It’s hard to argue with anyone other than Cristin Milioti, since Sofia Falcone was the real deal in “The Penguin.”
Against the likes of Colin Farrell, Deirdre O’Connell, and Clancy Brown, Milioti was the secret weapon in Matt Reeves’ HBO adaptation of The Batman. Her performance under the title was a stunning fourth episode that showed Sophia’s harrowing stay in Arkham and how it broke her in certain ways and awakened her in others. Despite the dark path Sophia took throughout the season, Milioti played it in a way that resonated with viewers.
“Obviously I’m biased, but I think it’s because she’s absolutely brilliant,” Milioti told TheWrap. “She resonated with me when I logged on and I think she seems like a really unique character. I think one of the many gifts of this series is that you really get to see her become the villain that she has become. And that’s also part of why she’s so relatable to people: You understand her, whether you agree with her actions or not, you understand her. “She’s larger than life.”
“And on top of that, his struggle and then getting to a place where he’s doing exactly what he wants and creating chaos – I think, what’s not to love?”
Sophia’s evolution from Falcone to Giant culminates in the finale in a rather unfortunate way: With her back where she started in Arkham after arriving within hours of defeating Oz and leaving Gotham forever. However, she doesn’t leave without leaving Penguin reeling.
Most of the finale saw Sophia forcing Oz to confront his mother Frances about his bloody past and his involvement in the deaths of his siblings. She makes sure that Oz knows that his mother was afraid of him and thought he was a monster. By doing so, she hurts him as much as he hurts her.
“She gets a big chance before she leaves,” Milioti said. “They both condemn the other to a fate worse than death.”
Below, Milioti looks at the origin story of Sophia’s villainy throughout the series, how she became the monster she hated near the end, and how she sees the future in relation to the note she received from her media sister Selina Kyle.
What were the conversations with model Lauren LeFranc and the work you were doing on your own in drawing Sofia’s arc from Sofia Falcon to Sofia Gigante?
Lauren and I have had endless conversations. I can’t say enough about Lauren’s brilliance and talent, and she’s been incredibly helpful. We talk a lot on the phone, we talk a lot on set; I had a lot of questions and a lot of ideas and I always felt very welcomed. We both love this character so much and we wanted to make sure we threaded the needle properly. On top of that, we had great directors: Craig Zobel and Helen Schaefer. I also felt very in tune with them, especially those first four episodes when you get to where you end up at the end of the four episodes and continue on.
For me personally, I was very lucky to have such an open collaboration with our wardrobe and our hair and makeup department. I have to say that they really let us build it. I’ve never worked in a franchise of this size before, but from what I’ve heard, that’s not always the case. I really felt like we could really experiment and build the look and energy of this villain. The thing I really wanted to explore was his freedom since the end of the quarter.
What were those conversations like when it came to deciding your hair and wardrobe before and after Episode 4?
They were very long discussions. But again, I felt very welcome in those discussions because I had very specific ideas about the eyeliner underneath being war paint. How do you make this person’s hair as wild as possible? That’s how she would have expressed herself before Arkham in this kind of patriarchal mafia family: Through hair and makeup and nails, so how do those become weapons after she’s gone through what she’s gone through and when he becomes what he becomes? So it was also fun to use them as weapons.
I spoke with Clancy Brown earlier in the season. We talked a little bit about the scene in Episode 5 where Sal cooks for Sophia and shows that you can live this mafia life and still accept the love of family. What did Sofia get out of that connection, however brief?
Sophia hasn’t been soft in years, and I think the softness she had as a child (through the lens of what her family did to her) is no longer referred to as soft.
I really like this scene where they’re having dinner, where he’s preparing food for her. Even the idea that I don’t think anyone in his family has ever used that kitchen before except for the staff. Like everyone else, you know? In what universe would her father have done that to her? When her mother died, she was so young that she didn’t have any context or experience with this.
I think Sal offers her softness and wisdom, and also treats her as an equal. Obviously he’s teaching her certain things about strategy, but he presents himself to her as someone who has also experienced a tremendous loss. It’s paternalistic in a weirdly fundamental way. I think the softness there is unexpected.
