close
close

Jaspercommunityteam

Bite-sized brilliance in every update

    • Penguin’s Rhenzy Feliz on Vic’s final moment
    asane

    Penguin’s Rhenzy Feliz on Vic’s final moment

    Online Niel Posted on

    Rhenzy Feliz and Colin Farrell in penguin Credit – Courtesy of HBO

    Spoiler alert: This piece discusses the ending penguin.

    Rhenzy Feliz didn’t grow up the biggest comic book fan; outside video gameshe only really became exposed to the world of superheroes through Christopher Nolan’s Batman movieswhich were “the coolest thing on the planet” to him. But after his TV debut in the underrated Hulu drama casualFeliz’s biggest opportunities on the small screen have come in the form of shows set in expansive superhero worlds: Marvel’s Runaways and now penguin on HBO.

    In a cast of ruthless mob bosses and psychopathic killers, Feliz’s character stands out: a soft-eyed, stuttering 17-year-old still grieving the family he lost in a flood (thanks to the Riddler from the 2022 film). the batmanwhich was also introduced for the first time Colin Farrell’s iteration of the Penguin in this cinematic world). But over the course of eight episodes, we’ve seen the influence of Farrell’s would-be crime kingpin Oz Cobb transform Victor Aguilar into a more confident, faster version of himself—and a more dangerous one, too. to bad

    TIME spoke with Feliz about acting alongside Farrell, perfecting Vic’s stuttering, and filming that final scene he’s been building up to all season.

    TIME: Colin Farrell is the lead actor you play on the show. How did you develop the chemistry between your characters?

    Feliz: I think Colin and I got lucky. He and I work in a pretty similar way. Victor and Oz also meet for the first time on set and their relationship grows, and that was really like what Colin and I were going through: we met on set and our relationship grew as the show went on. continued. As he and I got closer, so did Vic and Oz, and we got to play with that and use the same feel as in real life.

    Since Colin was wearing prosthetics all the time during filming, did you feel like you were talking to someone else when you talked off set?

    I mostly knew him as Oz. He would mostly use this hybrid accent. Even when he broke into his Irish accent, he had little flashes of Oz. I spoke to Colin’s face maybe less than seven times, six times. Maybe eight or nine now. Whenever I talk to Colin now, he looks at me like we know each other, and we do, but I feel like I’m not looking at the guy I know. I didn’t fully understand until they sent me the episodes. When I saw Oz on camera for the first time, I was kind of shocked and I was like, “Oh my God, this is the guy I’ve been hanging out with for months and months and months. I missed this guy.” It’s a strange thing to put into words.

    He really is unrecognizable, especially with the accent.

    Even beyond the accent and the prosthetics—even down to the mannerisms, the way he moves his face. If Colin is confused, he will make a different face than if Oz is confused. I was able to see it up close and I was in awe the whole time, but seeing it as an audience member is when I was able to take it all in.

    Feliz și Farrell în <i>The Penguin</i><span class="drepturi de autor">Courtesy of HBO</span>” data-src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Op2AyMl46_hlEtthvwHgYw–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/aol_time_773/3a61eeca372af283c6cbcacf668292c6″/> <i></div> </div> </div> <div class=
    Feliz and Farrell inside penguinCourtesy of HBO

    What was it like working with a fluency consultant on Vic’s stutter?

    That’s what I was most worried about: trying to do the stuttering in a thoughtful, honest way. I felt that maybe people would be upset about it. But luckily, the response we got was overwhelmingly positive. I worked with this fluency consultant, Marc Winski, and he stutters himself. It was such an open book. One of the things that was most helpful wasn’t necessarily the technical aspects: reps or blocks or How my mouth should move. It was more the psychological aspect of what’s going on in your mind.

    Did you consciously change the stuttering as the show went on?

    The stutter changes throughout the show, but not because he becomes more confident. This is a misconception: for some people it goes away as you get older, and for some it doesn’t. Victor is one of the people for whom it does not disappear. It’s not necessarily when he’s more confident or nervous, angry or sad. A stutter can be really inconsistent. Sometimes when you’re really mad you won’t have one, but sometimes when you’re really mad you’ll have more than you ever had. There is no rhyme or reason sometimes.

    What changes is your comfort with speaking in general. You’ll notice that when Vic is around Sofia for the first time in Episode 3—Marc and I worked a lot on that and built it into the script—a lot more “uh,” “um,” those filler words. If she hears him stammering, she’ll think he’s nervous and hiding something. In order not to stutter, you pretend to think: “ummm”, “uhhh”. She doesn’t hear that you’re stuck on a word. So it changes depending on who’s talking: whether they’re on the phone or not, whether they’re meeting someone for the first time or the fifth time, whether they’re comfortable with them or not. He lives and breathes alone.

