Executive producer Bruno Heller talked to Nerdist about the evolution of some characters in the second season of “Gotham”, including Bruce Wayne:
While Barbara has found a new home with the Maniax crew, young Bruce has a renewed sense of purpose in continuing his father’s work and figuring out what Wayne Enterprises is up to. But boys will be boys!
“Amongst other things, he’s also going to find young love,” Heller says. “But he’s also going to find out things about his family and Wayne Enterprises that will surprise not just him but the audience as well. Last season, he was very much a boy. This season, he’s becoming a young man. With that maturity comes doubts and turmoil. Leading to the creation of this iconic figure, the growth of that kind of character is never a straight line upwards.”
Heller reveals that Bruce’s storyline won’t be what viewers are expecting.
“What is surprising is how conflicted and ambivalent and dangerous the decisions he’s making are this season,” Heller says. “As much as he’s the strong, brilliant Bruce Wayne, he’s also just a kid. He’s going through adolescence, and every day of adolescence is a new experience, a new challenge. It’s a strange thing to say about a young man, but David is just bringing such wonderful profundity and soul to this. People are going to be blown away by his performance this season. It’s really great stuff.”
Source: Nerdist via Ben McKenzie News
Sean Pertwee gave an interview to Den of Geek where he talked about his character, and the evolution of Alfred and Bruce’s relationship in the second season of “Gotham”. As always, Mr Pertwee has nothing but kind words towards David Mazouz. You can read his interview below!
Earlier this year, I chatted to Mr Pertwee over a crackly international phone line about “Gotham” season 2, playing Alfred, and “Doctor Who”…
Where are you in the world right now? Are you in England?
Oh no, no, I’m in New York! We started shooting last Monday! We’re halfway through the first episode, which is quite phenomenal.Fantastic!
We’ve just read two and three, which are just phenomenally good. So, we’re very confident, should we say. Very excited.What can you tell us about what’s been going on so far? Or is it strictly under wraps?
It’s strictly under wraps, I mean, you know the Penguin rises to the top, and you know that the criminal underbelly has imploded. Fish has taken a swanny over the bridge. Um, and you know that something is discovered behind the fireplace. So, it really is that discovery that leads to the change with our relationship. Specifically when they discover what’s in there.
Executive producer John Stephens talked to Yahoo! about the new villains in “Gotham”, and how they will influence other characters, including Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova) and Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz). Here’s the part about them both:
Tigress
Theo’s sister is the more well-known of the siblings in the comic book world, having been first introduced in 1938. Played by Jessica Lucas (“Melrose Place”), she will act as a fiery counterpart to her brother’s calm exterior. She is also a sort of “proto-Catwoman,” exuding a sense of empowerment that Selina [Kyle] finds attractive, says Stephens. “You can see Selina start putting together the pieces of what will then make her into Catwoman.” A similar connection will also form between Theo and Bruce Wayne, he added — planting the seeds that contribute to the creation of Batman.
Source: Yahoo! TV via Ben McKenzie News
As we’ve previously seen, Selina teams up with Penguin himself (a.k.a. Oswald Cobblepot) at the beginning of “Gotham” season 2, and Robin Lord Taylor talked to Hypable about his new ally:
Penguin also has a new ally in Selina, who found herself without a leader when Mooney was overthrown.
[…]
Selina also has a history of keeping to herself, so how will the two work together? Lord Taylor doesn’t seem sure that the pair will be working together in the long haul. “Selina does her own thing, and she slips in and out and she is essentially — what I love about her character is that she, again, very similar to Penguin, she has no real allies except for maybe Bruce Wayne.”
But it’s clear that Penguin does have a plan for her while Selina is still around. Lord Taylor explains, “I think Oswald is very intrigued to have her around. She brings a new energy. He also enjoys the fact that she has that ability to infiltrate all sorts of groups, and I think he really wants to use that to his own advantage. Obviously we’ll see how much Selina agrees with that or is down with that, but I think that’s where Oswald is coming from.”
