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LMGI COMPASS
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Fall 2018
by Shaun O'Banion
Shadow Hunters:
Celebrating Five Years on Location in Gotham
P
icture a boardroom at 20th Century Fox—a long shiny table surrounded
by people in suits. It's 2014 and the creators of Gotham are pitching
their bold new series. In this new chapter of Batman's original story,
the hero wouldn't be Bruce Wayne or his vigilante alter ego. In fact, Wayne
would be 12 years old in the pilot, meaning there would be little likelihood of
him becoming a man during the series, much less the legendary Dark Knight.
Gotham without Batman, a counterintuitive take that posed a clear risk for one
of DC Comics most famous franchises, not to mention possibly alienating a
loyal fan base. But in 2018, as the cast and crew return to work on their fifth
and final season, it's clear those risks paid off.
Gotham City was first mentioned in 1940, and in the better part of
a century since then, some of film and television's brightest cre-
ative teams have put their stamp on the legendary creation, from
the kitschy '60s Batman series shot in sunny Los Angeles, to Tim
Burton's gothic, art deco '80s films shot in England. In the '90s, Joel
Schumacher brought neon to Gotham's streets (and nipples to the
bat suit) in films like Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, lensed
in New York and L.A. From there, moviegoers explored the gritty
realism of Gotham City in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilo-
gy, shot in Los Angeles, Chicago, Hong Kong, England and Iceland,
among other locations. More recently, Zack Snyder presented his
brooding and heavily CG-enhanced films like Batman v Superman,
shot in Michigan, and Justice League, filmed in locales, including
Iceland, L.A., Chicago and Greece. All of these projects featured
Bruce Wayne/Batman in the lead role. Fox's Gotham was the first
addition to that pantheon with no help from the iconic character
who put the city on the map.
If you don't know much about the Batman mythology, imagine the
New York of Serpico, but with bad guys who are a bit more … col-
orful. In the pilot, viewers were introduced to a young Jim Gordon
(Benjamin McKenzie), at this point just a detective, and his world-
weary partner, Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue). Marquee villains Je-
rome Valeska (future Joker), Selina Kyle (future Catwoman), Edward
Nygma (future Riddler) and Oswald Cobblepot (future Penguin,
played by series standout Robin Lord Taylor) were introduced. But
despite a who's who of characters to build the series around, the
show also put the fictional city itself front and center as a lead char-
acter, posing a new challenge for the location team charged with
bringing it to life.
Shepard Hall – City College, Manhattan