Sophia’s method of torturing to get information from Oz in the premiere and Francis in the finale are diametrically opposed. She violently attacks Oz and with Francis it’s more psychological to get what she wants. Is this another sign of his evolution from Falcon to Cyclops?
Yeah, I also think that part of it is due to the underestimation of Francisco. Sofia has a kind of moral code for villains. She’ll save a child, but she’ll wipe out his family. But in his mind he says: “Well, I would never hurt a child.” I don’t know what to call them other than a twisted moral code.
As much as he knows he made a checkmate with Oz’s mother, he still thinks, “This is someone who probably doesn’t know what’s going on,” so he’s nice to her until she realizes what she has in front of her, that she’s entered the boxing ring and out of the ultimate woman’s nightmare.
Also, Francis calls her a lot, and I think that’s also very annoying. I think Francis puts her on the defensive more than anyone else, which is what’s amazing about this scene.
I mentioned Sophia’s code of ethics. She gets a call in Episode 7 about her young cousin’s suffering after Sophia killed her entire family in Episode 4. Is Sophia worried that she has become to her cousin what her father was to her?
In fact, this is one of my favorite scenes in the entire show. I love it for so many reasons, and it speaks again to Lauren’s brilliance. One of the things we really wanted to explore in this scene is that it’s set up as a cell [Arkham]. The bed is in the same place and the window is the same. I think you’re looking at the ways in which history repeats itself. That’s what makes her break down when she comes back, and even the way she saw Francis being tortured. He’s become the person he hates the most and it’s unbelievable.
While in the name of fighting and dismantling her father’s legacy, she does the exact same thing and achieves it too. How devastating for her.
In all this deconstruction, Sophia is almost out of Gotham, but she has to go see Oz captured one last time before she leaves, which is when things change. Have you thought about what Sophia’s life would be like if she could get out of the city and out of Falcone’s influence for the first time?
I have my own thoughts on this, but I’m hesitant to share them because I don’t want to influence her. I’m curious if people have their own thoughts as well. But I definitely had an idea of what she would do.
Oz and Sophia’s trip to the water after being arrested at the airport is one of my favorite scenes in the finale. He talks about being a man of the people, but Sophia calls out to him and tells him that this is what people need to see. How do you see her in that moment after everything?
I think that’s the thesis of their whole relationship, that they’re enemies. From day one, she was saying: “I see you,” and he can’t be seen, and that’s one of her powers over him. In that scene in the car, I always go back to Lauren, because the way her mind works and the way she writes is so beautiful. Going back to where they were before but knowing what they’re getting into is so brutal, but strangely there’s a softness to what’s about to happen.
I’m very intrigued by their relationship and also the chemistry between them as characters. I don’t really know, we’re enemies, but there’s interest and history too. It’s just wild. I love that so much. I love the car scene because they’re not talking to each other like people who had an accident months ago. They’re talking to people who, you know, grew up with each other and lived with history.
How do you see her future at the end of the season after being sent back to Arkham but before the letter arrives?
I think she was irreparably broken before that moment. I think it’s like another level of breaking it.
She ended up where she started, but she’s a completely different person than the free time I was struggling with about whether or not this was a complete waste. Obviously she’s not perfect, but she’s a completely different person.
She’s a completely different person and I agree with you on that. But the story also happened very quickly. He was only abroad for two months. I don’t remember the exact number, but it was surprisingly short. He got freedom for two months and he’s going back there… and I agree with you, he’s a completely different creature. At that moment, the gears are turning, but they are destroyed and broken.
What does it mean for her to receive Selena’s letter?
I think a lot of very special things happen at that time. I think hope is one of them, obviously. She also didn’t have any family outside of Alberto, who showed up in any way possible, but continued to work with his father and was still part of the family and still unable to take it out. That was complicated and then she lost it.
I think there’s the idea that there’s one kind of family and the idea that there’s hope. Obviously you don’t know Selena’s story at all, but knowing how similar their stories are, I think it’s like a ray of hope at the end of a very, very, very long dark time.
Sophia’s story doesn’t seem to have ended in any way even though the series is limited. Do you have a preference for how you’d like to see her appear again? Another series to explore, perhaps appearing in “The Batman Part II”? All of the above?
All of the above! I feel like a kid in a candy store with him. It has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life to play her, so the answer is a giant, thunderous, powerful yes.