Source: Hypable
The episodes FOX screened for us were heavy on the ever-changing relationship between Alfred and Bruce: servant and young master, father and son, protégé and mentor, and the on-screen chemistry between the two. Mr. Mazouz’s depth is surprising for an actor three years away from legally buying an R-rated movie ticket.
“It’s second nature at this point, working with David. He’s one of the most efficient, focused actors—not just young actors—that I’ve ever worked with,” Mr. Pertwee said. “He can turn so dark in an instant. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
It was comforting to turn from my conversation with Mr. Pertwee to almost immediately see Mr. Mazouz in a playful fistfight with his equally youthful co-star Camren Bicondova. Batman and Catwoman, forever locked in conflict.
Our parting gift was a disk containing the third episode of “Gotham”‘s second season. “Tease it. Tease the hell out of it,” Mr. McKenzie told us all, before we exited back into the still-pouring rain.
So that’s exactly what I’ll do here. Episode three contains a game-changing finale that drastically alters the course of “Gotham”‘s second season and somehow satisfyingly ties into the grander Batman mythos overall.
Source: Observer.com
During a recent visit to the “Gotham” set at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, New York, several members of the cast seemed ready to unleash a reinvigorated second season on the viewing public.
[…]
The Bat and the Cat
One of the core pleasures of “Gotham” is seeing the unexpected twists and turns in the origin stories for a number of classic DC characters. That’s readily apparent in the work being done by the show’s two young, break-out stars: Camren Bicondova as street-dwelling pickpocket and future Catwoman Selina Kyle and David Mazouz as teenage Batman-to-be, Bruce Wayne.
“Our show is the origins of these characters, so that’s where we get our flexibility,” said Bicondova. “Because we are the origin stories, we get to have a little bit more flexibility with where we go with the storylines, and I think that’s brilliant.”
McKenzie said Bicondova’s work in particular is a great example of how the “Gotham” can pay tribute to the Batman story’s deep and rich history while still allowing the actors to create characters of their own.
“You’re seeing Catwoman in the flesh… (It’s powerful) to see an actual, real younger woman playing the role and understanding (the character) emotionally,” McKenzie said, later noting that “we have to be respectful of the intention of the series and the overall arc of the characters, but we get to play within it. It’s just a question of balance.”
Mazouz said his character’s past plays a far bigger role in his work that the character’s eventual future as a cape-and-cowl-wearing, crime-fighting vigilante.
“What I do is instead of thinking about it like I’m playing Batman 10 years before Batman, I’m playing a rich boy who lost his parents,” Mazouz said. “I’m thinking backward and moving forward instead of thinking about what he becomes. And, I do think about Batman, taking traits from him and using them in my performance, but typically I just think I’m a rich boy who lost his parents.”
“David is, without a doubt, one of the most phenomenally talented young men I’ve ever worked with,” said Pertwee. “I say young men, that’s the great thing about our profession… (that) we see people as complete equals and that’s what he is, he’s a complete equal. He’s phenomenally talented. I don’t need to tell you that. You’ve seen him. I mean, he flips the intensity button on and he’s the most focused, wonderful man. I adore him, I adore him like a second son.”
Read the whole article here, and listen to the audio of the interviews with the cast (including Camren Bicondova and David Mazouz) below (beginning at 29 minutes):
Source: Asbury Park Press
Ben McKenzie (Jim Gordon) promoted the return of “Gotham” yesterday and answered fan questions during a live chat on reddit. He was asked about his young co-stars on the show and briefly talked about David Mazouz, Camren Bicondova and Clare Foley (Ivy Pepper):
Hi Ben! Do you get all the references that appear in “Gotham”?
100% no. Usually David Mazouz has to explain all of the references to me (and all of the “older” actors)!How do you like working with the younger actors in your current series? Child actors can be hit or miss, but the kids on “Gotham” seems to be consistently stellar! Do you guys have fun on set?
I love them. David, Camren and Clare are just great actors and really nice “young people”. I feel so old right now :)
