Colin Farrell recounts jaw-dropping story about his 'penis' on set of The Penguin

There are few things that get brought up in the showbiz world, and celebrities' privates usually stay just that - private.

Well, Colin Farrell has spoken candidly about his 'penis', which makeup artist Mike Marino knows only too well, as new MAX series The Penguin premiered on HBO yesterday.

The show is a spin-off of 2022's The Batman and it is set in Gotham just weeks after the ending of the movie.

It follows the rise and transformation of Oswald Cobblepot, aka the Penguin, who plans to become the city's most feared criminal.

We've already seen Farrell as the Penguin, not that you'd know as he looks unrecognisable as his character - with the Dubliner hiding underneath a body suit.

Speaking about when the transformation was finished for the first time to People, the 48-year-old said: "I couldn't believe it, yeah. I'd never done anything like it. You're moving your face and seeing what happens.

"I knew expressions manifested a particular way through the mask, and how beautifully it was designed, so I just went for it."

Colin Farrell dressed in a body suit as the Penguin (HBO Max)

He added that the only thing viewers can see of him were his hands and feet, and that he was 'basically covered wrist to ankle'.

It was makeup artist Merino who made a lasting impression on Farrell however, after he spent hours preparing him for shoots each day.

He told the publication: "If it wasn't for Mike's design, I'm telling you now, if it was just me with a f****** cigarette and a top hat and a bit of a limp and an umbrella that was a machine gun, we wouldn't have had the HBO show."

But hilariously, Merino even went to the measure of making him a 'Penguin penis' as one scene required for him to be stripped naked - despite the fact that viewers won't see it!

Colin Farrell stars in The Penguin, a new eight-part series on HBO (Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

Recounting the jaw-dropping moment, Farrell said: "Marino is so twisted and brilliant. He was like, 'I made you a penguin penis.'"

"I said, 'Really? They're not even going to see it. I don't know if I want to walk on set with a penguin penis.' And he was like, 'No, no, no, dude. It's detachable, it's Velcro. It's got a beak at the end of it'. So I had a penguin penis."

But being in the suit seemingly took a toll on the legendary actor, having previously said to TotalFilm that he isn’t sure if he’s ready to reappear in a second season of the series in the event that it gets renewed.

He said: “I don’t know, man. Don't get me wrong - I loved it, but it got in on me a little bit.

"By the end of it, I was b****ing and moaning to anyone who would listen to me that I f***ing wanted it to be finished.”

The first episode of The Penguin is available to watch on HBO Max now. Subsequent episode will air on Sundays.