The first episode of The Penguin sheds new light on why Oz Cobb has such a distinctive limp – though you may not want to watch it while eating your breakfast.
From the moment Colin Farrell’s incarnation of the villain debuted in The Batman, it was clear he was unlike any Penguin we’d seen before (especially because he technically has a different name).
He’s not a quaking maniac like Burgess Meredith, or a sewer-dwelling ghoul like Danny DeVito: he’s a fairly ordinary mobster, somewhere between Tony Soprano and Tommy from Goodfellas.
However, he is memorable, whether it’s his strong New York accent (“What are ya showin’ me, come on!”), beak nose, or facial scar. Notably, when he walks, he limps heavily on one side, and in The Penguin, he wears a leg brace.
The Penguin showrunner explains Oz’s clubfoot
In Episode 1 of HBO’s new series, we see Oz Cobb remove his right shoe and sock, unveiling his clubfoot. It’s a pretty severe case of it, too, with his toes and nails overlapping each other, leaving him in constant pain.
It’s now also clear why people call him the Penguin: because he waddles… like a penguin. Understandably, he doesn’t like that nickname.
If you’re unaware, clubfoot is a birth defect that causes your feet to turn in and under, making it harder and even painful to walk.
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Speaking to IGN, Lauren LaFranc explained why it was so important to show Oz’s condition in the opening episode. “In the movie you’re not quite sure why he limps, and I wanted to firmly establish why and to show the level of pain that he puts himself through, but doesn’t speak about it,” she said.
“Also, this is nothing that we’ve ever put on camera, but in my mind, because if you have a clubfoot, now there’s a surgery you can get, and that often people do.
“And so, for my reasoning as to why he doesn’t, he grew up with very little money. He didn’t come from anything, and his mother didn’t decide to spend the money on a surgery like that.”
Mike Marino, the show’s prosthetic designer, designed the foot in just 20 minutes – and Farrell loved it. “It’s so lo-fi and yet so highly brilliant. It’s real hands-on art the way artisans envision it,” he told The Wrap.
“Not to deny the advent of technology and the benefits of it as well in all sorts of realms of experience—but the hands-on makeup that this guy designs and applies, what Dick Smith did, what Rick Baker did, all these geniuses. I just hope that all filmmakers choose to use practical, in-camera stuff.”
Check out our recap of The Penguin Episode 1, keep up to date with our release schedule for The Penguin, and find out everything we know about The Batman 2.