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| The Penguin |
Author: raleagh
Sat, 17th May 2008 |
| A brief overview of the character |
INTRODUCTION
In DETECTIVE COMICS #58, published in December, 1941, The Penguin waddled into Gotham City for the first time. Batman creator Bob Kane's visual inspiration for the character was "Willy," a cartoon penguin seen in a series of cigarette ads. Translating its appearance Into human terms, Kane rendered The Penguin as a short, fat man with a monocle, dressed in a tuxedo. The artist's admiration for President Franklin Roosevelt probably accounts for the character's long cigarette holder.
Originally a ruthless and brilliant outlaw who didn't hesitate to commit murder, his true identity was unknown. He had many names, the little man told a gang chief before killing him and assuming control of his gang, but The Penguin was the one he preferred. When we did learn his name, it was the same as it is in BATMAN RETURNS - Oswald Cobblepot. The Penguin was eventually depicted as a pleasant, funny man who robbed but didn't kill, and often quoted Shakespeare.
The Penguin of the Golden and Silver Age comics was devious, not freakish, but he did have a lot in common with The Penguin of BATMAN RETURNS. His arsenal of trick umbrellas included models that doubled as rocket guns and one-man helicopters. In one story he temporarily discredited Batman, causing the hero to be pursued by the Gotham City police. He formed alliances with rich and powerful criminals (and usually double-crossed them). Once arrested by Batman at the Gotham City Zoo, The Penguin later escaped from prison using gliding wings (such as Batman uses in the film).
But The Penguin of the comics has always moved freely through Gotham City. A vain character usually surrounded by birds other than penguins, his only freakish feature was his immensely long nose. It remained for BATMAN RETURNS to transform The Penguin into a truly hideous character.
BATMAN vs THE PENGUIN
Bo Welsh says, "They both came from rich families. And they both think of themselves as man-beasts." They both have huge underground headquarters, and depend upon the latest in scientific gadgetry. But the similarities end there. The greatest differences between these two extraordinary individuals are their reasons for their peculiar lifestyles.
As The Penguin says to Batman in the film: "I think you're jealous that I'm a genuine freak, and you have to wear a mask."
Batman exists because young Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered. The Penguin exists because Oswald Cobblepot's parents tried to kill their deformed son. But when Batman removes his costume, he's a handsome millionaire playboy who lives in a huge, warm house, and moves in the highest circles. While Wayne has said that even he isn't sure of what to make of his double life as Batman, The Penguin's confusion is staged. He claims he doesn't like the smell of the sewers, but really dismisses his alter ego - using it only to plot against Gotham City. He tells Shreck he wants to learn his human name, and when he discovers it he denies being anything but a man. "I have a name," he exclaims. "It's Oswald Cobblepot." But when his plan to become the city's mayor is ruined, The Penguin rejects his identity completely, proclaiming: "My name's not Oswald, it's Penguin! I am not a human being! I'm an animal!"
MAN OR BIRD?
"As he emerges from the pack, we see that he wears a grimy coat. Then he flaps down his umbrella, revealing his face for the first time in glory. It is not a penguin but The Penguin."
The insane, twisted Penguin of BATMAN RETURNS is not the pudgy and amusing character of the later comic books. His hatred of the innocent - especially the innocent - gives The Penguin an extra, horrifying dimension. But even while remembering his crimes and planned atrocities, we also pity him.
"The back story of The Penguin makes him sympathetic from the outset, rather than just a villain, a vile character," observes art director Bo Welch. "There's the story of his being born as a hideous penguin-boy in this mansion, kept in an iron playpen, and then discarded, wrapped up in a baby carriage and chucked into the sewers by his parents."
The Penguin - and his more "respectable" identity of Oswald Cobblepot - gain considerable dimension from what has been seen before. De Vito has excelled in finding intrinsic humanity in characters he perceives as having been misunderstood by others.
Remarks Tim Burton about Danny DeVito: "I don't think there's anybody better at making the horrible acceptable. I feel like a real kindred spirit with Danny, and I think we're really creating something that people will see and enjoy as a natural expansion of the comic book character."
"The Penguin is a very intelligent man," declares DeVito, "someone who always wanted acceptance. He's a guy who is living one world in his mind and another as people perceive him. I mean, his parents took a look at him when he was a baby and totally rejected him. But if they tried to understand that there was a human being inside that hideous 'penguin boy,' he might have become another Albert Einsten.
"He could have been nurtured, gone to the best schools, and become a worldly human being," continued the actor. "But from the confines of the Lair in which he was raised and the underworld of characters to which he was exposed, The Penguin became what he is."
True, he could probably have claimed the Cobblepot fortune, but unless he chose to spend a great deal of it on plastic surgery, weight reduction, extensive dental work, and a lot of Lessons in etiquette, he would always have been regarded as a freak.
In fact, The Penguin's physical appearance is so unusual that it took a team of Hollywood's best to create him for the screen.
According to the script, The Penguin was born 40 years ago in Cobblepot Mansion. But he was actually conceived when Tim Burton first explained his concept of The Penguin to Danny De Vito, before production on the film had begun. Intrigued by Burton's enthusiasm, De Vito accepted the role and began a close, creative relationship with the director.
CONCEPTS
It began when Tim Burton drew sketches of the character, and started extensive discussions with key make-up artist Ve Neill, key hair stylist Yolanda Toussieng, and others.
