Here is another new interview of Sean Pertwee (Alfred Pennyworth) with British website Digital Spy, promoting the return of “Gotham” in the UK, and where he talks about David Mazouz (Bruce Wayne):
“Then there’s the relationship between Bruce and Alfred, which is of course a rocky one. He’s had no experience with children. He’s lived a very closeted militaristic-style life and all of a sudden he’s in charge of one of the richest young men in the world, so it’s a bumpy ride!
“I’m lucky enough to work with David Mazouz, who’s just phenomenal. We’re sort of hermetically sealed for a lot of our stuff in the Manor – and we shoot chronologically so he’s growing in front of my eyes, and the audience’s eyes, and their relationship is constantly undergoing this change.
“It’s a fascinating journey because it’s a difficult one. I was fully aware that people were horrified at the way that Alfred treated young Master Bruce in the beginning but you’ve only ever seen the later versions of Alfred. He has to get there… so how do we get there? This is our point, so you have to make it as real as possible and give him a rock-solid background, which you will start to see more of – and I hope you like!”
How closely does your real-life relationship with David reflect Alfred’s dynamic with Bruce?
“We get on extremely well, we get on terribly well, I’m very close to him. I have a son virtually the same age – in fact, they play together, knock about together and play soccer… (pause) Soccer? I meant ‘football’ – god-dammit, I’ve been out here too long!“But anyway – I’m lucky to work with David because he has a phenomenal sense of focus, which he brings to the screen, and I’ve learnt so much from him – and we’ve become extremely close and we trust each other implicitly.”
[…]
Episode 17 is a big one for Alfred, with his old pal Reggie (David O’Hara) dropping by – David himself is an old friend of yours, so how was that experience?
[…]“I was extremely lucky for David to come on board, because he’s a phenomenally talented actor and of course then the interaction with Bruce as well… he got on terribly well with David.”
Gotham has been renewed for a second season – what are you most looking forward to going forward?
[…]“I’m sure you’ve heard all these clichés a million times from actors, but it’s absolutely true – we’re a really tight company and we go to the table-reads in our lunch break even if we’re not working because we want to read the script together.
“There’s no prima donnas – it’s an absolute joy and we’re shooting in one of the greatest cities in the world [New York City] – and I love it!”
Sean Pertwee, a.k.a. Alfred Pennyworth in “Gotham”, gave an interview to The Observer where he talks among other things about his relationship with David Mazouz:
Funnily enough, most of the rare times Mr. Pertwee referred to the character as “I” instead of “he” came when he described the bond developing between David Mazouz – who plays a young Bruce Wayne – and himself. On the show, Mssrs. Mazouz and Pertwee portray a sort of inverted father and son dynamic, built on firm discipline and fierce protectiveness. The relationship has grown off camera, too.
“We’re shooting chronologically, so we are becoming more accustomed to each other in real time,” Mr. Pertwee said. “[David] has this flame in his eyes, this darkness, that he can just turn on, which I find terrifying but brilliant.”
But off-screen, Mr. Mazouz is still a 13-year-old boy, an age where finding common ground with your 50-year-old colleague can be a rough process. Luckily, common ground came in the form of Mr. Pertwee’s son named, what else, Alfred. Mr. Pertwee’s family live full time in England while he shoots “Gotham”, but frequently visit.
It wasn’t until he saw Mr. Mazouz playing with his son that he realized the full extent of the ties between them.
“I was reminded that Bruce is still a young boy in the series,” he said. “And it’s all very well to show Alfred giving him the stiff upper lip, but he – Bruce — also needs to laugh.”
Donal Logue (a.k.a. Detective Harvey Bullock in “Gotham”) mentioned David Mazouz and Camren Bicondova in a new interview with KSiteTV, being once again very nice:
I don’t get to work a lot with [some people]. I’ve had a scene with Camren, but I see her around all the time. David and Camren, they’re golden people. They’re beautiful young people. They’re sweethearts, and their parents are cool.
Thanks to GothamSite for the heads up!
Bruno Heller has been promoting the return of “Gotham” and gave an interview to The Hollywood Reporter, where he talks about how impressed he was with David Mazouz, and what is to come for Bruce and Selina:
What’s been particularly surprising from working on the show so far? Was there a performance or character that you saw in the pilot and thought, “We should do more of that?”
[…]
I would also say that, initially, we didn’t intend to use Bruce Wayne quite as much, because with child actors you always want to be defensive, but David Mazouz is as good an actor as I’ve ever seen — child or adult. It’s rare that you can write dramatic scenes and be confident that they’ll deliver, and with David, he always does, and he can do more and more. We’ve definitely written to him more than we would have otherwise.David’s been surprisingly enjoyable to watch, especially when he shares the screen with Camren Bicondova’s Selina Kyle. After the way the two parted in the last episode, will we see the two of them together again any time soon?
Absolutely. Their relationship grows, develops and changes; they have their ups and downs. They have such a wonderful contrast to each other. Camren is full of such wonderful light and energy, and has this cocky arrogance about her. She’s incredibly compelling to watch. David is thoughtful, interior, intense and passionate, and the two of them together — you could make a great movie just with the two of them.What kind of teases can you drop about the back half of the first season?
[…] Selina Kyle’s going to do something incredibly shocking […]. One of the things about the second half of the season is that all the story we’ve set up so far comes to fruition. Some people come to an end, other people are triumphant. […] But I guarantee that, if you liked the first half of the season, you’ll love the second half.
“Gotham” is back tonight, at 8/7c, on Fox.
Bruno Heller, “Gotham”‘s developer, talked to Speakeasy about what is to come in the second part of the first season of the show, and also comments on the best elements of the first half of the season, including Camren Bicondova and David Mazouz’s acting skills:
Performances that helped convince the writers to play up certain characters more than planned:
The child actors, partcularly Camren Bicondova (Selina Kyle) and Mazouz, have also done well, in the writer-producer’s opinion. “With both of those two it’s just been a joy to see real, natural, great acting, and so we’ve used both of those guys more than we would have done otherwise.”
And there is more to come when “Gotham” comes back this Monday, with a brand new episode!
Happy new year, everyone!
Donal Logue, who plays detective Harvey Bullock in “Gotham”, spoke to Collider about his recent roles and his work on “Gotham”. He was asked about working with David Mazouz, whom he praises:
Collider: What’s it like to have David Mazouz, at the center of all of this?
LOGUE: He reminds us all of what we’re supposed to be doing, which is to pretend really hard that the stakes are the real stakes. He’s amazing. I love David. It’s great to see Sean [Pertwee] cut loose a little bit, too. We have a great group of people. Everybody in the cast is great.
