“I nearly had an accident in my pants”: the on-set prank that left Colin Farrell in need of new underwear
The latest instalment in Matt Reeve’s Gotham City, which he established in The Batman, is finally upon us. The Penguin sees Colin Farrell reprise his rendition of the Tony Soprano-esque titular character first seen in the 2022 reboot of The Caped Crusader, which saw Robert Pattinson take over the mantle of the cowl.
Farrell’s take on the would-be crime boss, once portrayed by Danny Devito in 1992’s Batman Returns, was a standout portrayal in a film stacked with new interpretations of comic book characters we’ve seen time and again. Donning a gruelling three hours’ worth of prosthetics for the role of Oz Cobb was certainly helpful for the transformative performance Farrell gives us, but the man beneath The Penguin has been giving us his all for his storied career. From his early work at the start of the 2000s with roles like that of Jesse James in 2001’s American Outlaws through to an Oscar-nominated role in the incredible The Banshees Of Inisherin in 2022, Farrell delivers transformative roles, whether physically or not.
After breakthrough roles in Minority Report and Alexander in the early 2000s, Farrell would work with renowned director Michael Mann on an adaptation of the 1980s television show Miami Vice. This role would give Farrell the opportunity to flex some of his leading man muscles alongside Jamie Foxx and see more of the world he was portraying.
Recounting a week he spent running scenarios with undercover cops that Mann had arranged for the two actors to have as research for their portrayals of detectives who go undercover to bust drug trafficking operations, Farrell talks about a time the trust he had built up with the real-life detectives was used to pull a pretty convincing prank.
“There was one particular day when they were buying 40 kilos of cocaine from a bunch of Columbians who they’d established a relationship with,” says Farrell, having spent about a week with the undercover police, that had gone “swimmingly”.
“They added that nothing bad would happen because they had formed a relationship with these guys,” he added. “So I went along, and to cut a long story short, the shit hit the fan.”
Farrell explains that guns were pulled in a fake clash that left him feeling “so scared”. “I nearly had an accident in my pants,” jokes Farrell, but despite finding out the next day that it wasn’t a real situation, Farrell did say that it was a useful experience as it gave him “the real sensation and the real emotional effect of what it would be like to be in that environment when something goes awry’. Even if it did also leave him feeling like a “plonker”.
