Batman star John Turturro reveals why he turned down role in hit spin-off The Penguin

Hollywood star John Turturro reveals why he refused to star in The Batman spin-off The Penguin alongside an unrecognisable Colin Farrell.

The Batman star John Turturro has revealed why he opted out of reprising his role in the HBO spin-off series The Penguin.

“I did what I wanted to with the role,” Turturro, 67, told Variety.

“In the show, there was a lot of violence toward women, and that’s not my thing,” he added.

Mark Strong will play the mafia don on the show, which airs locally on BINGE.

In the 2022 movie, Robert Pattinson starred as Batman while Colin Farrell played Oz Cobb, aka the Penguin, and Turturro played crime boss Carmine Falcone.

John Turturro did not want to reprise his role as Carmine Falcone in The Penguin. Picture: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for FLC

Turturro played the crime boss in the 2022 movie The Batman. Picture: Warner Bros.

“It happens off-screen,” Turturro said, referring to Falcone’s violence in the movie. “It’s scarier that way.”

The Penguin is a spin-off of The Batman, following Oz (Farrell) as he schemes and double crosses people to ascend in Gotham’s criminal underworld. There’s also a powerful woman crime lord character in the show, Carmine’s daughter Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti).

Stream The Penguin on BINGE, available on Hubbl.

Mark Strong takes over the role in The Penguin series. Picture: HBO

Farrell is unrecognisable on-screen, as his appearance is buried under prosthetics to make Oz appear older, heavier and balding.

“It was such a liberating experience, to be so submerged beneath all that stuff. I felt like I had full permission to just throw paint at the wall,” Farrell told The Post in September.

He added, “But, it was weird to look in the mirror for the first time, and see that looking back.”

As much as Farrell praised the makeup, he also admitted that it got “old by the end of the day.”

Colin Farrell in unrecognisable as The Penguin. Picture: HBO

He continued, “At a certain point in the shoot, I remembered reading something about Jim Carrey losing his sh*t on The Grinch. So, I remember looking up Jim Carrey ‘The Grinch’ interviews, and seeing his quotes, just because it was beginning to get to me, a little bit.”

The Oscar-nominated Banshees of Inisherin star joked, “I remember just almost needing a support group, but knowing it was a cottage industry.”

Turturro said that he also isn’t in The Penguin, because “You can’t do everything you want to,” and he’s also busy with Season 2 of the Apple TV+ thriller Severance, which returns January 17.

The show, which stars Adam Scott, follows employees of the sinister and mysterious Lumon Industries, who participate in a “severance” program where their work memories are separated from their memories of their lives outside the office.

The Penguin stars Lauren LeFranc, Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti attend the New York premiere on September 17. Picture: Theo Wargo/Getty Images

“[The show] was something that I would want to watch as an audience member,” Scott told The Post in 2022.

“It’s this mix of dark humour and satire and thriller and suspense, all with this sinister undercurrent that’s really fun. Just the idea of being at work and not knowing who you are to the outside world, and when you go home, you have no idea what your job is and what you do while you’re there had so many fun possibilities. I had to be a part of that.”

“I didn’t like being in that office — the light there drove me insane,” Turturro told Variety. “I did my second go-round, but I feel like I’ve had a full meal.”

Ben Stiller directs and executive produces the show.

“He’s very demanding, but also brilliant,” Turturro said. “We really grew as collaborators — we learned to trust each other and found the right rhythm. I keep joking to him that we need to remake The Odd Couple or something.”

This article originally appeared in New York Post and was reproduced with permission