Jeffrey Wright has bit back at ‘stupid’ backlash over being cast in The Batman as police commissioner Lt. James Gordon.
The acclaimed actor — who has starred in the likes of James Bond — appeared alongside Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne in the 2022 reboot.
He’s set to return for the sequel and has made it abundantly clear how he feels about the ‘racist’ backlash to his initial casting.
Jeffrey, 59, is the first black actor to play the police chief, who works as one of Batman’s main allies in the comics and in the film and TV adaptations.
Usually, in the comics, Gordon is a white man with red or brown hair and an impressive moustache, as sported by Gary Oldman in the Dark Knight trilogy.
Online critics became incredibly vocal in their opinion that The Batman should have adhered to this image of Gordon.
‘It’s just so f**king racist and stupid,’ the Hunger Games icon told Collider in a new interview, adding the criticism was ‘absent of all logic’.
Jeffrey continued: ‘It’s just so blind in a way that I find revealing to not recognise that the evolution of these films reflects the evolution of society, that somehow it’s defiling this franchise not to keep it grounded in the cultural reality of 1939 when the comic books were first published.’
The Westworld star added that Gotham — the fictional city Batman resides in — is a reflection of New York City, which is incredibly multicultural.
He emphasised ‘how gritty and granular and accessible’ this version of Gotham is, highlighting how ‘to be authentic [it] has to be reflective of a modern American metropolis’.
Commissioner Gordon first appeared in Detective Comics #27, which was released in May 1939 but since then has become a staple of the Batman franchise.
Along with Gary Oldman in the Christopher Nolan films, the role was played by J.K. Simmons in the 2017 Justice League movie.
He reappeared in the Zack Snyder extended cut and had been set to reprise his role in the Batgirl film, which was famously scrapped after test screenings despite good responses.
In the world of TV, Gordon was portrayed by Ben McKenzie in the series Gotham, as well as being voiced by various actors in animation, including Bryan Cranston.
Jeffrey added he finds it ‘fascinating the ways in which there’s such a conversation and I think even more of a conversation now, about Black characters in these roles.’
He wasn’t the only cast member to face this kind of racism, as Zoë Kravitz (who plays Catwoman) was once dismissed from Batman auditions.
She told Nylon Magazine in 2015: ‘In the last Batman movie [The Dark Knight Rises], they told me that I couldn’t get an audition for a small role they were casting because they weren’t “going urban”.
‘It was like, “What does that have to do with anything?” I have to play the role like, “Yo, what’s up, Batman? What’s going on wit chu?”’
She had the last laugh as she took over from Halle Berry as the magnetic Selina Kyle, a role which Michelle Pfeiffer and Eartha Kitt have also played.
The Batman Part II is set to begin filming next year, with Robert Pattison returning to the titular role alongside Jeffrey as Gordon.
Colin Farrell is due to return as Oz Cobb aka The Penguin, confirmed by director Matt Reeves, after his spin-off show of the same name.
Of course, Wayne Manor wouldn’t be complete without butler Alfred Pennyworth, and Andy Serkis will be back in that role too.
Speaking at 2024’s ACE Superhero Comic Con, Andy shared: ‘I loved working with Rob Pattinson, and I really look forward to playing Alfred once more.’
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