In its sixteenth episode ‘The Blind Fortune Teller’ [read our review here], Gotham took what is presumed to be the first step in exploring the origins of The Joker as Cameron Monaghan took on the role of ‘Jerome’ in the Batman prequel series, and now the young actor has been speaking about portraying the potential future Clown Prince of Crime in the Fox series.
“I read pretty much every comic I could get ahold of,” said Monaghan with regards to his preparation for the role during an interview with Comic Book Resources. “There were the obvious ones, like The Dark Knight Returns or The Killing Joke, and some older ones like The Laughing Fish. I looked at pretty much every writer you can think of, from Grant Morrison to Brian Azzarello. I was trying to understand how the Joker is portrayed throughout the media… I very much adore the sadistic nature of him. There’s his ability to remain cool and calm and cunning. He enjoys making other people squirm, which I think is fascinating. He enjoys pressing buttons a little bit. I only had that one scene to really show off, so I wanted to take advantage of it as much as I could. I was playing with the character’s intelligence a little bit there. I was lucky to get that scene where we get the turn, where we get that last punch line, where it’s revealed he’s been scheming all along. That moment is great. Like any actor, I was relying on the script to carry me, and I think it works.”
Asked about a potential return to Gotham, Monaghan replied that: “”When I was on set, we discussed the possibly of me coming back in the second or third season. Nothing is set in stone yet. I think the producers have a firm plan for what they want to do, but I was not privy to it while I was filming. I would love to come back and do some more… Relating [The Joker] to Jerome, I’m so curious to see where they take him. Batman is so integral to the Joker’s origin, and we don’t have that right now. However, Jerome is a person who existed in some capacity before that. There’s no reason he couldn’t have been that person before all of this happened. It will also be interesting to see if they want to go the route of the vat of chemicals. In Christopher Nolan’s films, he was a man who chose to simply put on make-up. Perhaps that’s even scarier, since he made the decision to be this creature.”
What did you make of Monaghan’s performance in Gotham, and would you like to see him back for future appearances? Let us know your thoughts…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONsp_bmDYXc&list=PL18yMRIfoszFLSgML6ddazw180SXMvMz5&feature=player_embedded
Originally published March 16, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
