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When makeup designer Mike Marino first designed the look, Farrell went through an eight-hour transformation. Nearly a dozen experts – handling hair, teeth, hands and other visible elements – worked on him.

“It was one of the most magic days I’ve had in 25 years of working as an actor,” Farrell says. “I was so giddy with excitement. I couldn’t believe I was getting done up to be the Penguin.”

For the film – which brought Marino an Oscar nomination – experts were able to get the transformation down to a more manageable three hours.

“It was just magic time for me because the makeup crew were a bunch of misfits,” Farrell says. “They’re all coloring their hair, tattoos everywhere, piercings, and the sweetest-spirited people and brilliant artists across the board. I felt like the circus was in town every morning that I stepped into the makeup trailer.”

As soon as the pros started work, Farrell hit the script and started thinking about the scenes that were coming. “It never felt like three hours. It always felt like two hours and 57 minutes. It really was an additive experience for me.”

The look, Marino says, was based on filmmaker Matt Reeves’ concept for “The Batman.” “He wanted Oz to be a sympathetic person who wanted more out of his life – similar to John Cazale in ‘The Godfather’ as Fredo. I had mentioned some ‘30s gangsters, some ‘50s gangsters, mob people, and then I had the idea of looking at birds -- how do I incorporate any of that type of information, subliminally, into this face?”

Key to the change: Masking Farrell’s trademark eyebrows, then transforming his nose.

“I gave this subliminal aspect of a beak in the shape of the nostril being like a bird’s mouth,” Marino says. “All these things, layered on top of one another, created this strange new person that doesn’t exist.”

Farrell says Oz Cobb (the Penguin’s name in this version) reminds viewers of a number of characters – Dustin Hoffman in “Midnight Cowboy,” Robert De Niro in “The Untouchables,” James Gandolfini in “The Sopranos.”

Farrell says that may be true, since “anything you ever see, any piece of music you ever hear, it all kind of meets you inside in a place that gets used. It gets filtered through every single character you do in lesser or greater ways.”

When the Oscar nominee read the script for “The Batman,” he didn’t know what he could bring to it – or how he would look.

When he talked to Reeves, he expressed his hesitation and admitted he had just finished a project which required him to gain 50 or 60 pounds. Reeves thought he looked great for the Penguin. Farrell wasn’t convinced. He told him to rethink the concept because “I’m dropping pounds now…I’ve got to get healthy again.”

They settled on the idea of wearing a body suit and then looked at the concept drawings Marino had done.

“I was confused by this creation: ‘Who’s that?’ But it also spoke to me so clearly. It spoke of a sense of history, a sense of threat, a sense of violence. There was kind of something sorrowful to the visage as well. It was just so complex.”

For the television series, “The Penguin,” writer/producer Lauren LaFranc has created a “Gotham without Batman” story that plays off Reeves’ creation. “We want this to feel very grounded,” she says. “We want it to be a crime drama. But it’s also a little bit wilder, a little more energetic.”

For the 48-year-old actor, the look is the jumping off point. It affects his voice, his walk, his attitude.

To make long days bearable, producers created a tent they called “the igloo” where Farrell could go between takes. It was filled with three industrial air conditioners, a chair and a vanity mirror.

“I would sit in the chair and be bored and just stare into space,” the actor says. “And then I’d leave messages for my kids (in the Penguin’s voice).” The Farrell kids weren’t impressed. “I’m sure they liked the first one but then, ‘Here it is again?’” He shakes his head. “I did that to just keep myself going and stave off the boredom.”

As soon as a day’s shoot was over, Farrell was ready for the makeup to come off.

“It was a 45-minute removal and by the end of it, the relief…was great. It was like a birth. You were being born back to yourself.”

To help him find Colin again, Farrell would go back to his hotel room and watch Pixar movies. “I had to watch light stuff. I wouldn’t watch any dark material.”

"The Penguin" begins Sept. 19 on Max.