‘The Batman’ just ‘the tip of the iceberg’

Holy spinoff!

Golden Globe nominee Colin Farrell is getting ready to flap his water wings once more in “The Penguin,” an HBO Max limited series where the actor will reprise the villainous role he played in the 2022 blockbuster “The Batman.” (Take that, Robert Pattinson!)

Before filming the big-budget superhero flick, the 46-year-old Irishman had no clue that his character was going to get his own show, intended to bridge the gap between “The Batman” and its sequel.

“The only thing I had an idea was that I wasn’t nearly getting to explore the character as much as I wanted to,” Farrell told Variety Thursday night at the Palm Springs International Film Awards, where he received the Desert Palm Achievement Award for his performance in “The Banshees of Inisherin.”

“There was all this extraordinary work done by [makeup artists] Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine and his team, and I just thought it was the tip of the iceberg, pardon the pun, that we were getting to do the six or seven scenes that we did in the film. I was grateful for them, but I wanted more,” Farrell said.

In fact, he gives full credit to the makeup magic for getting him to sign on for “The Penguin,” which he will also executive-produce.

“Honest to god, any thought I had about an extended series was to do with Mike Marino’s work,” said Farrell, who previously starred in HBO’s “True Detective.” “I just knew there was so much to do with it — age it up, age it down. He’s just such a genius, Mike, so it was his work that was the inspiration, really.” 

Indeed, the makeup so completely transformed the “Minority Report” star that he went unrecognized at a Starbucks in Ireland during filming.

“They’re cool about it in Ireland. People don’t be looking,” said Farrell, who will begin shooting “The Penguin” in February, with no premiere date scheduled yet. “People don’t be paying as much attention as you think!”

But before he goes back into devious disguise as “The Penguin,” Farrell will be hitting the Golden Globes Tuesday night. After winning for “In Bruges” in 2009, this year he’s up for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for “The Banshees of Inisherin.”

The dark comedy — about two lifelong friends whose bond is broken — has capped a comeback for Farrell, who also starred in “Thirteen Lives” and “After Yang” in 2022.

“I’ve spoken to a couple of people about ‘Banshees’ or they’ve spoken to me about how they felt less alone watching the film,” Farrell told Vanity Fair. “And when the questions that I hold, just as a human being, are exposed to be as communal as I truly wish them to be, that’s a lovely thing. It makes me feel less alone as well.”