13-Year-Old David Mazouz Is the Dark Heart of 'Gotham'
One of the perceived weak points of Fox’s new fall series Gotham is the young-teen element. Many longtime comic fans fear that this Batman prequel will devolve into a show about a high school romance between Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) and Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova).
In fact, more than anything, the show will resemble a procedural with the through line being James Gordon’s war on the city’s organized crime families. In “The Dark Side of Gotham” exclusive video teaser below, when Donal Logue — who plays Gordon’s slightly crooked partner Harvey Bullock — talks about “the nature and the weight of the adversary he’s up against,” it’s not the Penguin or the Riddler or the Joker he’s talking about.
The show leans heavily on Gotham Central as its source material — a comic book series that saw the world of heroes and villains from the perspective of the non-superpowered police. The pilot revolves around the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents, and the interaction between Bruce and Gordon makes it clear the show has no time for teen soap elements.
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SPOILER ALERT: In the last scene of the debut episode, Gordon (Ben McKenzie) comes to apologize to Bruce. He fulfilled his promise to catch the man who killed Bruce’s parents, only to find that the man they caught had been framed. Gordon is caught between the desire to reveal the cover-up or play along to discover who really killed the Waynes.
Gordon essentially asks for Bruce’s permission when he asks him to not pursue the killer himself. At the same time, Alfred (Sean Pertwee) is there not only as a butler but also as a friend and surrogate father to Bruce. It’s a delicate scene with multiple levels, and 13-year-old Mazouz navigates them all with an unexpected grace and passion.
"What he has is intense focus and internal strength," said Bruno Heller, one of the series’ writers. "To find someone that young who has all the instincts and the intensity of a real intense actor is such a gift because it means you can tell real stories — which, frankly, you can’t often do."
Offscreen, Mazouz is as cheerful and light as Bruce Wayne is moody and grim. We spoke with him after a pilot screening in a small reception area crammed beyond capacity. People were shoulder to shoulder as loud music played, and it seemed that the scene would be even more uncomfortable for the diminutive actor, especially on a school night.
Mazouz was unfazed. He smiled impishly as he sneaked an extra dessert from under the watchful eye of his mother. Anywhere he goes, he appears to make himself at home.
Why go through all of this just to be an actor?
That’s a good question I ask myself every day! [Laughs.] No, no, no. The story of me beginning to act — I’ll cut it down for you. Basically, I was in the mall one day — I feel like that’s how all great stories start, in the mall. [Laughs.] So, I was in the mall one day and this lady approached me, approached my mom and my sister and said, “Do you want to take classes?” and mentioned [The Suite Life of] Zack and Cody. Me and my sister begged my mom. And I was 5, so, “Zack and Cody! Zack and Cody! Let me go! Let me go!”
My sister was really the one who begged my mom. And she said, fine. I’ll let them go audition for this class. They’ll wait in line for five hours, and they’ll see it’s not all it’s cracked up to be and they’ll want to stop.
We really liked it, my sister and I. It was one of those classes where they want you to spend the money, but you don’t actually get anywhere. It’s not really a good class, a quality class. My mom said no, no more of this, so my sister gave my mom the silent treatment. My mom said finally, “OK, fine, I’ll get you some good classes.” My mom’s a therapist, so she has some links to the business. So, she found some good classes — that coach is still my coach today. And it was the perfect opportunity for my mom to go to Costco every Sunday. [Laughs.]
So, that’s three hours every Sunday, I would be in acting classes. A few years later, we started taking another class. At the end of that class, there was a showcase. It was a commercial workshop; a bunch of commercial agents came. They saw me, one wanted to represent me, I auditioned for him. Started going out on commercial auditions for about a year. And then, a year later — I was about 8 1/2 now — he referred me to my theatrical agent, and things just kind of took off from there. It all happened very organically.
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Was there a moment of inspiration for you? Do you have a Batman moment?
