Maxance Vincent
When Rhenzy Feliz joined The Penguin, the actor, who spoke to Awards Radar on Zoom during a Virtual Press Day, knew how massive a project this would be. Oz Cobb is not only a significant character from Matt Reeves’ The Batman but also one of the most recognizable villains in comic book history. The anticipation was high to deliver a spinoff worthy of the character Colin Farrell established in the film, while also recognizing the enduring legacy he has had in popular culture.
Playing Victor Aguilar, a character who gets roped into Oz’s life of crime, Rhenzy Feliz explains that, right from his audition, he wanted to ensure that Victor’s “body language and energy were a little bit smaller in comparison to someone so big. If you’re going to have Oz on screen all the time, who talks loudly and is a big character, you can’t coexist with another big, loud character. They’re just going to butt heads.
The only way this will work is if Victor is timid and listens to all the crazy talking that Oz has going on. Because Oz talks a lot, you need someone who’s a good listener. Then I learned about the stutter, which became a huge part of the process as well—learning about what that’s like, growing up with that, through childhood and teenage years. And then we find Victor at 17.
It was incredibly useful to be able to ask Marc Winski, my dialect coach, who has a stutter as well, questions about what it’s like growing up, and specifically what it would be like for Victor growing up. Lots of people are different, and you can have a stutter, be incredibly confident, or insecure. We found a character who was a lot more insecure. He found his moments. He had his group of friends, maybe even a girl. But there was always this sort of baggage that he was carrying around a bit, even in his body language. To me, it stemmed from the yin and the yang of Oz and Victor, and the stutter and what that did to his life.”
In approaching such a dark and often brutally violent series, Feliz explains that his performance had to be incredibly grounded, as the show was also rooted in some form of realism:
“Victor shooting someone for the first time takes a massive emotional toll on him. There are some movies or shows where that happens, and it’s another day in the office, but not for this kid. He killed someone whom he’s known for years, and we get to see what that’s really like, and the kind of weight that was brought on him. As the show gets darker, I approach it from an incredibly grounded and innocent place. Victor doesn’t want to really be doing any of this. He’s doing it more out of loyalty to Oz and love for his new family, as he has been brought into his world. However, Victor is an incredibly innocent and good-hearted kid. He is being forced to do these not really good-hearted things. That’s where you walk to set every day from a place of wide-eyed hesitation and nervousness, and your body language changes. You feel like you’re on edge, and Oz is the comfort blanket in this world. Oz is the one who knows what he’s doing. Oz is the one with the plan.”
Describing his collaboration with Colin Farrell, who portrays Oz Cobb, Feliz explains that he is “very nurturing and present, and gave me this permission to exercise my freedom creatively, too. Sometimes you get a little nervous being on set, and there are so many big people around, and people have done cooler things than you. The thought is that when you have a creative idea, maybe don’t voice it. However, Colin definitely gave me the confidence to do that more and more often, and as the show went on, he and I got closer, and the more I felt comfortable voicing whatever creative input I may have. Being as kind as he was definitely helped me kind of find my own voice on the set as well.”
With such a complex and layered character like Victor Aguilar, there was much to talk about regarding his arc in the series, including, of course, the devastating final scene that occurs between Oz and Victor. Full spoilers are ahead for anyone who has not yet seen the entire series.
Listen to my full conversation with Rhenzy below and stream all episodes of The Penguin on HBO Max today:
[Some of the quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity]
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