Danny DeVito Reached Out to Michelle Pfeiffer for Her Blessing on His DC Penguin Comic
A few months ago it was revealed that Danny DeVito, who played Penguin in Tim Burton’s 1992 film Batman Returns, would write a new Penguin story for DC Comics. That story is included in Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant #1 anthology one-shot.
Before he embarked on this journey to write this story, DeVito reached out to Michelle Pfeiffer to get her blessing for the story he wanted to tell. That story is "Bird Cat Love" and involves a romance between Penguin and Catwoman, which is something he says he has always fantasized about. While talking to Forbes about his comic he said”
"I did call Michelle and tell her that I was doing it. I said Look, it's like my fantasy and it's my dream come true to have an incredible romance with such a beautiful woman. Oswald, I'm talking about, and Selina. She was very excited to hear about it."
He went on to talk about his excitement for the story saying:
"I'm so excited about it. I've never done anything like that before but I've always been a big fan of DC. From the time I was a kid, I had giant collections of all kinds of comics. I love The Penguin, I love Oswald. And of course, doing the movie with Tim [Burton] was one of the highlights of my career. I love that character so much. It was thrust upon me at a time when I've always been in love with Catwoman. Not only Oswald being in love with Catwoman, but Danny being in love with Michelle Pfeiffer. I jumped on the opportunity and the first thing that came to mind was the romance. And then, it was in the middle of Covid and I said Look at what love can do (laughs). I just applied it to the story and I sat down and in a few weeks, I had knocked out the whole idea and wrote it and they responded to it and to have Dan Mora to do the artwork, it's so brilliant. His stuff is just so masterful. I feel blessed to be in that company and the way it turned out, I couldn't be happier."
The Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant story serves as the Penguin's "anniversary celebration," with his first appearance coming in 1941's Detective Comics #58. Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant is on sale now.