Between Detective Jim Gordon and his butler-turned-guardian Alfred, Bruce Wayne always has someone to turn to whenever he finds himself in need of advice or assistance on Fox’s “Gotham”, but David Mazouz revealed that in real life, Ben McKenzie and Sean Pertwee prefer actions to words.
“They haven’t really given me any advice, like told me ‘You should do this,’ they do it more through example and through watching them and seeing what they do,” said Mazouz. “It’s really amazing what they do on and off stage; how they treat the crew members, how nice they are to everybody on set and [then] on camera, where they’re just really fantastic actors and they really are the person between ‘action’ and ‘cut.’
Mazouz, 13, who plays Bruce before the iconic Dark Knight-years, had nothing but praise for his co-stars when he recently spoke to People’s Choice, revealing that McKenzie is just as awesome as you’d imagine in person: “He’s really a talented, professional, genuinely good person. As an actor, I really, really enjoy working with him.”
Still, when it came to finding exactly what makes Bruce Wayne tick, Mazouz turned to a different veteran actor for his inspiration: Christian Bale. After watching every on-screen incarnation of the Caped Crusader – “from Adam West to [Bale],” – Mazouz felt that it was the ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy that really captured the darkness that he himself was aiming to capture.
“You kind of know Batman as the Dark Knight, but you never really saw that dark side of him until Christian Bale. With Michael Keaton, it was a little more campy, a little more fun, a little more light as opposed to the dark, more serious stuff that you saw with Christian Bale. I think that was the first person who really brought that to the screen, and I think that Bruce Wayne is taking that approach in ‘Gotham’. He’s very dark, he’s very angry, he’s scared; he’s ultimately very angry at the world,” said Mazouz.
But even joining the ranks of icons and Oscar winners wasn’t enough to intimidate Mazouz out of portraying his favorite superhero: “There was pressure, but it was good pressure. I was excited. [It] made me a lot more motivated to do my best.”
Judging by fans’ reaction, he seems to be doing just that – and he hopes that next Halloween there will be a few Bruce Waynes amongst all of the Batmen. Mazouz, however, was looking for a break from being ‘Gotham’s’ resident vigilante-in-training on Friday night.
“I don’t know, I think tonight I’m going to go as a nerd,” he said.