Um, I want to say yes, I really, really do… [Laughs.] I had a fish that died once. [Laughs.] But the answer’s no. For this role, I try to put myself in his shoes, but I can never actually feel what Bruce Wayne feels at that moment.
Were you a fan of Batman before you were cast?
I’ve always known the story of Batman; he’s always been my favorite superhero. Once I booked the role, I went into a lot more depth with him. I did a lot of research: comic books, Internet, TV shows, movies. I did everything I could. I have all the Bob Kane/Bill Finger originals that are out of print. The books. I have the first 20 issues.
The early stuff!
Yeah yeah, like the very first Batman. And wow, has he come a far way, let me tell you that!
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Which is your favorite version of Batman?
I think I have to go with Christian Bale. I mean, I like them all. But each Batman brings a different approach to it; each actor — Michael Keaton, George Clooney, Adam West — each of them brings a different approach to it.
I think Christian Bale’s approach was, he was really the first time that we saw Batman/Bruce Wayne so serious. He brought the darker side to Batman. Batman’s always supposed to be [gruff voice] “The knight, the dark.” But we never saw it that dark.
And, in that trilogy, you just saw his need to seek justice. And, I think, that’s the approach that Bruce Wayne in Gotham — my character — is going to go. Because Bruce Wayne is kind of just a regular boy — well, not regular, he’s a billionaire — he’s kind of a regular boy. But when his parents get murdered, it’s a wake-up call for him.
He realizes and he sees, for the first time in his whole life, the corruption and just the awfulness of the city of Gotham. And that anger and hate and rage, the need for justice, vengeance creeps up, builds up inside of him until, 10 years later, it leads him to be the caped crusader.
You’ve seen young Bruce Wayne in the first five minutes of the Christian Bale movies or in the comic books, but you’ve never seen it in this depth before. And I think it’s going to be really cool to see exactly where he gets his motive from. Where his need to be a good person — because he’s not born with any powers like any of the other superheroes. He brings it upon himself to be this. And where does he get that from? You get to see that throughout the show.
You were very impressive in the last scene of the pilot. How was it to go toe-to-toe with someone like Sean Pertwee?
I think Bruce Wayne’s relationship with Alfred, Alfred in general, is going to be very different. Sean Pertwee is going to bring a whole new version of Alfred. His Alfred is going to be tough as nails. He’s going to be an ex-Marine. He’s not going to take anything from anybody if he doesn’t want to take it.
I think in all the other Alfreds, you see him trying to calm Bruce down. “OK, Bruce, let’s not go that far.” And he’s going to do that also, because I think — I haven’t seen any of the other scripts, only the pilot — but I think Bruce Wayne is going to want to go out and find the guy himself; that’s just the kind of kid he is. I think Alfred’s going to calm him down also. But he’s going to bring a whole different way to it; he’s going to be tough about it. And they’re going to have a close relationship.
In the other ones, it’s clear Alfred is Bruce Wayne’s butler. He’s working for him; Bruce Wayne owns him. This one, they’re going to be more head-to-head a lot of times, getting into arguments. He’s more like a friend. I mean, he’s also going to be a surrogate father along with Gordon. That’s who raises him after his parents are gone.
I think they’re going to be more friendly with each other. You see that also in the pilot when Alfred’s telling Bruce to do something. Just the way he doesn’t say, “Master Bruce, could you please do this?” It’s, “No! Go do this! Do this now!”
Was there anybody on set that you really bonded with or learned things from?
I’ve only worked on the pilot about five days, so not terribly too much. But everybody is amazing. Everybody I’ve come across in the show is very, very good at acting and a very, very good person. Sean and Ben I’ve worked the most with, and, really, they’re just amazing people.
I think you really see the chemistry in the show with the characters. That chemistry is real. I mean, during that time, we’d only known each other for a few days. But Ben and Sean both are just really, really warm, welcoming people. I felt so comfortable around them, just five minutes of being around them.
Gotham premieres Monday, Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. on Fox.