"His first feelings were that The Penguin should be very greasy and slimy," Toussieng recalls. "'Slimy' was the word Tim kept using, since The Penguin has spent a lot of time underground."
The first makeup tests involving Danny DeVito employed a nose fashioned from wax, which was used merely to confirm how the chosen design would change the actor's appearance. De Vito was still working in another movie - a fact that complicated the tests, since it meant that his hair and side-burns could not be changed. His sideburns were waxed down, and makeup was used to cover any unwanted hair.
These experiments satisfied Burton and Neill that they were on the right track.
Guided by Burton's illustrations and ideas, special makeup effects artist Stan Winston sculpted a series of clay designs, from which the director chose his favorite. Based on these tests, and conforming to the design ultimately picked by Burton, Winston's lab created appliances, and working with the director to finalize the colors and shadows of The Penguin's likeness.
MAKE-UP
From the start, the Tim Burton and Ve Neill had an overall idea of his final appearance. Neill suggested a more realistic appearance than the director had in mind. Instead Burton chose to give The Penguin a very pale complexion with dark circles under the eyes - characteristics that Burton had previously used on BEETLEJUICE and EDWARD SCISSORHANDS.
Neill remembers: "We also tried splotches on his forehead to make him look more like a penguin, but these only lasted for a few minutes while we were first painting him. The second time we did the make-up, I just went right to the real pale skin and the dark eyes, and Tim was happy. So that's what we wound up with."
Besides the nose, what's needed to change actor Danny De Vito into his villainous alter ego? According to the key makeup artist: "He has upper and lower teeth, and the nose is actually attached to a brow piece which is also an upper lip, which feathers out onto his cheeks. It's impossible to tell where the appliance starts and stops."
Topping off this work is The Penguin's long, stringy hair. Or, rather, hair pieces fashioned from human hair. According to hairdresser Toussieng: "We put one hair piece in the front, and then about four different ones on his head. Rather than one full wig, we did it in Dieces because it was a little more comfortable for him that way, and because he did already have a receding hairline, we wanted to use that."
Hearing repeated references to his character's having a "slimy" appearance, De Vito agreed with this concept, and a lot of grease was therefore added to The Penguin's hair.
The overall application and coloring of the approved final makeup was the responsibility of Neill and her staff.
At the first makeup sessions, it took more than two hours to transform De Vito's face and hands into those of The Penguin. Frequent repetition of the process eventually shortened this time to an hour and a half.
Throughout the shooting, De Vito helped to minimize his daily makeup ordeal by taking care not to abuse the appliances once the makeup had been applied.
Ve Neill recalls: "The only problem we ever had was that Danny likes to eat pasta for lunch, so occasionally I'd have to glue his mouth back down, because oil will lift up any adhesive."
De Vito views The Penguin as a warped genius - a deformed product of bitterness and bad influences. From that foundation, the character's physical aspects began to take shape each time Danny De Vito's makeup was applied, beginning with early tests.
Key makeup artist Ye Neill recalls: "He would be very quiet, and as soon as he was glued in and I started to paint, you could tell that he was already getting to that nasty little demon that he was supposed to be. He liked it. He was very much into it, really happy to be in that Penguin makeup. He enjoyed it a lot."
Associate Producer Ian Bryce also witnessed the impressive transformation: "He got into it very quickly and very fully. When he arrived in the morning and went into make-up he became The Penguin, and he didn't stop being The Penguin until he got out of make-up at night. He became fully involved in the character from the outset."
The makeup inspired De Vito to create The Penguin's gravelly voice, Bryce remembers: "Even as far back as some of the early fittings you could hear him practicing the voice. He brings to it the effort of restricted breathing, because he (The Penguin) grew up down in the lair where it was cold, and when he gets but of that environment his breathing is very labored. Animalistic noises are also a part of The Penguin history, so his voice is indicative of those traits."
After days of spending most of his time in The Penguin makeup, De Vito felt comfortable in the makeup, and felt sad when the parts of The Penguin's face were peeled off and the meticulously crafted identity began to leave for the night. At times, the actor felt odd seeing his own face in the mirror, instead of the character's. And just as The Penguin stayed with Danny DeVito, it haunts the film's audience as well.
COSTUME
For The Penguin, Bob Ringwood and Mary Vogt not only had to develop the costumes, but also the character's very body shape, which differs radically from that of Danny De Vito. Again, they looked to Tim Burton's conceptual sketches as a foundation.
"We had to create a body and a persona for The Penguin that was in a way repulsive, but also sympathetic," explains Ringwood. "He's an unpleasantly deformed man with penguin- like qualities, like arms that are more like flippers and a roly-poly body."
The costume designers - as well as the hard-working "Bat Shop" crew who would actually create the "body" that Danny De Vito wore underneath his Penguin clothing - were faced with endless technical problems of making all the elements work. "We needed Danny's body suit to move realistically, like real flesh rather than hard rubber," remarks Ringwood. "We also built his shoes in irregular heights, to help Danny walk with that characteristic Penguin waddle."
For the clothes that eventually go on The Penguin's back, Ringwood and Vogt chose a strange, Victorian look that's markedly different from the familiar tuxedo of the comic book. "It's almost like something out of Charles Dickens," declares Ringwood. With his long, fur-collared coat, satin vest, striped pants, white shirt, Edwardian tie and black top hat, The Penguin does give off a distinct air of Dickensian, tattered elegance.
Last edited by raleagh on Wed, 2nd July 2008 at 5:08pm
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