Everything about Victor Aguilar by Rhenzy Feliz and his stutter

SPOILER ALERT! This story contains details from Sunday's third episode The penguin on HBO.

Unlike Colin Farrell, Rhenzy Feliz had no source material to sift through before accepting the role of Victor Aguilar – the Penguin Friday man who ultimately saves his boss by driving a car into Nadia Maroni's henchman in Episode 3.

Victor is a new creation for the HBO adaptation of the classic DC villain – Feliz, best known for her voice as Camilo Encanto and plays Alex Wilder The outliers – had a blank canvas to work with when it came time to create the perfect protégé for Oz.

At least that's what Feliz thought before applying for the role.

“Right after I submitted my first audition, they wanted me to meet Craig Zobel, our director,” Feliz remembers. “I played through the scenes a few times and then he asked me if I had ever stuttered. I didn't have that. He said, “I know you didn't prepare, I know you didn't know this was going in, but would you mind just trying it out to see what it sounds like?” As an actor you just say “yes” and go along with it. I did my best. I guess it was good enough because they wanted me to meet Colin a few weeks later.”

Looking back, Feliz understands why the producers felt it was important that Victor, a delinquent from a flood-ravaged part of Gotham City, has a speech impediment.

“I think for Oz, he sees a piece of himself in Victor,” says Feliz, who worked with a fluency coach during production. “Oz has a disability himself and he knows that he was seen as an outsider, not given many opportunities in his life and even despised because of his disability. He sees that Victor has one too. They come from the same neighborhood and he thinks, 'Maybe I can give this kid a chance, the chance that nobody really gave me.'”

This is primarily why Vic chose to stay with Oz instead of getting on the bus with his friend and escaping the hell that Gotham has become.

“At that point in his life, he kind of lost his family. It’s really lost its purpose,” Feliz says. “And I think he finds a bit of meaning in Oz. They're trying to achieve something big, and he can be part of something bigger than just himself. I mean, he's a poor boy. Money is a huge incentive for people who don't have enough of it. And more than that, he sees in Oz something he wishes he had for himself. That kind of confidence, that kind of chest out, chin up. There’s an attitude that Oz has within him that Victor perhaps admires and looks up to, and he wants to have a little of that in his life too.”

Feliz described working with Farrell as like seeing “magic happen before his eyes,” although he admits he was scared the first time the Irish actor strolled across the set in his body suit and prosthetics.

Oh man. It was amazing,” he remembers. “I know Colin is down there, but he looks and feels like this completely different person. So it's this strange magic trick that's going on in front of you. It's scary because he looks scary and almost bigger than I imagined. I remember telling Colin that it was scary. And he says, 'Good. Use it.'”

Oh, there's plenty of opportunity for that: Feliz says the season only gets more hair-raising from here on out.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love being a part of this show and my experience was incredible,” says Feliz. “But you carry a bit of darkness with you all day for weeks, and then weeks turn into months. It just feels like your shoulders are a little more hunched than they normally would be. However, I welcome it. I've been looking for something that feels like this for a long time. I've done some serious stuff before, but this is definitely the darkest, most twisted crime story I've ever done.”