Jonah Hill (probably) passed on playing The Penguin, paving the way for Colin Farrell
By Dan Selcke
The Penguin, a spinoff of director Matt Reeves' movie The Batman starring Colin Farrell as the Caped Crusader's third or fourth most famous villain, is currently one of the best things on TV. The grounded crime drama is unexpectedly gripping, particularly with actors like Farrell and Cristin Milioti at its center. The most recent episode, "Cent'anni," was one of the best yet, and pulled in more viewers than any episode of the show so far. Word about the show's high quality is getting around, and I guarantee that the back half will blow people's minds.
Colin Farrell is getting a ton of well-deserved praise for his performance as Oswald Cobb, with a huge assist from makeup artist Mike Marino, who changes his face so much I'm still surprised whenever I remember it's actually Farrell under there.
But it wasn't always going to be Farrell. According to Variety, when Matt Reeves was originally casting The Batman, actor Jonah Hill turned the role down.
Technically, Variety only knows that Hill turned a role in the Batman; specifically, they know he was offered either the role of the Penguin or the Riddler, who ended up being played by Paul Dano in the movie. Either way, The Batman ended up being a big success, and The Penguin might actually be even better, so Hill may be kicking himself right about now.
Let's say that Hill was offered the role of the Penguin. It might be hard to picture him pulling off this kind of gritty part, since I think a lot of the time Hill is still associated with comedy, but he has some serious dramatic chops too; he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar twice, after all, once for Moneyball and again for The Wolf of Wall Street.
Had Hill taken the role of the Penguin, maybe he would be in Farrell's shoes right about now and looking at an almost certain Emmy nomination and win. But this is all just hypothetical theater at this point. For now, new episodes of The Penguin air Sunday nights on HBO and Max.
Next. How The Penguin easter eggs set up more villains to come in The Batman Part II. How The Penguin easter eggs set up more villains to come in The Batman Part II. dark
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h/t Fiction Horizon