From movie star to gangster: Oscar-nominated actor Colin Farrell transforms into a DC Comics villain in the new drama miniseries “The Penguin.”

Farrell appeared on “Good Morning America” ​​on Wednesday to chat about his starring role as Oswald “Oz” Cobb, aka the Penguin, reprising the role he first played in 2022’s “The Batman,” which starred Robert Pattinson as Gotham’s reluctant hero.

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To transform himself into the Penguin, brought to life by makeup artist Mike Marino, Farrell had to spend up to three hours in the makeup chair each day of filming, a time he called “magic time.”

“In my 25 years as an actor, I’ve never done anything that was so powerful, so immediately impactful, that relied on the talent of others, namely Mike Marinos and his amazing team of artists and the work they did,” Farrell said.

“I remember looking in the mirror and what I saw was not me. I was nowhere to be found,” he continued. “It was a really powerful experience and everyone here felt the same, when you’re so submerged, so hidden, it kind of gives you (freedom). You’d think it’s limiting, but it’s not. It was absolutely freeing, which is good because the character is super dark and the show is a descent into psychopathy.”

Despite the dark side of the show and the fact that he had to sit in a refrigerated tent in his costume at times, Farrell said he was “just really grateful” for the “intense and wonderful experience” of playing “the Penguin.”

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“I was a seven-year-old boy laying on his butt on the carpet in my parents’ living room … looking up at Adam West and watching Burgess Meredith do his thing,” he said, referring to reruns of the 1960s live-action television series “Batman,” in which Adam West played the title character and Burgess Meredith played the Penguin. “So that part of me is still very much alive. I’m just so grateful to be part of the show and part of the lore of the world of Gotham.”

“The Penguin,” based on the DC Comics character, will be released on HBO on September 19.

Colin Farrell says turning into a penguin was “absolutely liberating.” Originally published on goodmorningamerica.com