Oswald Cobblepot (Batman Returns) performer Danny DeVito
Oswald Cobblepot, also known as the Penguin, is a fictional character in the 1992 film Batman Returns, directed by Tim Burton. Portrayed by Danny DeVito, the character is adapted from the comic book supervillain of the same name. To match the darker tone of the film, this depiction of the Penguin is as a "freak of nature", with webbed, flipper-like fingers, a hooked, beak-like nose, and a penguin-like body, and was raised by penguins in Gotham City's condemned zoo after being abandoned by his wealthy parents as a baby. When he resurfaces years later as an adult, he tries to become a hero in the public's eyes and run for mayor, while secretly plotting to kill all of Gotham's firstborn sons.
The drastic shift in the Penguin's characterization from an elegant crime boss to a psychopathic politician with an animal-like appearance was met with mixed reactions from fans and critics, but DeVito's portrayal was largely praised. This version of the Penguin inspired the character's depiction in other works, such as Batman: The Animated Series and The Batman, mostly in terms of appearance.Background
After the success of Batman, Tim Burton agreed to direct the sequel for Warner Bros. on the condition that he would be granted total control. The result was Batman Returns, which featured Michael Keaton returning as Batman, and a new triad of villains: Danny DeVito (as the Penguin), Michelle Pfeiffer (as Catwoman) and Christopher Walken (as Max Shreck, an evil corporate tycoon and original character created for the film).
Danny DeVito was suggested for the role by his friend Jack Nicholson after the financial success of the first film, in which Nicholson played the Joker. According to DeVito, "It was four-and-a-half hours of makeup and getting into the costume. We got it down to three hours by the end of the shoot". Dustin Hoffman was originally the first choice to play the Penguin, but he declined. Apart from Hoffman, Marlon Brando, John Candy, Bob Hoskins, Rowan Atkinson, Ralph Waite, Dean Martin, Dudley Moore, Alan Rickman, John Goodman, Phil Collins, Charles Grodin, Christopher Lee, Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Rocco and Christopher Lloyd were all considered for the part before DeVito got it.Sam Hamm originally wrote a sequel script to the original Batman, which had Catwoman teaming up with the Penguin to go after hidden treasure, but screenwriter Daniel Waters reworked her characterization after Burton brought him in to pen a new screenplay for the film.Director Tim Burton hired Wesley Strick to do an uncredited rewrite. Strick recalled, "When I was hired to write Batman Returns (Batman II at the time), the big problem of the script was the Penguin's lack of a 'master plan'." Warner Bros. presented Strick with warming, or freezing Gotham City, a plot point they would later use in Batman & Robin. Strick gained inspiration from a Moses parallel that had the Penguin killing the firstborn sons of Gotham. A similar notion was used when the Penguin's parents threw him into a river as a baby.While this Penguin retained many trademarks, such as his top hat, a variety of trick umbrellas and the use of a monocle, he was given a dramatic visual makeover. Where the comic version varies between a balding head of short cropped hair and varying degrees of thinning, this Penguin is still bald at the top but with his remaining length of hair long and stringy. His hands are flippers with a thumb and index finger, and the remaining three fingers fused together. An unidentified thick, dark green bile-like liquid sometimes trickles from his nose and mouth. Instead of a tuxedo, he wears a more gothic, Victorian-style outfit with a jabot as opposed to a bow tie. In certain scenes, he also wears black boots, a dickey, and a union suit. However, Burton's design maintained the top hat seen in the comics along with a monocle and a cigarette in some scenes. He also has penguin-like appetites, as shown in a scene where he devours a raw fish, and uses a vehicle shaped like a giant rubber duck to move around the sewers and the city.
Tim Burton, inspired by the film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, re-imagined the character not as an eloquent gentleman of crime, but a deformed, psychopathic, crude and infanticidal killer who holds a homicidal grudge against the aristocrats of Gotham City.
For the Japanese-dubbed versions of the film, the Penguin was respectively voiced by Ben Hiura, Tarō Ishida, and Takayuki Sugō in the home media, TV Asahi, and WOWOW editions, while Giorgio Lopez provided the Italian language voice of the Penguin and Uday Sabnis provided the Hindi voice.