Craig Zobel Discusses How ‘The Penguin’ Enhances the PG-13 Rating of ‘The Batman’: “Yeah, the truth was that it didn’t limit us”

When Colin Farrell was cast as Oswald Cobb, a.k.a. The Penguin, in Matt Reeves’ The Batman, many fans were skeptical about how he would interpret the character.

However, the Irish Oscar nominee delivered such an impressive performance that HBO immediately greenlit a standalone series centered on The Penguin, with Farrell reprising his role. The show has been hailed as a masterpiece, which is why we’re diving into it now.

To further explore the series’ lore and provide more insights about the show, we discovered an intriguing interview with director Craig Zobel, conducted by ScreenRant. In this interview, he addressed several captivating questions about the show’s development, and in this article, we’ll share his insights.

The interview was conducted as part of the promotional efforts for the series premiere, and Zobel shared some intriguing insights about the show. One question addressed how the series responded to The Batman‘s PG-13 rating and how it aimed to elevate that experience. Here’s what Zobel had to say:

I wanted to talk about how The Batman’s PG-13, but the series is definitely a hard TV-MA. What kind of freedom did you have from your perspective as a director, by not having to be so restricted?

Craig Zobel: Yeah, the truth was that it didn’t limit us. There was no pause to try to peel back and make the PG-13 version, like ‘This would be a really great move. Can we do it?’ There wasn’t really that debate.

I wouldn’t say that we were trying to make it incredibly R-rated in any particular way or going hard other than that was just sort of like, this is was the way that we were able to have the kind of most impactful beats and moments. And, yeah, it was freeing in that way.

Are there any hidden details in those first few episodes that you’re, like, really, just really proud of, some cool elements that you want viewers to look out for?

Craig Zobel: I think that there are hidden things and certainly if you think about The Penguin and what you know of that character, not Colin Farrell’s Oz, but The Penguin as a character, there are all these iconographic elements . The initial thought was like, don’t do any of those. Don’t do anything. That is like the old stories. We’re making something new.

But, you kind of have to look at yourself and be like, well, he probably would use an umbrella if it’s raining this bad. That became sort of a bit of a game to kind of how do we very subtly over the course of the series, and we talked about it for, like, you know, maybe by episode seven, this could happen, and by episode eight, this could happen, where we started bringing some of those kind of the icons of what it means to be The Penguin inside this universe.

Source: ScreenRant

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