Cristin Milioti, Sofia Falcone from ‘The Penguin,’ Talks Catwoman Obsession and Her Unique Approach to the Role

If you’re tuning in to HBO’s The Penguin—and nearly everyone is—you’re likely aware that, alongside Colin Farrell’s standout performance as The Penguin, Cristin Milioti’s portrayal of Sofia Falcone is one of the series’ highlights.

Milioti has received acclaim for her role as the female lead, consistently stealing the scene whenever she appears.

Fans are embracing her dark and complex interpretation of Sofia, a character who could easily fit into any top-tier mafia drama, such as The Sopranos or Boardwalk Empire. Given this enthusiasm, it’s no surprise that interest in Milioti’s character is soaring, and we’ve come across an engaging interview worth sharing.

In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Cristin Milioti opened up about her role in The Penguin and her past obsession with Catwoman. The interview also features comments from showrunner Lauren LeFranc, who had nothing but praise for Milioti’s performance and approach to the character.

Regardless of your perspective on her, Cristin Milioti is actually a passionate comic book fan. While her acting background might not suggest this, the actress has shared that she auditioned for several comic book projects prior to The Penguin but faced rejection each time.

I tested for a bunch of different ones. They weren’t interested,” Milioti remarks. “I was never precious about it. I think that’s also what’s maybe such a pleasure about getting older is that I am so glad I didn’t get any of those. I got to do it eventually and in a way that feels right for me. I know that I wasn’t right for those other ones.

In this context, she went on to share that her passion for comic books began in 1992 after watching Michelle Pfeiffer in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns.

I’m sure that performance is always somewhere [in my head] in the way that all those performances that you watch as a kid, that are so meaningful for you, take up permanent residence. I was 7 when Batman Returns came out and I saw it in theaters. It terrified me, but I also wanted to put it directly into my veins.

She also revealed that, as a child, she once dressed up as Catwoman for Halloween, further illustrating her obsession with the character.

I remember the costume came with these little push-on plastic, very flimsy nails. I would wait at the bottom of my driveway every day just rocking [back and forth] being like, ‘Is it today?’ I wore it for Halloween, yes, but then I wore it constantly. I would come home from school and put it on and just freak out.

Naturally, this passion translated into her portrayal of Sofia Falcone, a character to whom Milioti feels a deep connection.

I have been obsessed with this role since the moment I signed on. hey shared the first four episodes with me before we started filming. (…) For sure when I read that [Episode 4], my heart exploded. (…) You fully get to see her go from who she used to be to a full-blown villain.

To get to do all that in one hour, I was beside myself. It’s like a movie. You get to see her in all those different stages of how she’s pushed to madness.

If you think this is just Milioti’s perspective, showrunner Lauren LeFranc echoed her sentiments, praising Milioti and her approach to the role.

She’s so charming, so it makes sense that she gets a lot of romantic-comedy-esque roles or a quirky version of them, but she’s such a tremendous dramatic actress, too. I really think she transformed Sofia in my head. I never pictured anyone when I was writing her, and then once Cristin came in and had her first scenes, I was like, ‘Oh, this is completely correct.’ Sofia starts as a character who is a little bit of a cipher.

You don’t understand what happened to her. You don’t understand what her agenda fully is. You just know that she throws Oz off, and there’s power in throwing a guy like Oz off because he’s not easily thrown.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

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