There have been many Batman TV shows over the years, both animated and live-action. But Fox’s Gotham Perhaps one of the most outrageous series yet. A prequel where Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) investigates the Wayne family murders while Bruce himself (David Mazouz) is still a child? And his future Rogues Gallery are adults of similar or younger age?
Despite the strange premise, things worked out well. Gotham A prequel series that enjoyed solid popularity for five years over 100 episodes Pennyworth: The Origins of Batman’s ButlerAnd the fervent fan base that still loves it. Ahead of the show’s 10th anniversary on September 22, IGN has published a lengthy retrospective on the series, featuring interviews with the core cast, creator Bruno Heller, and executive producer (and regular director/writer) Danny Cannon. As Heller explains, the show came after Warner Bros. and CBS passed on his legal drama. Advocates (with MacKenzie) was trying to figure out what to pitch next. He said he chose the Batman series because the character was ready for TV, but his son Felix (an avid comics reader) helped him realize that the focus should be on Gordon rather than Batman himself.
“The young detective investigating the Wayne murders was a natural fit,” Heller said. “Once that idea came to me, it was this idea that he’s a cop investigating the deaths of the Wayne family… That’s where the whole series is. It’s the origin story of all the characters—Batman as a boy, the Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin—but from a young age.”
Cannon said Heller had two solid ideas for the first season: Gordon trying to keep his promise to Bruce to investigate the Wayne murders, and the Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) coming to power. “There was a kid who was going through the journey of losing his parents, and there was another kid who had nothing,” he told IGN. “One kid was going to build a life with his butler and Jim Gordon, and then he was going to investigate his parents’ death and be curious. […] And another thing is, the only way he could become a man and become who he wanted to be was to step on the skulls of dead people and make it happen for himself in a wicked way.”
There’s a lot of baggage involved in creating anything Batman-related, and there was understandable secrecy when the show first began. Most of the cast admitted they didn’t even know they were auditioning for a Batman show at first. MacKenzie was told by Heller that Gordon was written with her in mind, but Sean Pertwee (Alfred) found out when Heller and Cannon talked to him right before his audition, and Camren Bicondova (Selina Kyle) completely understood the moment she got the part. “I think they said, ‘You’re Catwoman,’ but the first thing they said was, ‘Meow.’ And I was like, ‘What? I don’t get it,’” she recalled.
Like MacKenzie, Mazouz knew he was auditioning for Bruce, but admitted he couldn’t remember how he found out. Heller claimed he was at the top of their list “very early on,” and Cannon thought Mazouz was lucky to land the lead role on Fox’s two-season series. touch, The producers recommended him to Cannon and Heller. Mazouz got the part in early 2014, and he recalled having his Bar Mitzvah and seeing his friends dressed as Batman. That was the first time he really felt like it was him, he said. batman, It doesn’t matter whether he wears the suit or not.
Looking back Gotham, The cast and crew have fond memories of working on the series. Pertwee said they do their best to keep in touch with their former co-stars, and many of them feel like it’s a show they couldn’t make these days. Taylor noted that a 22-episode, big-budget superhero show “isn’t coming back anytime soon” on network TV, not to mention the freedom it gives them to play with the Batman mythos each week. “We were able to play with canon, and it showed that you can play with these classic storylines in a way that’s brave and unexpected for a lot of fans. Ultimately, [it’ll] It’s proven to be an endlessly refreshing interpretation of these stories that have been passed down for 80 years.”
Bicondova said the show “added an edginess to the comic book story” that other shows, then and now, didn’t have. Pertwee echoed that sentiment, believing people would find elements of the show that “humanized the craziness” of the Batman corner of the DC Universe “right.” He added that the show’s backstory of Batman and his villains, speaking to those characters, would resonate through other incarnations across the medium.
McKenzie has paid homage to other DC shows in the years since, but he believes Gotham “It was quite different from many other things that existed then and now. Gotham, “I don’t know if they’ll make a show about penguins,” MacKenzie said.[It’s] “It’s not only a testament to Robin’s performance, but it shows that you can make a show that’s essentially PG-13, or at least R-rated, on network television without making it too easy on the audience, keeping the plot complex, keeping the characters three-dimensional. I like to think we pushed that ball forward.”
“The legacy of the show is whether people enjoyed it, whether they left feeling like they were treated well and had a good time, and whether they made friends with people and felt proud of them,” Heller said.[Gotham] “It’s a very small part of the larger Batman mythos,” he said, likening Batman to a pop culture saint. “I hope we get justice.” [and] “We took it seriously enough to respect it, and light enough to make it a successful TV show.”
You can read the full story here: Gotham Here we cover the show’s production design, embracing Batman’s superhero side, and more. While you’re here, take a look back at: Gotham And the whole thing Gotham– Please leave your comments in the comments below.
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