Colin Farrell reveals health condition that stopped him from physically transforming into The Penguin

Colin Farrell has shared why he didn't volunteer to pack on the pounds for his role of The Penguin.

Farrell stars as the notorious gangster and DC Comics villain in the new and gritty HBO series.

Anyone who saw Oz Cobb feature in 2022's The Batman will know that Farrell is practically unrecognizable as The Penguin as a result of all the prosthetics he's hiding under.

Adding to it all, the Oscar nominee's famous Irish accent isn't there either and is replaced with a thick, Robert De Niro-esque New York one instead.

Ahead of the The Penguin's release, Farrell discussed the suit that transformed him into Oz Cobb and how he'd have to sit for around three hours in the make-up chair each morning before filming. With this in mind, Farrell's in no rush to put the suit on again.

The suit did come with its benefits though, as the actor seldom felt the beatings his character gets in the series.

Speaking to UNILAD, Farrell revealed: "There's a seen where Clancy Brown is taking a golf club to me and he was like, 'Are you sure I can hit you?' and [I said], 'Have at it because I'm not even here. I'm miles beneath what you see', so he went for it."

Colin Farrell is unrecognizable as Oz Cobb in The Penguin (HBO)

With the amount of hours spent in the make-up chair to transform him into The Penguin in mind, we asked him if he ever considered physically transforming into the role - taking a leaf out of Christian Bale's book who put on 43 pounds for his role in American Hustle.

But Farrell was already suffering with some health complications having put on weight for his role in The North Water, so this idea was off the table for him from the get-go.

"I didn't consider it, no," the Golden Globe award-winning actor explained to UNILAD.

"I'd just come of filming something called The North Water and I'd put on a good bit of weight of that. For me it was an enormous amount of weight and when I met Matt Reeves for The Batman film, he took one look at my body and said, 'I love the way you look. I love the shape of your body,' and I said, 'Well say goodbye to it because I have gout and I have to get healthy.'"

The series follows the events that unfolded in 2022 movie, The Batman (HBO)

"I was all about losing the weight," Farrell added.

It was then that Farrell suggested Oz Cobb be skinny instead.

"I tried to pitch [Reeves] the idea of a skinny Penguin - which he wasn't buying at all. Thank god for technology and the terrific people that designed the bodysuit so I didn't have to [put more weight on]," he said.

The first two episodes of The Penguin are available to watch on Sky and streaming service NOW, with new episodes out every Monday in the UK, while the series is available to stream on HBO and Max in the US, with new episodes dropping every Sunday.