Robin Lord Taylor Interview with Mirror.co.uk 

Gotham star Robin Lord Taylor credits Breaking Bad heartbreak with helping him land coveted TV role

The young star lost out on the role of Todd in the Emmy Award-winning drama, but the show\'s casting directors were impressed enough to cast him in their next major project

Role of a lifetime: Robin plays The Penguin in Gotham

Gotham’s Robin Lord Taylor has told how losing out on a role in Breaking Bad helped him land the maniacal role of The Penguin in the new Batman show.

The new series - launching on Channel 5 tomorrow night - focuses on the unruly underbelly of Gotham City before Bruce Wayne finds his heroic calling, and it\'s safe to say the drama will make a star out of Taylor.

But years before getting his big break in Gotham, the actor was snubbed for the part of Todd in Breaking Bad in favour of Jesse Plemons.

Now, however, he’s had the last laugh by earning rave reviews as villain Oswald Cobblepot, aka The Penguin - famously played by Danny DeVito in 1992’s Batman Returns - in the 16-part show after casting producers remembered him from his previous audition.

He explained: “It’s one of those things, as a struggling actor for so long, you get close to things and they don’t happen.

“You remind yourself, as crushing it as in the moment, that this doesn’t mean it’s the end. It just means there’s more opportunities out there.

Before Batman: Gotham follows comic book villains

“You learn, too, that you’re not necessarily auditioning for a specific role, you’re auditioning for the casting directors so that they know you and will keep you in mind for future things.

“Sharon Bialy and Sherry Thomas, who cast Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead, have been my champions. I owe so much to them.

“You don’t get a job and you try your hardest to put it out of your mind, and if you’re lucky like I was something else comes down the pipe.”

Taylor admits to being a huge fan of DeVito’s portrayal of Cobblepot on the big screen and hopes the iconic actor will make a cameo in Gotham.

“If we could get Danny DeVito on set any time, I would be happier than a pig in s**t,” he gushed.

“I think he’d be incredibly, incredibly fun."

He continued: “I didn’t really need to study Oswald cos I’d seen that movie so many times.

“It is a slightly different approach to the character with what we’re trying to do with Gotham as opposed to Batman Returns. It’s a little more rooted in a realistic universe.

“Even though we’re creating this very, very dark world, the trick is to find the fun and I wish I could do half the justice they do to the character in terms of that fun and excitement they have for him.”

Transforming into slimy Penguin requires hours of make-up and prosthetics to look as grotesque as possible.

Taylor said: “It was another chapter in Robin Lord Taylor’s surreal life.

“I’ve never played a character that’s been so physically removed from how I look in my day-to-day life. I felt like it was all very Hollywood, I was making magic.

“Once I get on set, we put on the nose, and they spray my skin to make it all gross, and they paint my teeth and nails, and my hair gets all crazed.”

Launching new TV shows in America has become increasingly risky, even if they are rooted in an extremely popular franchise, as ratings continue to decline.

But hardened from his experience with Breaking Bad, Taylor is prepared for the show being a one-season wonder.

He said: “Danny Cannon, the executive producer, said to me, ‘No matter what happens, we’ll have 16 episodes of the best effing looking show in TV history’, and I truly believe that.

“Whatever happens is the way it goes but I know we’ve created something really beautiful and I feel so honoured to be part of it.”

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