It looks like Colin Farrell‘s version of Oswald Cobblepot will be lacking one of his many signatures in the upcoming The Batman film. In the comics, the character has often been portrayed smoking a cigarette or even a cigar at times, but it seems that Warner Bros. won’t allow the portrayal of the character with it. In an interview with Jake’s Takes, he revealed that he fought quite a bit to get his character to smoke in the film, but his requests were always turned down.
Big studios make big decisions around such thing as the presence of cigarettes in films. I fought valiantly for a cigar. At one stage I said, ‘I can have it unlit! Just let me have it unlit.’ They were like, ‘No.’ [As if] a bunch of 12 year olds are going to start smoking Cuban cigars because [the Penguin is smoking cigars in a movie.]Colin Farrell
They aren’t the only ones that have set a smoking ban in their productions, as Disney famously made the decision back in 2007. They even extended it to their other subsidiaries – sorry Wolverine fans, no cigar for him – and are quite strict on it. To be fair, Farrell’s upcoming version of Cobblepot seems closer to a gangster version of the character that is only now on his path to embracing the Penguin identity. So, we’ll see what the future has in store for the character and if he at least gets his iconic hat.
Source: Jake’s Takes via Variety
