10 Movie Castings You Did Not See Coming
7. Colin Farrell As The Penguin In The Batman
With reboots, no matter how different a direction the new version of a story wants to go, what came before will always inform the expectations of what is to come. That is to say that, whatever Matt Reeves was ever going to do with The Batman, the minute the Penguin was mentioned, minds would automatically go to the typical appearance of the character.
The most comic-accurate classic on-screen look for the Penguin has come from Burgess Meredith in the 1966 series, and of course Danny DeVito in Batman Returns. Though Robin Lord Taylor's portrayal in Gotham looked to subvert expectations, Matt Reeves took his version of the character even further.
At one point, Josh Gad was the favourite to take the villainous role opposite Robert Pattinson, before the surprising casting of Colin Farrell was ultimately announced. Farrell is no stranger to great villains, but the fact that he is an annoyingly handsome man would have seemingly disqualified him from consideration for Oswald Cobblepot straight away.
Of course, we know now that this has gone on to be one of the best casting choices in recent years, as the Penguin stole every scene he was in, and led one of the best TV shows of the year in 2024. He didn't even need to look a thing like Colin Farrell to do it.