Other Titles • Batman Begins (2005) • Batman 5 • Batman: Intimidation • Batman: Intimidation Game (2003) • Batman Begins: The IMAX Experience • The Intimidation Game
“This has been one of the best working experiences I’ve ever had,” Holmes marvels. “How many chances do you get to have a conversation with Gary Oldman, Christian Bale or Michael Caine, let alone do scenes with them? I was very nervous at first, but so thrilled.”
Batman’s first ally on the side of justice is Detective Sergeant James “Jim” Gordon, one of the few good cops on Gotham’s debauched police force. A patrolman at the time of the Wayne murders, Gordon offers young Bruce Wayne solace on the tragic night that changes the fated heir’s life forever. Years later, when Batman seeks Gordon’s help in his campaign against evil, Gordon has worked his way through the mire and earned the rank of Detective Sergeant, though his unscrupulous partner Detective Flass has as little regard for the law as Gordon has respect for it.
“I think Gordon’s hair turned grey at a pretty young age,” says Gary Oldman, the acclaimed actor known for playing characters not nearly as decent as Gordon in films such as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hannibal, Air Force One, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and JFK. “It’s difficult in this day and age to retain any kind of integrity, whatever line of work you’re in, but trying to police Gotham City would turn anyone grey. What’s nice about the role is that Gordon is so honest and true blue. I like playing the one good apple in the bunch.”
“Gary has never really played such a wholesome character,” Nolan notes, “but he is a chameleon, and he absolutely inhabits the role of Gordon. The essential goodness of the man is very apparent from his first scene.”
“Gary’s performance captures the essence of Gordon from the comic books,” Thomas adds. “He very much looks the way the character does in Batman: Year One, for example, and he conveys the weariness that Gordon feels from fighting an uphill battle against not only the criminals, but his own colleagues who perpetuate the corruption in Gotham City.”
Oldman adopted Gordon’s iconic moustache and glasses for the role, and speaks with a regionally non-specific American accent, at Nolan’s request. “Chris wanted me to look as much like Gordon does in the comic as I realistically could, and not be identifiable as coming from any particular part of the country,” he says. As for his character’s world-weariness, “I just played the jet lag,” Oldman jokes, referring to the numerous flights taken between his home in Los Angeles and the production’s Chicago and London locations.
Initially, Gordon isn’t sure whether or not he can trust Batman, but ultimately they form a clandestine partnership. “Gordon is infused with new energy and hope when Batman emerges on the scene,” says Oldman. “He knows Batman is a bit of a wild card, but his heart is in the right place. They both have the same goal and share a single-purpose kind of mindset.”
In stark contrast to Gordon’s decency is the rapacious greed of Wayne Enterprises CEO Richard Earle. Following the death of Thomas Wayne and Bruce’s subsequent disappearance from Gotham, Earle has presided over the company’s move from philanthropic-based business ideals to the production of military defense hardware and weapons manufacturing.
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