When a character has been around for decades, certain aspects become ingrained in our collective consciousness. When you think of iconic Batman villain The Penguin, you likely picture his tuxedo, top hat, monocle, umbrella, and the cigarette holder clutched in his fingers. While we do see a few of those elements make their way to Colin Farrell’s interpretation of the character in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, there is one thing we won’t see Penguin doing — smoking.
While speaking with Jake’s Takes, Colin Farrell said that he fought for Penguin to have a cigar in The Batman but was overruled.
Big studios make big decisions around such things as the presence of cigarettes in films. I fought valiantly for a cigar. At one stage I said, ‘I can have it unlit! Just let me have it unlit.’ They were like, ‘No.’ [As if] a bunch of 12-year-olds are going to start smoking Cuban cigars because [the Penguin is smoking cigars in a movie.]
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We’ve seen studios clamp down on smoking over the past twenty years, with Disney banning the practice from all of its Marvel, Lucasfilm, and Pixar movies. Instances of smoking also directly impact a movie’s MPAA rating so it’s no surprise that studios aren’t eager to have a character puffing away when it’s not necessary.
The official synopsis for The Batman:
More than a year of stalking the streets as the Batman (Pattinson), striking fear into the hearts of criminals, has led Bruce Wayne deep into the shadows of Gotham City. With only a few trusted allies—Alfred (Serkis), Lt. James Gordon (Wright)—amongst the city’s corrupt network of officials and high-profile figures, the lone vigilante has established himself as the sole embodiment of vengeance amongst his fellow citizens. When a killer targets Gotham’s elite with a series of sadistic machinations, a trail of cryptic clues sends the World’s Greatest Detective on an investigation into the underworld, where he encounters such characters as Selina Kyle (Kravitz), Oz, aka The Penguin (Farrell), Carmine Falcone (Turturro), and Edward Nashton/aka The Riddler (Dano). As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator’s plans becomes clear, Batman must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit, and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued Gotham City.
The Batman will debut in theaters on March 4th.
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