Batman: The penguin’s makeup is deciphered [EXCLU]

Here is our exclusive interview with Michael Marino, prosthetic makeup designer, for Batman, New Dark Knight Adventures with Robert Pattinson.

HelloCine: When you were faced with the challenge of visually reviving a penguin from the Batman world, what was your first reaction and first design steps?

Michael Marino : First of all, I’m a big fan of Penguin since he appeared in the 1966 Batman series as Burgess Meredith. I really like the TV series and comics that I collect. (…) I also really like Matt Reeves movies, from Cloverfield to Planet of the Apes, so I was totally ready to shoot Batman with him.

For the Penguins, I wanted to translate the quality of the comics into makeup and not just highlight it with the addition of a fake nose. I wanted to personify her, who was caught up in the realistic world in which she takes place. In order to place this whimsical character in this realistic world, I took a risk, increased it a bit, and added a hint of comics.

I also rely on more suggestions he made to me about Bob Hoskins and John Casale, who plays Fredo the Godfather … as Tony Soprano’s flavor with the flavor of the old school gangsters of the 40s. (…) I mixed it all up and got what you see. This is my favorite method of applying makeup.

You mentioned Meredith’s version, there were already a few penguin incarnations on the screen, did you get inspiration from them or did you ignore them?

I would not say I ignored them, but I did not use them as a direct reference. I love what Stan Winston did to create Danny DeVito. Obviously, this is in our film pantheon, but I could no longer do that, it was no longer the same world. And the Burgess Meredith version was a little too comedic for our tone.

I believe there is also a show called Gotham in which the penguin has a pointed nose, but that was not our benchmark either. (…) I wanted to make a personal touch based on my knowledge of comics, the character, his face and life (…).

You and your team created prostheses for the character’s face, how did that happen?

Originally my concept sculpture was performed on Colin Farrell’s face with open eyes and slightly open mouth. Colin follows the instructions very well. I then turned this conceptual sculpture into a clay sculpture. I put on a bow and braid, then combed my hair as if it had become bald, added traces of chickenpox on my cheeks and a dirty scar on my face. He was supposed to be a gangster, so we stopped at the theme of the movie.

We designed the pieces ourselves: neck, cheeks, nose, upper lip, forehead, eyebrows and puffy eyelid, as well as a partial wig that interferes with the hair.

The team included Mike Fontaine for textures and makeup details, Izzy Galindo for eyebrows and Sasha Kamacho Van Dyke for hair. We have tried everything successfully. We introduced them to Met and the production and Colin was completely overloaded. I believe it really worked. My first sculpture is what we used in the film. Everything was platinum silicone and syntactic polyepoxy matrices with removable necks.

Why add false teeth to a penguin?

I wanted something to happen to the side of his scar on one of his teeth, as if a quarrel had damaged them after the scar. (…) If you look at his face, he has a scar on one side, an eyelid and a tooth … all on one side, even a nose, also scarred and slightly broken.

I thought it was interesting not to wear these items just because they are cool, but also to add history to makeup. He has a golden tooth because he is a gangster who has to show himself. He does not hide his teeth, he reveals that he is a robber, a mackerel, he has money and he values ​​gold.

How long did it take for Colin Farrell to turn into a penguin?

The initial test took four hours and we were finally able to reduce it to two hours.

What was Colin Farrell doing with makeup all that time?

He sat with great patience until all this was tied to him. And as soon as the make-up was done, she immediately removed her voice. Claire Flavin also designed her bottom suit, which she wore under the clothes.

Once he had it all, he was completely free, he became a different person, another character with a weird gait, a new voice, spinning like a penguin. It was very, very cool.

Our interview with Matt Reeves about Batman’s vision: