Colin Farrell resisted rewatching the iconic mob drama The Sopranos while preparing for his turn as a gangster boss in The Penguin, the star of the new Batman universe series told AFP on Tuesday.
The Penguin chronicles the gritty rise of a low-level player in the criminal underworld against a backdrop of societal dysfunction in grimy Gotham City, with New York City used for filming.
Farrell's anti-hero character, Oz Cobb, who is dubbed 'The Penguin' for his unsteady walk from a mishandled case of club foot, has drawn media comparisons to the larger-than-life mob boss Tony Soprano played by the late James Gandolfini.
Farrell, who spent hours a day being transformed into a grizzled, chunky villain, said he had drawn on "anything I ever read or seen about that world" for inspiration.
"To be honest, I didn't need references because the script was just - you use your imagination - we're given fantastic writing," he told AFP at the New York premiere on Tuesday where the Dubliner was joined by his son Henry.
"There's no doubt anything I've ever seen [inspired me]... from [The] Untouchables to [The] Sopranos - I'm not comparing myself [to The Sopranos]. It inhabits a similar world. No [I didn't rewatch it] - that would mess with me, why would I do that? That would mess with me because I'm very susceptible to influence," he said.
"All those films that I have seen in my past are part of my Rolodex of what I now own as my imagination."
The Penguin is the latest of several productions set in the Batman universe but without the presence of the eponymous hero.
This eight-episode DC Studios series follows Matt Reeves's film The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader opposite Farrell as The Penguin.
The Penguin airs on HBO and NOW TV in Ireland from Friday 20 September.
Source: AFP
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