Batman: Caped Crusader star explains why her mother-in-law was the biggest inspiration for her gender-flipped Penguin

Aug. 1, 2024

Actor Minnie Driver discusses her “reimagining” of the iconic Batman villain for the new Prime Video series

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Following in the footsteps of Batman: The Animated Series is no easy task, but Prime Video’s new series Batman: Caped Crusader has pulled it off with style, already earning rave reviews (including from our own critic) and a perfect score onRotten Tomatoes.

Something that has drawn much acclaim is the show’s rogues' gallery, as several iconic Batman villains appear as you have never seen them before. Easily one of the stand-out baddies is actor Minnie Driver’s gender-flipped Penguin, a.k.a. Oswalda Cobblepot, the star of opening episode ‘In Treacherous Waters’.

Although a female version of The Penguin is something new for audiences, Driver feels that “the essence” of the beloved comics character has always been “genderless” due to the fact that the villain has typically been depicted as more like a creature than perhaps a person on the page.

Continuing, Driver added that it is interesting seeing The Penguin “as a mother” - and she’s right that Oswalda’s actions towards her own children are suitably “dark and twisted” enough for the world of Batman. Seriously - you don’t want to mess with Oswalda after seeing the fate of her kids!

Given that The Penguin in Caped Crusader is a mother, Driver admits that this is where she looked to for inspiration when it came to unlocking the character. In fact, the main source was her own mother-in-law as the actor revealed: “She has this iconic voice, it’s sort of like a vintage American, New York, I feel like her voice is from the ’30s and ’40s. It’s very clipped, it’s big, it’s deep, it has this kind of resonance and I’ve always loved the way that she sounds.

“I’m like a magpie, I use everything that I come across. It’s definitely a homage to her but that was just the kicking off point. The Penguin is really evil and it was fun to have this kind of blousy way of speaking - that helps underpin how deeply terrible and psychopathic she is.” Maybe let’s not get on the wrong side of Driver’s mother-in-law too then!

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All episodes of Batman: Caped Crusader are now streaming on Prime Video.

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As Entertainment Editor at GamesRadar, I oversee all the online content for Total Film and SFX magazine. Previously I’ve worked for the BBC, Zavvi, UNILAD, Yahoo, Digital Spy and more.

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