The Batman Reboot Casting Thread - Part 6

[Gamma Goliath]

It'd be pretty interesting to see an impsosing penguin. Imo

 

[regwec]

In the same way that it would be interesting to see a weakling Bane?

I am all for thoughtful reassessment of these characters, but inverting their essential nature is pointless, in my opinion. Just use a character which already has the traits you are attempting to graft on.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

No, not in the same way at all. I'd prefer the characters to look as intended, but a tall large penguin isnt something I'd be entirely against. Just as people had accepted gothams penguin.

 

[Rorschach2012]

Penguin should be an unimposing snitch in the new series. Batman allows him to operate in exchange for information.

 

[regwec]

No, not in the same way at all. I'd prefer the characters to look as intended, but a tall large penguin isnt something I'd be entirely against. Just as people had accepted gothams penguin.

Who are "people"?

Penguin should be an unimposing snitch in the new series. Batman allows him to operate in exchange for information.

At his core, The Penguin is a walking inferiority complex. Making him physically "imposing" kicks the legs from underneath that.

 

[Rorschach2012]

I don't necessarily prefer a British Penguin, but Timothy Spall would be perfect for Arkhamverse Penguin

 

[Rodrigo90]

Game fans and professional critics, I'm guessing?

Toby Jones would be the ideal Penguin.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

Who are "people"?



At his core, The Penguin is a walking inferiority complex. Making him physically "imposing" kicks the legs from underneath that.

there are some people. Never said a lot of people, or people here on the hype.

I wouldn't want a penguin that isnt a short, fat, squabbling, sniveling joke of a man. And I'm not refuting that he should be that way. I never said it'd be cool to have a big penguin; I never said it'd be bad, i just said it'd be interesting.

 

[Enriquespy]

Who are "people"?

Humans. Mostly.

 

[regwec]

I am, perhaps, a bit fussy about The Penguin, because I think he is a brilliant character and a key component of Batman's rogues, but often misunderstood.

I also think he needs to be American. He is the polar opposite of a cockney thug; he ought to be a man with vast, brittle social pretensions. That is key to him being so paranoid and vengeful- he knows he is just a fat, corrupt little man in the very perilous position between "society" and the mean streets.

Toby Jones remains a very good choice. Eddie Marsan is a fabulous actor who looks perfect; I'm just not sure how good he is with accents, though he can shift between East London and North Yorkshire pretty well.

 

[Matt Mortem]

Eddie Marsan would be a great choice for Penguin. I kinda liked the cockney thing they did with Penguin in the Arkham games and I think Marsan could pull that off.

 

[NotSoLongAgo]

Michael Mando for Zsaz

 

[Eddie Dean]

Eddie Marsan's american accent in Miami Vice is... not good.

 

[Boom]

How about Dean Norris?

 

[regwec]

Eddie Marsan's american accent in Miami Vice is... not good.

Really? That's a shame, but I would still retain hope that he could achieve something stellar with the time to develop the character in his own direction.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

Michael Mando for Zsaz

How about Theo Rossi for Zsaz? He's also my pick for scorpion in a spiderman movie. But he'd kill it as Zsaz too.

 

[Rodrigo90]

The Penguin doesn't have to be British. But I feel it adds a bit of diversity.
And there's a British aura around him. Like he belongs on the Conservative Party (though I am a supporter of them )

 

[Gamma Goliath]

Eddie Marsan would be a great choice for Penguin. I kinda liked the cockney thing they did with Penguin in the Arkham games and I think Marsan could pull that off.

Thats funny because in Arkham Knight you can hear street thugs gossiping about penguin faking his accent so he could sound tough. Saying he wasnt even British and his family came up in Gotham.

 

[regwec]

The Penguin doesn't have to be British. But I feel it adds a bit of diversity.
And there's a British aura around him. Like he belongs on the Conservative Party (though I am a supporter of them )

Sure, but that's all aspiration. He's like the Frasier Crane of crime.

Speaking of Cranes, I am really beginning to feel Michael Cera as Scarecrow.

 

[Astro13Zombie]

Jackie Earle Haley for Zsasz
He's my number one choice for the character.

 

[Rodrigo90]

Sure, but that's all aspiration. He's like the Frasier Crane of crime.

Speaking of Cranes, I am really beginning to feel Michael Cera as Scarecrow.

It works into his overall theme; he wants to be seen as something greater, in order to gain notoriety in the criminal underworld, and to gain respect from the high-class social circles.
But I'm not really into hearing the Arkham cockney accent, nor the faking of it to fit with his aspirational characterization quirk.
I would prefer Penguin to actually be a genuine Brit for the film.
His revamp from the animated series, while nothing spectacular, I loved it.

That's the way I would envision him. Not that grotesque and angry little hunchback from the Arkham games, who pathetically fakes an accent. I loved that interpretation for what it is, don't get me wrong, I would just love it more so if it stayed where it is, and that's in the Arkham series. Penguin is a gentleman of crime, not a thug. Though that is sort of being lost these days.

