“There was a lot of violence towards women” — John Turturro on not reprising his role as Carmine Falcone in The Penguin

John Turturro opened up about not reprising his role as Carmine Falcone in the Colin Farrell starrer The Penguin. In an interview with Variety magazine published on Wednesday, October 23, the actor remarked that he did what he wanted to do with the role when he was initially cast as the Gotham City crime boss Carmine Falcone in The Batman.

However, for the spinoff series, The Penguin, he was not ready to reprise the character. Instead, Kingsman: The Secret Service actor Mark Strong was recast in the role. Turturro explained that his one reason for not doing the show was that it contained violence against women. He said:

"In the show, there was a lot of violence towards women, and that’s not my thing."

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"I did what I wanted to with the role": John Turturro on turning down a return as Carmine Falcone for 'The Penguin'

In The Batman, which was released in 2022, John Turturro portrayed the role of Carmine Falcone. Like his comic counterpart, the movie's Falcone is an infamous mob boss in Gotham City. Apart from being the father of Sofia Falcone, Alberto Falcone, and Selina Kyle, a.k.a Catwoman, Falcone is also the head of the Falcone crime family.

Turturro's portrayal of Falcone was lauded by audiences and critics alike as the Matt Reeves movie. According to data from Box Office Mojo, The Batman became a blockbuster, earning $772,319,315 worldwide. The movie has an impressive IMBDb rating of 7.8 and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 85%.

In an interview with Variety, John Turturro opened up about his most recent role in Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, released earlier this year. During the interview, Turturro also talked about why he did not reprise his role as Carmine Falcone in the now-running spinoff to The Batman, The Penguin. He told the publication:

"I did what I wanted to with the role,"

Although Falcone was still the very same brutal character in The Batman, the actor noted that the cruelty was not depicted and happened "off-screen," which, according to the actor, was "scarier."

The 67-year-old actor also admitted that turning down the role resulted from him having other opportunities. John Turturro remarked:

"You can’t do everything you want to,"

In a 2022 review of The Batman for the official Roger Ebert website, Christy Lemire remarked that John Turturro's portrayal of Carmine Falcone was "low-key chilling."

During the movie, Carmine Falcone takes complete control of Gotham after orchestrating the arrest of his rival, fellow Italian crime lord Salvatore Maroni. Falcone also later strangled Annika Kosolov, a waitress at his Iceberg lounge, after learning that she had information regarding him being an informant in the case against Salvatore Maroni.

Towards the end of the movie, although Robert Pattinson's Batman and Zoe Kravitz's Catwoman exposed Carmine's corruption and involvement in the murder of Annika Kosolov, Falcone was shot dead on the street by Paul Dano's primary antagonist, The Riddler.

The Penguin stars Colin Farrell as the titular Oswald Cobb, a former associate and attempted killer of Carmine Falcone. The show sees Cobb's struggles to take over the Gotham underworld. According to Entertainment Weekly, The Penguin and Carmine Falcone are the two characters from The Batman that made a rare return in the show.

With six episodes of the first season already out, The Penguin received critical praise for Farrell's performance as the titular character and Cristin Milioti's stunning turn as Carmine Falcone's daughter Sofia Falcone.

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