‘The Penguin’ Showrunner On HBO & DC Studios Series Being Influenced By ‘Scarface’

Armando Tinoco
·2 min read
‘The Penguin’ Showrunner On HBO & DC Studios Series Being Influenced By ‘Scarface’

Colin Farrell is starring in the HBO Original series The Penguin based on the DC Comics character. and the showrunner is comparing it to Scarface.

Lauren LeFranc said in a recent interview that the spinoff from Matt Reeves’s The Batman focused on the villain Oswald Cobblepot is similar to the 1983 crime drama film directed by Brian De Palma.

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“Matt [Reeves came up] with this Scarface story – a rise to power,” LeFranc told Empire. “I turned it into a psychological character study of this man.”

LeFranc continued, “Mobsters historically are larger than life, so there is that slightly elevated quality to it, but he’s just a man. A very complicated man.”

The series creator said that the show dives deeper into Oz Cobb’s personal life and gives into his relationship with his mother.

“This is what differentiates him from previous versions of the Penguin in the comics, where he used to come from a wealthy, well-known family,” LeFranc said. “Matt had already made him an underdog in that he was number two to Carmine Falcone in the film, but we didn’t know anything about his family. So it was important to me that he comes from nothing, and he’s really aching to get more status and be seen as more important.”

The Penguin, which is set to premiere in September on HBO and Max, also stars Cristin Milioti (Sofia Falcone), Rhenzy Feliz (Victor Aguilar), Michael Kelly (Johnny Viti), Shohreh Aghdashloo (Nadia Maroni), Deirdre O’Connell (Francis Cobb), Clancy Brown (Salvatore Maroni), James Madio (Milos Grapa), Scott Cohen (Luca Falcone), Michael Zegen (Alberto Falcone), Carmen Ejogo (Eve Karlo) and Theo Rossi (Dr. Julian Rush).

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