Between two actors, say for example - Ray Winstone and Toby Jones. Between those two, as we know, I'd pick Jones. Because he's the better representation of how close I'd want an actor to be, with all of his traits, for the Penguin.
Thanks to the Arkham games, fans want angry. I want cool.
Fans want a rough public school. I want Oxford.
Fans want cockney. I want posh.
Fans want grotesque. I want pitiful.
The differences end now. Fans want a monster from their preferred background and physical preferences. I also want a monster from my preferred background and physical preferences

 

[DOBSON10]

I lean more towards the Cockney side. He doesn't need any particular accent for me but I do want him to be more ruthless than pathetic. The Wilson Fisk storyline from the Daredevil Netflix show is a similar take to what I want to see. Years of being overlooked, tormented and pitiful make the Penguin become a vicious angry Mob Boss type. I've just always preferred villains to be villains, mean, angry at the world, heartless types. Not that every villain should be that way, they literally can't all be that way but overall I just don't really care all that much for sympathetic villains. It makes them feel less threatening to me, it's just not my cup of tea.

I would be so disappointed if they went with someone like Toby Jones, nothing against him but that's not how I'm hoping to see the Penguin portrayed. The sniveling little weasel Penguin just doesn't interest me at all.

That's why my choice for Penguin is definitely Ray Winstone. He has the acting traits to play the character as the Mob Boss Owner of the Iceberg Lounge, the Godfather type of character that molded himself from being the pathetic sad sack type into a powerful Criminal Kingpin.

 

[Rodrigo90]

I would say the Arkham Penguin is the worst offender for being a snivelling coward. His hard front is nothing but a complete sham, and it makes him look humorously ridiculous when he's begging for mercy upon capture. He's psychopathic, but he's not in the least bit way intimidating because of his pathetic fakery and uncontrollable childish temper tantrums.
Wilson Fisk, he's a scary mofo. He keeps his anger and darkness contained inside a (just about) controlled, gentlemanly facade.
His strength, size and stature also helps outweigh against Penguin's level of intimidation. That's the physicality aspect. If Fisk from Daredevil was portrayed in the same way as Penguin from the Arkham games, I'd be wondering, as I do with the games; "Why in the hell are these people working for this sad, angry, little toad"?
Because that's all he is. All I can boil it down to is his connections and making money because of them. He's not intimidating because of the characterization, as opposed to his physical appearance.
He's sad and pathetic, bordering pitiful.

Wilson Fisk is literally a giant in both body and soul. That's why people follow him. His temper and hate only erupts in the latter towards defeat. Arkham's Penguin shows those qualities 24/7, along with one of the most insecure personalities in existence, which simply displays constant weakness to everyone in his vicinity.
But of course his thugs in the Arkham games are that thick, that they only just now, in 2015, realise he's faking his accent...

He can be cockney, he can portrayed by Ray Winstone. Just as long as he's not like that Arkham interpretation.

However, I still stand by the posh, snooty, aristocratic, sociopathic David Cameron idea, played by Toby Jones

 

[regwec]

I would prefer Penguin to actually be a genuine Brit for the film.
His revamp from the animated series, while nothing spectacular, I loved it.

That's the way I would envision him. Not that grotesque and angry little hunchback from the Arkham games, who pathetically fakes an accent. I loved that interpretation for what it is, don't get me wrong, I would just love it more so if it stayed where it is, and that's in the Arkham series. Penguin is a gentleman of crime, not a thug. Though that is sort of being lost these days.

Between two actors, say for example - Ray Winstone and Toby Jones. Between those two, as we know, I'd pick Jones. Because he's the better representation of how close I'd want an actor to be, with all of his traits, for the Penguin.
Thanks to the Arkham games, fans want angry. I want cool.
Fans want a rough public school. I want Oxford.
Fans want cockney. I want posh.
Fans want grotesque. I want pitiful.
The differences end now. Fans want a monster from their preferred background and physical preferences. I also want a monster from my preferred background and physical preferences

I agree with all of that, but he was not British in the animated series. He had that faintly transatlantic lilt of stereotypical WASP Americans, but he was still American. Hamill's Joker was somewhat similar.

 

[Rodrigo90]

Didn't Burgess Meredith also provide a similar transatlantic accent? I think he did. That's what they might have been trying to imitate when he first appeared in TAS, only with Danny DeVito's look. Then, as the Penguin became a businessman, they toned down the grotesque and he became more inspired by Meredith.
The Arkham games lean more towards DeVito, and that, combined with the cockney accent, makes for an enjoyable, but unpleasant interpretation. It's too much for live-action I think.

I do agree, based on his aspirations, he should speak with the transatlantic accent. He should be making the impression that he's mixed with London's elite, not London's thugs.
Then, to see that stripped away, by this brutality, it's a more frightening experience I can imagine.