For a lot of people, the definitive Jim Gordon came with Bob Hastings’ portrayal from Batman: The Animated Series. He wasn’t completely useless like the character from the Burton/Schumacher movies. He was a darn good cop and an invaluable ally to Batman. Newer generations look to Gary Oldman’s portrayal in the Dark Knight movies, which evoked a more gritty, cerebral take of a man willing to deceive his city for the greater good. Each of these portrayals are different in their own way, but they all had one thing in common aside from occupation and name, they all sported that fantastic mustache.
Therefore, it stands to reason that some fans were not particularly happy with Ben McKenzie’s Gordon, in the upcoming Gotham TV series, simply sporting some stubble and a glaringly naked upper lip. Those complaints didn’t go unnoticed. It looks like it was a very deliberate choice by showrunner, developer, and executive producer Bruno Heller.
Your piece of non-news for today addresses the mustache and why it was left out. Ben McKenzie participated in a press call a few days ago and mentioned a conversation between him and Heller:
And then as soon as it hit the Internet that I was doing it, all anyone wanted to talk about was whether I’d have a mustache or not. I thought about ringing Bruno and being like ‘Uh, one last thing I forgot to…’ we just literally never talked about it. And then I brought it up to him, and he goes ‘No. That would look ridiculous on you. It’s twenty years before he can grow into the maturity and wisdom that it takes to sport a mustache, and that’s the line we’re sticking to.”
There you have it. Apparently, Heller believes that facial hair of that caliber signifies “maturity and wisdom.” It’s laughable, but it kind of does make sense despite how silly that sounds. McKenzie would later reassure everyone that he has the ability to grow a mustache.
Gotham premieres tomorrow, September 22, at 8/7c.
Source – Gothamsite
