LOS ANGELES – “The Penguin” made a notable impact at Saturday’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards, securing eight awards for its exceptional craft and technical achievements in the “Batman” spin-off series.
The series, which is competing for outstanding limited or anthology series at the upcoming Primetime Emmy Awards, claimed awards in categories such as hairstyling, costumes, prosthetic makeup, visual effects, sound editing, and sound mixing.
Various award winners stressed the importance of behind-the-scenes studio work to the HBO show’s success.
“It’s not just me. It’s all of these people, it’s many more in the studio who are really working their hardest to do something very special,” remarked Mike Marino, the prosthetic designer for the show, as he accepted the award for prosthetic makeup.
The technical accolades position “The Penguin” favorably among other heavily-nominated limited series in advance of the Primetime Emmy Awards on September 14. The show has also received prominent acting nominations, with Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti recognized for outstanding lead actors.
This spin-off miniseries is a continuation from 2022’s “The Batman,” delving into Oz Cobb’s ascendancy in Gotham City’s criminal hierarchy, known as The Penguin.
Similarly, another spin-off from a major franchise, “Andor,” attained remarkable success. The Disney+ series, part of the Star Wars saga, garnered four awards for editing, production design, and costumes. Despite amassing 14 nominations primarily in technical categories, the show did not achieve major acting award nominations.
Yan Miles, who won outstanding picture editing for “Andor,” said working on the show was nerve-wracking given the franchise’s wide-reaching success.
“You start seeing sort of stormtroopers on set and you start seeing those things you’re like, holy shit, I’m in Star Wars, right? I’m in that universe that I remember as an 8-year-old boy. And that’s pretty cool,” Miles said.
“Adolescence,” the year’s most critically acclaimed limited series, is still expected to win the top awards in the categories next week, but won just one on Saturday, for its cinematography.
Marino, “The Penguin” prosthetic designer, emphasized the importance of championing human-made artistry during his acceptance speech.
“We are all human, and we all are artists working hard to pay bills and you know, make beautiful art,” Marino said. “Even though, look, we’re not saving lives, maybe we’re making people’s lives better when they watch TV or when they attach themselves to a show or something.”
The makeup, Marino said, was paramount for the show’s leading actor, Colin Farrell, who plays Oz Cobb, to bring the character to life.
“He had mentioned that when he looked in the mirror for the first time, when we first did the makeup test, he immediately knew who his character was,” Marino said. “He immediately knew how to speak, he knew how to walk.”
Johnny Han, the overall visual effects supervisor for “The Penguin,” helped manage a large team stationed all over the world to create the show. The challenge, he said, was “trying to find a consistent vision among so many teams.”
“It took eight episodes for us to really dial that in,” Han said.
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