Stan Winston School blog: Creating the Penguin

[The Laughing Fish]

I was curious to learn more about the make-up, prosthetics and body suit designs for the Penguin that Stan Winston worked on, and I found this blog.

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/batman-returns-the-penguin-danny-devito-makeup

It's a great read that details the challenges and inspirations Winston and his FX team had while creating Burton's Penguin, while keeping DeVito's face as recognisable as possible.

Interesting fact: Winston admitted to taking some inspiration from The Wiz movie he worked on, in order to create Penguin's nose.

Winston sculpted a more complex Penguin look in clay. "The initial concept was just a pointy nose," Winston said, "but I wasn't really happy with that. So I got my hands back in the clay, which I love, and started playing with the look myself. Years ago, for The Wiz, I had created crow characters with enormous beak faces, which involved whole forehead and brow appliances. I'd always loved that design; and, although crows had nothing to do with penguins, I felt that I could use a similar concept for the Penguin. That turned out to be the look that was selected."

Gotta love some of the concept art and photos behind the scenes in the Penguin's creation right here.









Love it or hate it, you can't deny the Burtonesque Penguin design was creative. We'll never see anything like it again.

They simply don't make it like they used to, when it comes to practical effects in blockbusters. When Winston worked on the first Iron Man back in 2008, he and his team had the constructed the suits for Downey and stunt actors to wear, as opposed to the constant reliance on motion capture for CGI rendering nowadays.  The only exception that sticks out in my mind was the Killer Croc make-up and prosthetic design for Suicide Squad.

[The Laughing Fish]

This article made me curious to see how make-up artists create their own Penguin prosthetics. I found these videos on YouTube.

Some of these tutorials sound pretty risky. The second video recommended to remove the facial appliances very carefully after use, or else you'll risk ripping off the skin! Ouch! 

[The Laughing Fish]

I found this rare BTS video of a short actor wearing this suit to imitate one of Cobblepot's pet penguins. That must've been really uncomfortable to wear.

No doubt this actor would've performed as one of the pallbearers dumping Cobblepot's body into the water.

[thecolorsblend]

I found this rare BTS video of a short actor wearing this suit to imitate one of Cobblepot's pet penguins. That must've been really uncomfortable to wear.

No doubt this actor would've performed as one of the pallbearers dumping Cobblepot's body into the water.

My understanding is that real penguins were used a lot on set while a lot of dummies were used in certain shots and midgets in costumes filled in when the penguins had to do specific actions, hit certain marks, etc.

Believe it or not, there are also CGI penguins in the bit where they all dive head first into the water. I assume the penguins moving around and stopping in Gotham Plaza are also CGI but that's not based on anything.

Point being that penguin performances were crafted in BR using pretty much every possible method that I'm aware of. And yes, including performers in costumes.

[The Joker]

Recent video of previously unreleased BTS footage of Danny Devito's Penguin as surfaced.

https://twitter.com/EpicFilmGuys/status/1736765953419964580

[The Laughing Fish]

Cheers for that Joker, that's a great find! My favourite shot from that video is DeVito and Burton laughing at the sight of the naked Penguin body suit. 

Recently I spoke about the Penguin not wearing the monocle and I thought it was because his portrayal in Returns isn't very aristocratic. But as explained in the video, the practical reason may be due to prolonged wear would've affected the makeup and DeVito's facial expressions.