J.K. Simmons’ Badass Jim Gordon In Justice League

Simmons Sees Gordon as Batman’s Partner

♦ Journalists visiting the set of Justice League recently saw  a scene being shot between the members of the team and Commissioner Jim Gordon. played by J.K. Simmons. Interviewed by  Entertainment Weekly, Simmons said that he’ll be returning soon to the London set for one last time to wrap his work as Commissioner Gordon on the action-adventure flick (due Nov. 17, 2017).

Simmons says his time on set with Ben Affleck (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Ezra Miller (Barry Allen/The Flash), Gal Gadot (Diana Prince/Wonder Woman), director Zack Snyder, has “been a fun experience, and knock wood, if it continues, then I’ll hopefully get to play Commissioner Gordon in a handful of movies.”

“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.” Before shooting started Simmons decided not to go back and watch any of the other films, saying “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. 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.” 

“People of my generation remember Commissioner Gordon as this jolly, ineffectual Santa Claus type, and I think over the years in the comics there’s definitely much more of a badass side to him. One of the things interesting me is hopefully investigating  a little bit more of that badass [side]…You’re living in a universe where it’s pretty tough to be a badass compared to somebody like Batman, but in the universe of non-superheroes I like the idea of Commissioner Gordon as a guy that can take care of himself, a guy that’s a real partner to Batman, not just a guy that turns on the bat signal and goes, ‘Help! Help, Batman!’