Winning praise from audiences on both sides of the Atlantic, Gotham has done what many didn't think it could do, bringing an origins tale never told before from the Batman franchise and delivering it with a punch straight to the gut.
Here we speak in a new and exclusive interview with the show's very own Bruce Wayne - David Mazouz - about his experiences on the series so far, his hopes for the future and more.
Were you a big fan of the Batman universe before landing this role?
I've always been a huge fan of the Batman universe and Batman, since I was born really. I think the reasoning for that is because he doesn't have a superpower - he has no special ability. He's just a regular person, a regular human. The only special ability that he has is money, so... he really takes the responsibility of saving Gotham from criminals and I've always found that really fascinating because he has no real reason to, just because he wants to, and he takes it upon himself, and I've always found that really cool.
How easy a decision was it for you to make to join the show?
It was so easy (laughs) - yeah.
What are the sets like to work on? You spend a lot of time on the show in Bruce Manor which looks fantastic.
Yeah, I mean the set person and the wardrobe and our location people and everything - all of that art department stuff is amazing, really phenomenal, really great - the costumes and the sets and the GCPD Precinct, you walk into that set and you say: 'Wow!'. It's really cool.
You were thrown in at the deep end really with that first scene where Bruce's parents are murdered. It's obviously the catalyst for a lot of what happens in the series, but how was that scene to film?
It was a lot of fun. I think it was the second scene that I shot. It was a lot of fun, it was hard. A lot of people have been asking me what kind of emotional experience in my life do I bring to that scene to get that kind of emotion, and the answer to that question is, I don't really know, because I feel like it's an actor's job to put yourself in the character's shoes and ask yourself what would that character be feeling at this time. It was a really cool scene, working out what Bruce would do with Danny Cannon our director, really working it all out. Would he go down to the floor? Would he not? I had some really fun ideas that I thought translated really well and so did Danny, and it turned out to be a really cool scene.
It's really a collaborative effort between the actors and show bosses then?
Definitely, yeah. I think that's very important and it's something that this show really does. The writers and directors are always open for ideas, always open for little tweaks, and I've always found that really important really, and also fantastically done by our crew.
NOTE - THE NEXT TWO QUESTIONS CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS UP TO AND INCLUDING SEASON 1, EPISODE 5
Obviously this event hits Bruce hard, but we see he soon picks up the goings on at Wayne Enterprises may not be entirely innocent - is this search for truth something we should expect to continue throughout the series?
Yes. You won't really experience it every episode. The whole Wayne Enterprises deal - it won't really come back for a while, I can tell you that, but yes, it will come back.
It takes a while to get Alfred on-side, but he eventually comes round - will this be a duo we'll see together more and more now?
Yes. That scene, at the end of episode five was an added scene, and I think it's brilliant. Sean [Pertwee] and I were talking about it - it's such a short scene, there's no lines, but it's such a fantastic scene and I love that they added that in because, Sean and I, I think it's both of our favourite scenes, I think it's my favourite scene of the series. It really showed the relationship, it starts to show how Alfred - because up until now you really saw Bruce and Alfred always battling against each other, always butting heads - but now you're gonna kind of see them, they're still gonna butt heads a little bit, but you will see them from this point on work together as a team a lot more, and I think that's brilliant. I love it. I love that scene.
A lot of your scenes are with Alfred and James Gordon, so how are Sean Pertwee and Ben McKenzie to work with?
Phenomenal. Really phenomenal, like ridiculously phenomenal. I'm really thankful, I feel really blessed, because they're such talented, professional people and such good actors, and people I can look up to because they're so nice and so sweet to everybody, and I really couldn't ask for more.
Now that you're five episodes in over in America and two here in the UK, you've seen such a positive response, do you feel more relaxed and settled into the role?
Yeah, I mean I was never really that nervous, because I try to live in the moment and I don't try to think about where the show's gonna go in a couple of years, I just like to live in the now, what's happening in the next couple of seconds in my life as opposed to the next couple of years. So yeah, it was cool finding out it was doing so well, and also I just got the chance - because the show shoots in New York but I live in Los Angeles - before I came to London I got to go back to Los Angeles for a couple of days and it was really strange, but it was really cool, seeing all of my friends, and they had already watched the show and they were really excited to see me, and they were talking about the show - that was cool. That was really cool.
Do you one day hope to don the cape and cowl and go through the full Batman transformation?
Yeah, I totally do, if the show goes that long which hopefully it does, that would be fantastic. And also if it doesn't, in ten years when they want to do another Batman movie - I'm open!
If you could play a villain on the show for a day, who would you play?
That would be fun. If I could choose any villain - I wanna say the Joker, but if I have to be more creative/original, I might go with the Mad Hatter.
Gotham continues in the UK on Channel 5, Monday nights at 9pm.
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