In a world of shared universes and cross-media franchises, many a studio executive has dreamed of a hit that goes from movies to television — or vice versa.
And while the ambition may be there, execution is a whole other thing. Making one good thing is hard enough. But two related good things in different formats?
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You’ve gotta be joking.
That’s what made HBO’s The Penguin such a coup. Not only did it carry over the audience from Matt Reeves‘ hit The Batman, but it deepened the characterization of Colin Farrell‘s Oz Cobb, this universe’s gangster-tinged take on the titular Gotham villain.
And according to showrunner Lauren LeFranc, that was no coincidence. The writer and producer, who has a ton of experience across genre series like Chuck and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., spoke with Gold Derby as a part of the “Meet the Experts” Emmys showrunners panel about how diving into character is what makes even the most fantastical worlds come to life.
“No matter what world or what genre, I’m making sure that those characters feel real and human and flawed and compelling,” LeFranc said. “The characters, especially in television with longform storytelling, is the most important part.”
But that kind of specificity of characters, according to LeFranc, requires a specificity of tone in order to understand the world that they inhabit. In the case of The Penguin, Oz’s world was a relatively grounded one for a Batman title.
“Obviously, there are different iterations of Gotham City,” she said. “Danny DeVito‘s Penguin, for instance, is so incredible, but it’s very fantastical. And we weren’t doing that. We were really a crime drama, a character-forward drama of this man who is a little larger than life because gangsters are.”
LeFranc had the benefit of working in conversation with The Batman, which she first read as a script when considering the project. But on the page, there wasn’t much Oz. Her perspective changed, though, once Reeves showed her 40 minutes of the film and she saw Farrell in his full prosthetics for the first time. “It was really inspiring,” she said. “I’ve never been in a situation or don’t think I ever will be again where I’m writing for someone who I know is Colin, who I know is exceptionally talented, but I don’t picture him. I picture a man that doesn’t actually exist, but to me he does.”
So LeFranc had a characterization and a performance, but once it was time to write the limited series, she had to start digging. “Who is this man psychologically?” she asked herself. “What does he want? What does he fear? I knew this was a rise to power story. My one mandate was by the end, he has to achieve a level of power to go into the second film. But for me, I’m like, well, what’s power mean, right? It changes depending on who you are and why you want it. And so that’s where I started to create [Oz’s mother,] Francis and root it in his desire to please her and that they have a very twisted relationship and really started to build out the world from there.”
This article and video are presented by HBO Max.
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