Jeffrey Wright reveals how The Batman's Gotham stands out from other versions

Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon in The Batman

(Image credit: Warner Bros/DC)

Jeffrey Wright has talked about how The Batman's version of Gotham is different to any of its predecessors' take on the city.

Speaking to Indie Wire, Wright said the Gotham in the film's script is "unlike Gothams we'd seen before. It was a Gotham we could touch. The way the Batmobile was described, I understood the aesthetic we were going for was something really palpable. If you squint your eyes in some backstreet of New York, you could see it appear."

Depictions of Gotham have ranged from highly stylized, as in Tim Burton's films, to very grounded and realistic, like in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy. Already from the first trailer for The Batman, it's clear that this take on the famous city will be as dark and grungy as we'd expect.

The film stars Robert Pattinson as the titular Caped Crusader, while Zoë Kravitz appears as Catwoman, Colin Farrell as the Penguin, and Paul Dano as the Riddler. Wright plays Jim Gordon, the future police commissioner.

The actor also talked a bit about what else to expect from the DC movie. "I saw the themes around corruption and class tensions and all of the things that [director Matt Reeves] wanted to bring from the outside into this world so it had some relevance," he commented. "It's bringing fiction into non-fiction in a way that's balanced and really cool."

Wright recently told us a bit more about his take on Gordon, comparing the character to his cosmic MCU role of the Watcher. "They are [both] holding the scales, so to speak. They're definitely characters who are concerned about justice and justness."

He added: "I think Gordon is much less reticent, he's very much in the thick of things with The Batman so they're different in that regard."

The plot of The Batman is still being kept under wraps, but we should find out more at next month's DC FanDome event, which is set to take place on October 16.

I'm the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.