Colin Farrell Says He’ll ‘Catch Up’ on The Sopranos, Breaking Bad and The Wire ‘When I Grow Up’
Colin Farrell has some classic TV to catch up on!
While speaking to reporters, including PEOPLE, at the premiere of The Penguin in New York City on Tuesday, September 17, Farrell was told that his role as Gotham City villain Oswald “Oz” Cobb has been compared to The Sopranos. Farrell, 48, will play the character for the first time in 2022’s The Batman.
“I’ve only seen two episodes. I have Sopranos, I have Breaking Bad and some days when I was growing up, I had The Wire to catch up on, those are the three episodes that I think of when I think of a TV special,” Farrell said at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
The Golden Globe winner added that he takes it as a compliment when his work is compared to the gangster crime drama, which ran for six seasons starting in 1999. Colin Farrell and his youngest son Henry on the red carpet at the premiere of The Penguin “That, in a way, changed the face of television and opened up a lot of possibilities for other shows,” Farrell said.
“So what do I think when I hear those comparisons? Nothing but praise,” he continued. “You know, they’re shows that people love and are incredibly excited about. So those are — interesting comparisons. I think there are worse things you could do.” The evening also marked a special occasion for Farrell, who walked the red carpet with his youngest son Henry Tadeusz Farrell, 14. The actor is also the father of James Padraig Farrell, 21. Farrell previously admitted during a 2022 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that his two sons weren’t all that interested in his work. “They’re sick of me being a bad guy,” he said at the time, “reading between the lines, I think they think I’m fine.” In The Penguin, Farrell underwent major changes to become the titular villain. “Have you ever seen cats look at you in the mirror? They back away and don’t know [it’s them]?” he told PEOPLE and other media outlets about his on-screen appearance, adding, “It’s weird.”
“It’s not like I’ve completely lost my sense of self, but knowing myself in a certain way for 45 years and seeing that reflected back is a very powerful thing. And it also made me realize how much I identify with my appearance,” he continued.
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Despite the change, Farrell calls the process “amazing.”
“It’s really, really powerful. There’s something very powerful and very hypnotic about the experience,” he said.
Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Deirdre O’Connell, Clancy Brown and Michael Zegen also star in the eight-episode series.
The Penguin will premieres Thursday, September 19, at 9 p.m. on HBO and Max.
