It’s not every day you get to bring your vigilante artistry to Gotham City. That joyous privilege and the power of practical effects was top of mind for “The Penguin” star Colin Farrell and makeup designer Mike Marino, accepting the 2025 IndieWire Honors Wavelength award for their striking partnership in HBO’s gritty superhero spinoff.
“We were two big kids in a really vast sandbox,” said Farrell at the Los Angeles event on June 5. “Both of us grew up watching genre films. I grew up watching Danny DeVito. Well, I know I haven’t fully grown up. I think we’ve established that. And we go to go to work every day and play in the sandbox. It was such a joy [and] nightmare Mike Marino‘s canvas.”
“It means a lot to be recognized for something that was done entirely by human hands,” said Marino. “Just clay, glue, rubber, inspiration, and the intention to create something special. There was no AI involved here. No shortcuts, just time, thought, and trust. Colin Farrell was fully committed.”
Academy Award nominee Farrell reflected on his experience growing up “enthralled” by Burgess Meredith’s performance as The Penguin. He also shared the fear he felt taking on the role at first.
“Matt Reeves wrote the film ‘The Batman,’ and I was lucky enough to get the role of The Penguin in that. Then, Lauren LeFranc wrote this show, but it was only when I saw Mike’s design of the visage of Oz Cobb that I couldn’t leave it. Before that I was struggling to think of what I could bring to the project. I was going, ‘I’m just going to be flat as fuck and it’s going to be terrible.’”
But looking at Marino’s design for the first time, Farrell said, “I couldn’t believe it. I kind of got emotional because as I said, I’m 49 going on 10 sometimes and I just got so giddy.This man is an extraordinary, extraordinary artist. I am so grateful.” He went to thank the legendary Christopher Tucker, the makeup artist on “The Elephant Man” who inspired Marino to take up the craft.
Farrell continued, “Things are ever shifting now in a business where everything is going towards tech, and I understand that. I’m not like campaigning for pigeons with notes in their talons. But I also notice that there is a kind of edging away from practical makeup and the magic and the artistry and the tactility and the immediacy and the beauty of practical makeup.”
Speaking on existential evolutions within the industry, Marino said, “It takes many thousands of steps to do something so realistic. When you think you know what someone looks like in your mind and then you want to see it come to life, it’s a huge task. We’re in time when AI can create basically anything convincingly right now. That does make it a substitute for human creativity. If we want to protect the soul of filmmaking, we have to protect the people who make it.”
The IndieWire Honors event took place at NeueHouse in Hollywood on Thursday, June 5. Other honorees for the evening included Ben Stiller, Owen Cooper, Julianne Nicholson, Kathy Bates, and more.
