Q&A with Gotham’s Ben McKenzie

NEW YORK: Ben McKenzie talks to World Screen about portraying Detective James Gordon in the stylish, dark and at times campy Gotham.

WS: What are the challenges of acting in a series whose characters have such legacy and are so iconic, as opposed to acting in a series that is based on a completely new idea?
MCKENZIE: I would say it’s both a responsibility and an opportunity. It’s a responsibility to stay true to the intrinsic nature of these characters, the foundation that’s been laid over the last 75 years of Batman; these characters are so beloved and so well known in certain respects that you need to be true to their spirit. The opportunity is to interpret them anew and add your own little contribution to the thousands of artists who have drawn these characters or acted these characters or have done all of the myriad jobs [necessary] to portray these worlds, either in print or on screen. So, it’s a real opportunity for us. We all felt the responsibility of it more heavily at the beginning when we were worried about pulling it off, quite frankly, and not embarrassing ourselves. But as the series has come out and it’s been well received both in the U.S. and in many parts of the world, that sense of freedom is really starting to grow. We’re starting to be able to focus on being creative and taking leaps of imagination and broadening the scope of the series to include all sorts of other characters that we haven’t had time to mention yet.

WS: Was the preparation for this role different from previous roles you’ve had?
MCKENZIE: It was different. The series before Gotham was Southland, which offered a much more purposefully realistic take on police work, trying to be as authentic as possible, and so there was a lot of practical training working with the LAPD. In Gotham, although I’m playing a cop, again, a detective in this case, it’s clearly a larger-than-life world that we’re entering into, so it’s much more understanding of themes and the role-playing that goes on in terms of Jim’s relationship to Bruce primarily. Jim is, in many senses, the knight to the once and future king of Gotham, Bruce Wayne. Jim is trying to maintain order in a city that’s falling apart, while mentoring a young boy who will eventually succeed him and reign over a city as it crumbles. So, [the preparation] involved more of a thematic understanding of the role, understanding of the underlying themes of the show, as opposed to a more practical hands-on training.

This interview continues here.