Ever since its premiere on 19th September on HBO, The Penguin has been making a buzz among critics and audiences alike for all the right reasons. The 8-episode miniseries is a spinoff of Mat Reeves’ 2022 superhero film, The Batman, and is set just after the events of the film.
One notable change in the show from the film is the recasting of Mark Strong as Carmine Falcone in place of John Turturro because of the unavailability of the latter.
The show follows Oswald Cobb’s journey into becoming a powerful gangster in Gotham City underworld. Colin Farrell stars as the titular villain from the Batman comics and adopts a tone that is reminiscent of gritty gangster sagas of the likes of The Godfather, Scarface, and even The Sopranos.
Why was Mark Strong recast as Carmine Falcone in The Penguin?
Farrell reprises his role as the disfigured gangster from the 2022 film. Like him, it was expected that all the returning characters would be played by the same actors. However, one crucial character from the film was replaced in the mini-series which made fans curious. Mob boss Carmine Falcone, played by John Turturro in the film, was replaced by Mark Strong in the series.
Although the character dies at the end of the film at the hands of The Riddler, the show features Falcone extensively in flashback scenes. This came as a surprise for audiences and critics alike, since the character and Turturro’s performance in the film was duly appreciated for its realistic shades.
When asked about the reason behind the replacement, showrunner Lauren LeFranc mentioned in a recent IGN interview that it was purely due to scheduling conflicts( presumably because of the shooting of Severance season 2, the much applauded Apple Sci-fi thriller) and there’s no bitterness involved. LeFranc pointed out:
"Well, practically, John was just unavailable to us. He had scheduling conflicts, and we couldn't make it work…"
However, she was optimistic about Mark Strong’s performance as the dreaded crime lord and hoped that the fans liked him:
"…but I feel like the gravitas that Mark brings, it's different. It's very specific, and I hope, by the end of that episode, you're just thinking, 'That's Carmine Falcone,' and you're engaged in what Mark brings to it."
Who is Carmine Falcone?
The character of Carmine Falcone was created by writer-artist duo Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli in the now iconic comic Batman: Year One in 1987, where he was nicknamed ‘The Roman’ and was said to be inspired by Vito Corleone in The Godfather.
Before Strong and Turturro, in live action, Falcone was played by John Doman in the Fox Series Gotham and by Tom Wilkinson in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins.
Fan perspective on Falcone being recast in The Penguin
As the first episode dropped, fans were quick enough to notice the casting change and expressed their opinion on various social media platforms. A reddit user named Professional-Rip-519 noticed an interesting pattern in all the live action Batman franchises in the DC-Cinematic subreddit where a major actor has been replaced.
The user mentioned the casting of Tommy Lee Jones from Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent/Two Face in Batman Forever and that of Maggie Gyllenhaal from Katie Holmes in The Dark Knight as Rachel Dawes.
Regarding Strong’s casting, however, responses on social media platforms have been mostly positive and users have applauded Strong’s acting. Although, many were upset about Turturro’s unavailability.
Interestingly, as pointed out by reddit users, mrrahulkurup, and swindude, this is Strong’s fourth role in DC live action properties after the Shazam! films, Stardust and Green Lantern.
It will be exciting to see how Strong fits the universe of The Penguin envisioned by executive producer and writing supervisor Matt Reeves and showrunner Lauren LeFranc.
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The first episode of The Penguin can be streamed on HBO.
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