Earlier than, throughout and after The Penguin’s stellar run on HBO, the majority of the dialog round Colin Farrell centered on how utterly unrecognizable the actor was beneath all of his Oz Cobb prosthetics, whereas others had been completely happy to deal with the character’s inherently evil nature. Not with out provocation, both, since Oz was revealed to have dedicated one of many final no-no crimes by establishing his brothers’ drowning deaths.
The Penguin’s near-perfect Season 1 finale actually upended any goodwill Oz constructed up through Victor’s tragic homicide, Francis’ bed-ridden and catatonic jail, and his creepy Oedipal dancing with Eve Karlo. However ought to viewers have gone into that episode already condemning him for the deaths of brothers Jack and Benny? It is dependent upon who you ask, since Farrell is of the idea that younger Oz couldn’t have readily identified how deadly his actions within the sewer tunnels can be.
Talking at an FYC panel for the award-winning HBO sequence (through Selection), Farrell addressed his private views in the case of Oz having locked his brothers away in a jealous match throughout that massive storm. In his phrases:
He’s not, he’s not an architectural engineer. I don’t assume he knew the water was going to rise. You sort of want a monsoon, by the way in which – I’d get into what it takes for the water to rise 20 toes in a spot that’s not air sealed. [Laughs.]
Thanks! It is crossed my thoughts excess of as soon as over the months since The Penguin aired that Oz couldn’t have solely had cold-blooded homicide on his thoughts on the time when he trapped his siblings within the tunnels. Like, as a totally grown grownup absolutely versed in worst-case hypothesis, I am unable to mentally conceive how a lot water it will take to create drowning situations, so I may simply grasp if Oz solely thought he can be scaring the shit out of Jack and Benny, and never the life out of them.
So I thank Colin Farrel for making me really feel considerably justified in questioning Francis’ and others assumptions that Oz 100% killed his brothers deliberately. I notice it is a skinny line that additionally doubles as a slippery slope, and there are not any clear winners right here. It additionally appears clear to me that Oz perhaps wasn’t…sensible sufficient to do what he did deliberately, however that is perhaps simply me projecting.
In fact, Oz’s habits within the aftermath did not make him seem very contrite about having induced their deaths, deliberately or in any other case. Farrell even joked about going right into a defensive stance when speaking about Oz’s previous, saying:
Yeah, I’m nonetheless making an attempt to justify him. There’s little question his brothers are now not on the earth because of one thing that he did. However he was only a actually advanced character.
A posh character that followers cannot wait to see return in The Batman Half II, which is ready to launch in October 2027. With one other TV season additionally probably within the pipeline, Farrell’s crime lord might return exterior of Matt Reeves’ function movies as effectively. Simply do not count on me to defend him or have any sympathy for him subsequent time. Most likely.