Exclusive: Here’s our interview with British director and Gotham’s executive producer Danny Cannon who discusses the creation of Gotham, the connection with his other police procedural shows, his favourite villain and the possibility of other vigilante’s on Gotham.
Ahead of the UK release of Gotham on Channel 5 Gotham TV Podcast were lucky enough to sit down at a roundtable at New York Comic Con 2014 to discuss Gotham and what we can expect from future episodes in season one with Executive Producer Danny Cannon and five members of the cast (Robin Lord Taylor, Erin Richards, Sean Pertwee, Donal Logue and Ben McKenzie) about their thoughts on the show, their characters and what could be coming in Season one of the show. The roundtable includes questions from other journalists present and our own questions to the cast and creator. You can listen to our full NYCC interviews or skip below to read the full transcripts.
Question – So talk about the concept of Gotham?
Danny Cannon – (Show creator and other Executive producer) Bruno Heller had talked about this idea to DC but he sat with me at thanksgiving last year but the idea started way before that. He gave me the pitch of “Go back in time in Gotham and meet the only honest cop left”. It was great because the conversation we had was in 20 years time what would make a city like this need a masked vigilante to save it and why would the villains be so outrageous. So we started from that foundation we had a long way to go. Geoff Johns at DC comics allowed us to go in and we talked about origins of characters and who had the rights and we were amazed at how many didn’t have them. so that enthused them.
Question – So you worked on a lot of police shows has that been useful with Gotham?
D.C. – I spent a lot of time doing that but in Gotham you get to throw it all out. You know it’s more “let’s move the body” lets do that, “lets smoke around the body” lets spill my coffee on the dead guys face it’s going back in time it’s a New York City without gentrification without (New York Mayors) Giuliani or Bloomberg it’s a city spiraling out of control. So the procedural thing goes out the window
Question – So who was your favourite villain to work out the details of?
D.C. – Well I gotta say the villains that are upcoming. We still have many to go. I have to say Fish Mooney a villain that was written from scratch and Jada took that up a notch to make it even better,
Gotham TV Podcast Question – Now that we’ve introduced the vigilante “Baloonman” (in episode 3 of Gotham) there’s speculation that we could see more vigilantes within Gotham
D.C. – Yeah definitely. I think a city that doesn’t trust it’s mayor or police department or can’t trust your neighbour there’s always going to be someone attempting to do that. As the show progresses the way we get to see David Mazouz’s Bruce Wayne navigate that too is very interesting. I couldn’t possibly say if any of the existing cast will do that.
Montoya the vigilante?
Question – Do you plan on exploring any of the supernatural elements?
D.C. – We’re very feet on the ground here. Who’s to say where a show will go but for now we’re very grounded.Gotham is a crazy theatrical world but I’d like to think it’s all very credible so for now we’re just going to stick with that.
Gotham TV Podcast Question – Given that a number of the DC shows on TV have police forces or different police departments what are the possibilities of cross overs.
D.C. – Very interesting again I don’t know. Right now what exists on air is apples and oranges. Tonally it might be a big shift but in the first season of the show as long as we keep building the reality of that situation and the great legacy of that I’ll be happy. Season two we’ll start again.
Question – Do you have any city models that have informed the show?
D.C. – When I was talking to Bruno Heller who is one of the most well read individuals I know. He needed another partner on the show cause it was such an undertaking. I talked about incorporating Dickensian London and the have’s and have-nots. We talked about Grimm fairy tales and I talked about westerns also in that in a western town is a great way to tell moral stories. It’s easier to tell moral stories when they’re played out in a neutral town.That’s why westerns were always incredibly popular in the 50’s 60’s and 70’s were always so popular because a contemporary moral story is easier to play out in a nondescript town.
Click here for the previous Interview – Robin Lord Taylor Click here for the next interview – Erin Richards
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