Margot Robbie says Matt Reeves blocked Penguin from ‘Birds of Prey': “So we swapped it”

Colin Farrell won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy for his portrayal of Oz Cobb, also known as the Penguin, the classic Batman villain, in his 2024 series. However, the character nearly made her DC Universe debut years earlier. Margot Robbie, Farrell's DC counterpart and an actor who has portrayed the psychotic Harley Quinn in multiple films, revealed that Penguin nearly made an appearance as the primary antagonist in her 2020 film 'Birds of Prey.'Robbie revealed to Entertainment Weekly that Penguin was in the original 'Birds of Prey' script. Robbie and Farrell are currently co-starring in the fantasy romance film 'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.' But Matt Reeves, who executive produced 'The Penguin' and directed and wrote 'The Batman,' stopped 'Birds of Prey' from featuring his antagonist.“In the first draft that Christina [Hodson] wrote of ‘Birds of Prey,’ the villain was the Penguin,” Robbie informed Farrell during their interview with EW. Matt Reeves then pitched, “Don’t use the Penguin. I’m going to use him in my things. And so we swapped it to Black Mask.”In 'Birds of Prey,' Ewan McGregor portrayed Black Mask, another well-known Batman villain. When a stunned Farrell questioned Robbie about Hodson's portrayal of Penguin in the film, Robbie responded that it was "amazing." She added that a copy of the original script is still with her. She said to Farrell, "It's probably on my computer. You could read it.”Following Gunn's earlier defense of the postponements, Reeves and co-writer Mattson Tomlin announced in June that they had completed the script for The Batman Part II, which is scheduled to debut on October 1, 2027, after a year-long delay.Warner Bros. confirmed this month in a letter to its shareholders that work on 'The Batman Part II' will start in the spring.