There is much to be impressed by in the HBO limited series The Penguin with Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb, his character from The Batman. Yet, despite the talented people writing, directing and acting in the series, the prosthetic makeup designed by Mike Marino is almost a character in its own right. In fact, the actor who played Oz’s mother Francis Cobb kind of prefers Oz to the impossibly handsome and well-kept actor who brings him to life.

Deirdre O’Connell joined her co-stars Christin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Farrell, Marino and showrunner Lauren LeFranc at a press conference for the series. While there, she was asked if she’d only “recently” met the real Colin Farrell and not the man he became after three-to-five hours in the makeup chair each morning. Farrell quickly joked that his co-star “was not a fan” of the real him. She didn’t disabuse him of the notion, at least not right away.

“I’m definitely Team Oz, this is weird. I’m not that into the pretty man. I don’t like pretty boys, it’s not my thing. I like a tougher, you know, more scars. I like. I like some gold in the teeth. I like a bigger man. I like a wounded man,” Deirdre O’Connell said to laughs, quickly adding, “I’m kidding.” In fact, O’Connell had met her co-star out of his makeup before, but it wasn’t a long meeting.

“I’ve never been disliked with such favor,” Colin Farrell, laughing, to Dierdre O’Connell.

“I think we met for 10 minutes and said ‘hello,'” she said, adding, “I was very, you know, hit by the ‘Colin Farrell stick’ for sure.” She said she is “a huge fan and…was a little terrified” that the accomplished actor would be her scene partner for the majority of the show. O’Connell said Farrell’s turn in The Batman was like “a lightning rod,” and that if she were to act with him “maybe…I’ll get that electricity” too. She said Farrell’s performance as Oz made her “way into” the character himself. “I love it so much,” she said, adding she “laughed so hard, so many times” on set between takes and while filming. Farrell “was so scary and just the appetite of [his performance] was so thrilling to watch,” O’Connell said. “I felt like it had unleashed something delicious” that she was “very excited about.”

Christin Milioti Also Has a Strong Affection for the Penguin

While Oz’s relationship with his mother Francis is a central part of the series, as the series protagonist he shares the screen with many of the show’s actors. Christin Milioti plays Sofia Falcone, with whom Oz has a deeply complicated, sometimes adversarial relationship. However, after filming the series, she still struggles to separate the man she knows as Colin Farrell from the character he played, even though the two “met a couple times” before he was in full Oz Cobb regalia.

“It is very eerie,” Milioti said at the press conference. “It’s always a little jarring because I associate his eyes and his voice with a person who is very real to me, because I shot with him all the time for eight months…. It’s very cool and…I don’t even know in what other context I would have that [experience].” She went on to say it was a testament to both Farrell’s performance and the meticulous work of Mike Marino with the prosthetics. Still, even as charming and kind as Colin Farrell may be in real life, the actors who worked with “Oz Cobb” liked him quite a bit, too.

The Penguin debuts on HBO September 19, 2024 at PM Eastern, and the following episodes debut on Sundays starting September 29, 2024.