With Batman v Superman released, and Justice League in principle photography, the DC cinematic universe is well underway. Warner Bros has begun quite an ambitious undertaking, with multiple character planned to have their own stand alone films, not to mention the team up films. While the focus is surely to be on the numerous titular heroes that reside in the DC extended universe, there are various supporting characters that are sure to fill the gaps and provide a human element. Enter Oscar winning actor J.K. Simmons, who has been cast as Commissioner Gordon the upcoming Justice League movie. Simmons recently spoke with Collider in anticipation of The Meddler opening, and commented on his role in the DC universe. Simmons talked about his preparatory methods, and if he has been brushing up on the comic books to help him with the iconic role.
“Well, to read the comics, yes, absolutely. I’m still a couple of months out from doing that and I have two other films before then, so I haven’t gotten started on that. Obviously, a lot of really wonderful actors have played that character previously, and most of them I saw at the time the movies came out, never imagining that I would be doing the same thing. So, I can’t say that I don’t have some impression of that character in my head that’s based on what I saw, but I’m not planning on going back and watching any of the other films. I’m just planning on learning as much as I can about him through the comics and getting my feet wet in the first movie, and then hopefully continuing on from there.”
Simmons also likened the take on the role to theater by saying:
“I take this from my days doing theater. If I was doing a musical, I would never listen to the cast album because I wanted to do my version of something. I’m sure there will be differences and similarities with what Gary Oldman or Pat Hingle have done before, but I’m just going to try to do my take on it and be as informed as I can about the rich history of the Batman universe, going into it.”
Simmons famously portrayed J. Jonah Jameson in the Sam Raimi Spiderman films, but he steadfastly states that the facial hair is the only similarity between Gordon and Jameson.
“There are easy comparisons to make. I wasn’t a big comic book reading kid, so I did a fair amount of reading when I was playing Jameson, who was very much the comic relief in those movies. Even in the comics, he was a blowhard who was all bark and very rarely bite. My understanding, from what I’ve learned so far about Commissioner Gordon, is that he’s the older guy with the mustache who relates with our hero in a certain way. Other than that, it’s a vastly different character and much more of a stronger, impactful character in the DC universe.”
With a standalone Batman film on the way we will likely get to see plenty of Simmon’s Commissioner Gordon, but until the standalone film, we will get to see him in Justice League, which comes out on November 17th of 2017.
So what do you guys make of Simmons’ comments? Are you excited for Justice League? Drop a comment and let us know what you think.
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