The Penguin hasn’t completely forgotten its Batman origins! Marié Botha speaks on her surprising cameo as one of Gotham’s most obscure villains.
Just when fans were starting to suspect that The Penguin would be completely devoid of any other villain from Batman’s rogues gallery, episode 4 swept the rug out from everyone with an appearance from Magpie, played by Dickinson alum Marié Botha. While speaking about her role as Sofia Falcone’s prison buddy, Botha gave some exclusive insights about her character’s past in The Batman universe.
“I think Magpie’s story- I think for every character like this it’s very different,” Botha explained to Heroic Hollywood in a recent interview. “For Magpie specifically the information that we have is she grew up, she had this stepmother who she hates. Who calls her Margaret. And so that in it of itself is something that happened to her followed by information in the comic books of when she was really bullied at school and called Magpie because she liked shiny things.”
“And what that does to your growth as a person and how that maybe stunts it a little bit and how that turns her into this kind of little girl persona but with a lot of anger underneath that undercuts her performance. She’s trying to keep it in.”
Given how intense Marié Botha’s performance was as Magpie, as well as how intense the rest of The Penguin‘s fourth episode was, it’s not shocking that there was a lot of trauma hidden behind the manic energy of the Batman villain. The infantilized persona of the character certainly shined through on screen, making her fate in the episode all the more tragic to the viewers at home.
The Hidden Inspirations Behind Magpie
Most fans would likely be content hearing that Marié Botha based her performance as Magpie on the Batman comics, especially given the controversies around The Penguin‘s distance from the source material. However, it seems they weren’t the only source of inspiration for the villain, with Botha explaining the collaborative effort in bringing the character to life.
“And so I did draw a lot from the comics. I immediately when I got the part ordered all of the Magpie comics off of eBay and really created a nice thick sheet of given circumstances and cold hard facts about her and then I sort of colored in the blanks and drew from my favorite villains, not just in this universe, but Bellatrix LeStrange from Harry Potter.”
“I would draw and create my own version of her, which was sweet because we haven’t seen iterations of Magpie a lot throughout the projects that have been made about the DC comic books. With Helen and myself and even Cristin [Milioti’s] input and what Cristin needed from the character I think we were able to create something really magical and a really cool character that I would love to explore more if there is ever that opportunity. So it was a melting pot of all of that.”
Marié Botha’s methods for bringing Magpie to life seem similar to that of The Penguin‘s showrunners. Mixing in the darker elements, not just of the character, but of the genre to build something that the Batman franchise has never seen before. While it’s not likely Magpie will be returning to the small screen anytime soon, Botha’s performance as the villain is sure to go down in the hearts and minds of fans.
The Penguin is now streaming on HBO. Stay tuned for the latest news regarding Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe and make sure to stay tuned to our YouTube channel for more content.