Taking part in one of the most-anticipated new series this year, Erin Richards will step into the shoes of Barbara Kean - a woman major DC fans will be aware of but somebody that casual fans of the Batman movies may not be all too familiar with.
Now she's being put front and centre as the affiance of Jim Gordon - new cop on the block - and we're to find out things about their life that has yet to be explored.
In a new and exclusive interview, we spoke to Erin about taking on the world of Gotham, what it is she loves about the show and more.
How much did you know about the Batman world and Gotham before you were cast?
Before I was cast I knew a lot about Batman. Batman's always been my favourite superhero, and I know it's easy to say that after you've got the job but he really was! (laughs) I've always liked the way that anybody essentially could be Batman, as long as you've got a Batcave and a really rich family! But no, he doesn't have any specific powers so I've always liked that reality of the world and that's what we're reflecting in our programme as well - it's a real world where real people exist with real layers, which is nice.
I've always been a big fan of the films. I was a real big Tim Burton fan when I was younger and obviously the [Christopher] Nolan films have left a big impression on me.
What was it about Barbara Kean that led you to pursue that role?
When I went in I had only - Barbara is one of the less well-known characters, but Bruno Heller the creator always writes the most fantastic female characters, so I knew I was going to be in very safe hands with him, even though I didn't know specifically what the character would be or into - I 100% trusted Bruno because I've watched Rome and The Mentalist and he always creates fantastic female characters with loads of layers and depth, so I knew I wasn't just gonna be a fiancée who's at home on the arm of a man. I was drawn to initially, she's this strong, independent, dedicated woman, and she's completely in love with Jim Gordon, her fiancé, played by the fantastic Ben McKenzie, and then from there Bruno explained to me that she would have all these hidden secrets and layers and the depth that would reveal itself throughout the story, so that's what hooked me.
I know you were a fan of The OC, so what's it been like working with Ben?
(laughs) Yeah I was a fan. At first it was a little bit of a flustered moment when I found out that he was gonna be my fiancé. My 14-year-old self was pretty happy about that. But you know meeting him and working with him has been such a pleasure because he's such a dedicated individual. He's been in the business a long time and sometimes people like that can not be so great, but Ben is just like a completely regular guy, he's really committed to the role and really fun to work with. We've got a bit of a similar background - we both went to university to do politics so we've got a really similar world view and work view, it's just a joy basically, every day.
So was the chemistry there straight away for your characters?
I think so. We get each other and we really understand each other and we have a similar work ethic - we're just completely in love with the work and the writing so both of us are just really excited all the time, which is nice.
In the little glimpses fans have seen in the UK, it seems to be a very balanced relationship, how does that progress going forward?
Yeah, they're just a great normal, modern couple. Both of them are working really hard at their jobs, they're both really dedicated to their work and each other. On paper it's a perfect match but unfortunately even though they're very much in love with each other they both have these secrets that they're hiding and over the course of the series those secrets are revealed and it's all about whether they can overcome those problems that they have - like most relationships you know? I mean, most relationships probably don't have the kind of secrets that Jim and Barbara do (laughs) but our show is reflective of life and there's problems in everyone's relationship, so they have to try and work through these things. That's the interesting part of the story for me, how are they gonna handle that?
Barbara does have a history with Montoya in the show - what's going on there?
Again I don't wanna give too much away but at this point in her life she's got herself together, but her past is a muddier water where she sort of went off the rails and has a dark history, and Montoya is just one of those chapters of her life. We don't know exactly what happens but you find out later on and you see how that effects and impacts on her and Jim's relationship.
How long did it take you to perfect the American accent for the show?
It's been a bit of a process over the years, I've done a couple of things in American and had various great teachers, some in the UK and some out here, and I think by now there's something about Barbara that just clicked for me. When I do the accent my voice lowers a range, it goes down a tone, which I really like because I feel like I want to have a lower resonance in my voice, because I think it's stronger and more womanly, that's what I try to do in my everyday life but my Welsh accent doesn't lend that well to it! But when I slip into Barbara it naturally comes and I feel more grounded and stronger and that American accent just comes out of me - I actually sometimes prefer speaking like Barbara than I do with me! (laughs) I don't have a coach on-set anymore, Ben looks out for me and if I ever have a word - if it's a strange word I'll just ask somebody on-set, and I work like that really which is what I'm doing at the moment.
Do you feel a pressure with the show because it's a show based on the origins of characters from such a massive franchise?
Yeah, I mean there's pressure that we put on ourselves I think because we feel a lot of responsibility to the fans and to the franchise. People have loved these characters for such a long time and there's been so many different versions of them, and I feel like the great thing about our story is that it's the origins of these characters. Everybody knows the finished product of Batman, Joker - sorry not Joker we haven't got Joker yet! - and Penguin - he may come! People understand and love the finished characters but I think for me and especially I feel like women enjoy the development of characters. I'm really interested personally at how people arrive at their final versions of themselves, so for me the origin stories, I think women especially like finding out how people become who they are, because we're interested in the intricacies and emotions and people's psyches and stuff, and I think that what a really great thing about our show is you can follow the development of female and male characters all the way through and find out what makes them tick and how they get to that end point of the characters that everybody knows and loves.
Aside from Barbara, who would you play for a day if given the chance?
Oo! I would play Jada Pinkett Smith's character Fish Mooney because she's such a bad-ass! I really love her. We went to Comic-Con and she brought a baseball bat with her all day. She's fierce, absolutely fierce, and she's such a wonderful woman as well, so it would be great to play that for a day. Kick some ass!
Gotham kicks off tonight on Channel 5 at 9pm.
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