainment

Robin Williams’s daughter begs people to stop sending her AI videos of her father

Published

2 days ago

October 7, 2025

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Robin Williams's daughter begs people to stop sending her AI videos of her father

The daughter of late actor Robin Williams has begged people to stop sending her AI-generated “slop” of her father.

“Please, just stop sending me AI videos of Dad,” actor and director Zelda Williams wrote on Instagram on Monday.

“To watch the legacies of real people be condensed down to ‘this vaguely looks and sounds like them so that’s enough’, just so other people can churn out horrible TikTok slop puppeteering them is maddening.”

She described the videos as “disgusting, over-processed hotdogs” made from the lives of human beings.

“You’re […] shoving them down someone else’s throat hoping they’ll give you a little thumbs up and like it. Gross,” she wrote.

It’s not the first time Williams has written about the impact of people sending her content about her father on social media.

In 2020, on the anniversary of her father’s death, Williams posted on Instagram saying:

“While I am constantly touched by all of your boundless continued love for him, some days it can feel a bit like being seen as a roadside memorial – a place, not a person – where people drive past and leave their sentiments to then go about their days comforted their love for him was witnessed.”

“But sometimes, that leaves me emotionally buried under a pile of others’ memories instead of my own.”

The death of Robin Williams in 2014, an actor and comedian known for his quick wit and wisdom, triggered a global outpouring of grief and tributes to the star still frequently surface on social media to this day.

In 2023, Zelda appealed for the end of AI-generated content, saying in a widely-reported post on Instagram:

“I’ve witnessed for YEARS how many people want to train these models to create/recreate actors who cannot consent, like Dad. This isn’t theoretical, it is very very real.”⁠
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“I’ve already heard AI used to get his ‘voice’ to say whatever people want and while I find it personally disturbing, the ramifications go far beyond my own feelings.”