    In this ending, we see Vic truly become a worthy villain, mobilizing Link and people from these various criminal empires against the Maroons and Giants. What makes Vic right for this and how does he pull it off?

    Victor is constantly learning from one of the best minds in the world of underground crime. Oz thinks on his feet and makes the right moves time and time again. Sometimes he lets his anger get the better of him and is impulsive, but when it comes to moving the chess pieces, there is no one better. Vic will sit there and watch and listen and observe and take in the information. At the beginning of episode 6, Oz tells Victor, “These people, we have their loyalty. Do you know why? Because we pay them.” Later in that episode, what does Vic do to understand the Squid situation? Try to pay him.

    So when it comes to that moment of, “Gosh, how are we going to make this work?” he doesn’t just sit back and take orders. Learn to be proactive and figure things out for yourself. Victor was able to see that Link and these guys had that respect, and that the second-in-command were also ambitious. This is their time to rise.

    Feliz ca Victor<span class="drepturi de autor">Courtesy of HBO</span>” data-src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/uyV8JrVpT1XCZmbG.4qHnQ–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/aol_time_773/1d600ad89d0a97565cfe8ecdb7b2 a888″/ ><span class="drepturi de autor"></div> </div> </div> <div class=
    Happy as VictorCourtesy of HBO

    Of course, the biggest Vic moment in the finale is his death at the hands of Oz, moments after he called him “family.” How did you talk about that scene and how early did you know that this was Vic’s fate?

    (Showrunner Lauren LeFranc) and I talked about it right before I showed up to New York to start filming. I knew there was going to be this arc, this big moment at the end. There’s been a lot of conversation about leading up to it, just physically what it’s going to be like and what it’s going to look like. That day was something Colin and I metaphorically circled on our calendars. I remember a week before, he was kind of like, “Are you ready? I have a scene in a week.” And I say, “I know, I know, I know.” And then three days before, he said, “You know, three days,” and then the day before, “Tomorrow’s the big day!”

    The important part of Victor’s success is the first half of that scene: this incredibly vulnerable state he allows himself to reach. It’s quite soft. It’s slow, it takes time, and it’s paced. Victor tells Oz, in his own words, “I love you,” basically. This is the subtext. I’m too macho to say those words to each other, but that’s the feeling. When I read it, I thought it was beautiful and I wanted to give it air and space. My cover and Colin’s were shot at the exact same time, so it all feels very organic, back and forth and sweet… even before it wasn’t.

    How was the filming experience?

    It lasted all night. I was outside, it was a cold winter day in New York. We shot this on Roosevelt Island by the river. He was really quiet. It’s terrible and brutal. Towards the end of the show, those moments of light kind of dissipate and we’re left with something pretty dark and twisted. We watch Oz turn into something irredeemable. Being on set that day, everyone felt sulky. There was a darkness in the air, there was a silence.

    As I watched this season, I continued to worry about Vic. He feels like a tragic character. I said, “God, don’t kill this guy, he’s the heart and soul.”

    Maybe I’m just cynical, but I thought maybe people wouldn’t care too much about Victor since he’s not that stupid. Even Francis is kind of mean, calling out Sofia in that scene. It’s fun to watch. Oz is a jerk, Sofia is a jerk. Victor is a bit more sensitive and softer. You can see how much it pains him to kill Squid, someone he’s known for years. Of course, given more time, he changes. I think in the end if he had to shoot Sofia when she’s about to draw her gun it wouldn’t feel as bad as the first time. But I was afraid that people wouldn’t connect with him that way because he’s not as “cool” as the others.

    But in the responses I’ve gotten so far, people care about him. I care about him a lot. He’s just a kid in this very crazy psychotic world where he has to dismember and kill people. It’s not a normal thing for a 17-year-old to go through.

    On Fugitivesyou’ve worked with a lot of younger actors, so this seems like a different beast.

    Of course. (At 27) I’m (among) the youngest in this thing, so it was different, but I couldn’t have asked for anything better. It feels like everyone is on their A-game and it’s inspiring to be around. All you’re trying to do is not be the weak link – just match the excellence of others. I know how hard everyone has worked on this show, from the writers to the producers to the cast and crew. Seeing how hard everyone has worked, while I’m still so great at what I do, I don’t ever want to get to the point where I feel comfortable enough to coast.

    This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

    Contact us TO [email protected].

    Online Niel
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like