Gotham has been interesting in that it’s not completely a superhero show but it’s also not completely a procedural; it’s really creating its own niche, which I think can take some time to gel. Where’s your head at in terms of where Gotham is right now?
GJ: I’m a little ahead, but you guys saw Episode 5 this week, right?
Yes, “Viper.”
GJ: Yeah, that was fun — a precursor to Venom. I love Robin [Lord Taylor]; Oswald Cobblepot is such a wonderful character and I think people will be really excited about where he goes. But when Bruno came in to image Gotham, he saw it more like an urban drama. It’s not even a police drama, even though your main characters are cops; it really feels like more of an urban sprawl. We talked about Game of Thrones and how there are all these different factions going on, and it feels like Gotham City is that. The world will continue to grow as new characters are coming in, like Harvey Dent [Nicholas D’Agosto], and others get more to do, like [Edward] Nygma [Cory Michael Smith]. Gotham is this slowly rolling thing, slowly revealing this side of the city and these characters.
To have a show where the first episode lets you know you’re in Gotham City but you’ll likely never see Batman is kind of crazy. What excites you about working on a show that gives you Gotham but not the person who has represented Gotham in the comics for so long?
GJ: The great thing about the potential of Gotham is exploring characters like Oswald Cobblepot. The focus isn’t on a guy in a Batman costume. Which is great. Everyone loves Batman, we want to see Batman — and you will on the big screen; Ben Affleck will be awesome. But you’ve got an opportunity to explore other characters that haven’t gotten this kind of attention. You could have hours and hours of great television to explore how Oswald Cobblepot became The Penguin that we know. Or, how does Edward Nygma go from working forensics to become The Riddler? And so on. To see that city develop, and see Selina Kyle [Camren Bicondova] grow up, and see Bruce [David Mazouz] grow up, and Alfred [Sean Pertwee] — there’s a bunch of stuff coming up with Alfred that Sean is just itching to do because he’s a pretty physical guy, and it’s exciting because you’ll see a different side to Alfred than you’ve seen before. The exploration of these characters is what makes the show worthwhile. I think Oswald has already captured people’s imaginations.
Oh, he’s easily one of the best characters on TV right now.
GJ: Yeah, and, in retrospect, when I bought my Super Powers figures, he was the last one I wanted! The Penguin has always just been this hunk of plastic with an umbrella. Like, why would I want that! Where’s Cyclotron? But Bruno hooked into Oswald, he just found him, said, “What’s his origin?” To have Bruno delve into him that much and have Robin play him as he does, he becomes a totally different character and I don’t think people will look at Penguin the same way when all is said and done.
The other cool thing that I’ve found about Gotham, as a viewer, is it allows you to come up with theories about where everything is going because it’s telling a story you don’t know. For example, my friend and I have a theory about what happens to Fish [Jada Pinkett Smith] and Penguin based on their names.
GJ: Fish Mooney is a great new character. I think Jada Pinkett Smith surprised everybody by delivering that performance and Fish has become such a good character. Like, all the publishers want to put her in the books now because she’s so cool.
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