Batman: Year One is often name-dropped as one of the best Batman comic book adventures. Developed by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli, the four part monthly comic followed up after the massively successful Dark Knight Returns. In ‘Returns,’ Miller depicted an older bitter Bruce Wayne at the end of his time, fighting an impossible battle against the criminal element that refused to be pacified. In Year One, Miller gave readers a younger, inexperienced Wayne just returning from his travels around the globe (when he apparently studied martial arts, detective skills and all of the other traits he would utilize in his oncoming war).
Along with telling the beginning of Batman’s career, Year One was also a study of the one good cop in Gotham, James Gordon. Batman Year One as a comic book remains one of the finest character studies of the caped crusader and revitalized the comic book hero for a new generation. As an animated film, Year One is brutal and unrelenting. The streets of Gotham City are shown as being riddled with under-age prostitutes and crooked cops. Accompanying his pregnant wife, James Gordon finds that he is against a sea of vice so thick that he has to carve his way through with both hands.
To portray this pivotal part, DC Entertainment cast Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston. Cranston nearly steals the show as Gordon in a remarkable and unflinchingly harsh vision of neo-crime noir. The LA Times’ Hero Complex talked to the actor about the project and what it takes to vocalize such an iconic character in an amazing tale.
The latest direct-to-video animated film from Warner Home Video is “Batman: Year One,” an adaptation of the landmark 1980s comics that became a template for the Christopher Nolan version of Gotham City and its corrupt police department. Bryan Cranston, who has won three Emmys for his work on the AMC series “Breaking Bad,” stars as James Gordon, the cop who is trying to sort out his personal life and survive the mean streets of a city on the edge. The cast also includes Benjamin McKenzie as Bruce Wayne, Eliza Dushku as Selina Kyle and Katee Sackhoff as Det. Sarah Essen. Our Geoff Boucher caught up with Cranston to talk about the film, which is now on sale.
GB: Whether it’s in animation or in one of the live-action films, it seems like Gotham City is a must-visit place for character actors these days.
BC: Well, I went there last year on a vacation and it was so fun – dark, wonderful, they commit crimes without getting caught. But yes, there’s a lot of crime and terrible things going on in that city, so I thought, why not go and clean it up a little bit.
GB: You play James Gordon in this animated film. He’s a good cop in a bad city. Really, historically, it’s amazing he can hold on to his job with the crime rate in Gotham…
BC: Well, that’s why you need a guy like Jim Gordon, don’t you? You need to bring a guy like Jim Gordon in there. It’s like priests in Vegas – that’s where they’re needed.
GB: The character of Jim Gordon has become a great one through the years. The corruption around him makes him an outsider but he has his own flaws and foibles, too, he’s no saint.
BC: I like the character. I like the writing of the script and that’s why I wanted to do it. He’s not morally pure. He’s morally ambiguous and he’s trying to find himself, and that always makes for a much more interesting character to play. Much more interesting than someone who has all the right answers. I also like the fact that the story comes from Jim Gordon’s point of view, it doesn’t come from the Batman’s point of view. I found that refreshing and actually more interesting. That kept the Batman character more mysterious. If we know too much about Batman he loses that wonderful sense of fantasy and mystery. So who do we follow? We follow the cop, who a lot of people can relate to. That gave me opportunities – not only in his dialogue and scenes and how he reacts to other characters — but also with his voiceover, which I saw as his thought process. So you’re able to convey intention that way, as well, so it was pretty rich and deep.
(read the entire interview at the LA Times)
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