Peter Sarsgaard is one of the actors that you should know, but may not. Hopefully, that will change considering he is staring in Matt Reeves’ upcoming ‘The Batman‘ as Gil Colson. In the DC film, in which Robert Pattinson will play the iconic titular role; Gil Colson is a Gotham City district attorney who has “an aversion to the truth”.
In a recent interview with THR, Sarsgaard reveals that he was almost finished filming his scenes for The Batman. That was before everything was shut down due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Sarsgaard commented on this during the interview:
“God, I’m just hoping that we can go back soon and finish shooting it. It’s much harder with a big movie — to get back to it and finish it. It’s hard to even think about anything else with it… I’m about 80 percent done with my part, so I would just like to do the last 20 percent.”
Sarsgaard is also a champion for Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne, as he expresses his feelings about The Batman:
“He looks amazing. I have to say, he really, really does. The work he was doing was really cool. I really dug his Batman, and I can’t wait to see it [on-screen]. I think he’s a very interesting actor, and… I loved him in the Safdie brothers movie [Good Time] that he did. And I actually really liked this one he just did… the comedy movie with Willem Dafoe. The Lighthouse. He’s just an interesting, interesting actor.”
Sarsgaard is a talented actor and personally, I was a bit disappointed that his character isn’t a larger or well-known DC character. Granted, Sarsgaard can make any role fantastic, so I don’t expect to not enjoy his performance. There was a moment, though; that the world and I surmised he might be playing a very iconic Batman villain. Originally, we guessed he might be playing Harvey Dent aka Two-Face. This was due to a picture that Maggie Gyllenhaal posted on him, with his head half-shaven. Sarsgaard is amused by the speculation:
“I think my kid might’ve even taken that picture. Yeah, it was just random. I enjoyed it, though. The more people are just talking about it and thinking about it, the better, right? It doesn’t make any difference. I mean, in terms of ‘fake news,’ it’s pretty benign.”
Here is more of an excerpt of that interview, where Sarsgaard discusses his character:
I hate to be a cliche, but I have to ask you about Mr. Gil Colson. You’ve described him as a district attorney and politician who has trouble telling the truth. In the time since production was suspended, the actions/inactions of our civil and public servants have been rather illuminating to say the least. While I’m sure this was on your mind to some degree already, do you think this magnified behavior will influence or inform your performance even more once you resume shooting The Batman?
That’s interesting. It’s not been much of a surprise, though, you know. When we were shooting, I think I already suspected many of the things that have become really obvious, including not just the President but everyone. (Attorney General William) Barr, for example. God, I’m just hoping that we can go back soon and finish shooting it. My wife (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and I just shot a movie here at our house in Vermont, and it’s going to be on Netflix starting on the 30th. It’s an 11-minute film. She wrote and directed, and I act. We did it in a day and half. And then, I’m going to be in a movie that she’s directing with Olivia Colman, Dakota Fanning, Jessie Buckley and a bunch of other people.
So, I’m just hoping that we can get back soon, and I can get back into it. it’s just something I want to get back to and finish. It’s much harder with a big movie — to get back to it and finish it. With my wife’s movie, it’s small and we can all just quarantine together. The process on that is everyone goes to the location, quarantines for 14 days and we get together — assuming no one gets sick — and all shoot together, quarantined, shooting six-day weeks for a month and then you’re done. On these big movies, this goes on for months and months.
There’s hundreds of people on set at any given time. It’s just so hard to understand how we do it, and so, I just want to get back to do it. It’s hard to even think about anything else with it other than, like… I’m about 80 percent done with my part, so I would just like to do the last 20 percent.
When your significant other learned that you were becoming the second Gotham City DA/Assistant DA in the family, did she josh you in a competitive or territorial way at all?
(Laughs.) Well, you know, the funny thing, when Maggie did The Dark Knight, it was pretty soon after she had given birth. I mean, Maggie was breastfeeding when she shot that movie. So, she had one hand behind her back. (Laughs.) Like, in between takes, she was breastfeeding. So, I think for me, the hardest part was I just always find it hard to be away from my family and do anything. I just want to shoot down the street from my house, but that’s not going to be happening anytime soon.
Finally, the interviewer asked Sarsgaard about my favorite Sarsgaard performance: his role on AMC’s The Killing.
By the way, I thought you were incredible on The Killing. I love when a heavy hitter shows up on an existing show for one season and just wrecks shop.
Oh, thank you so much. I really, really had a great time doing it, and I loved being in Vancouver. I lived up in the mountains, and I was running a huge amount. I loved showing up for work, and all the scenes were so nicely, perfectly set up by Veena (Sud). It’s really easy to do that when someone’s giving you scene after scene that is meaningful and not just what I call the “Bourgeois Blues.” You know, when you get some script where it’s like, “Okay, be home from school. Time to watch the movie. Here’s a cheese plate.” I can’t. (Laughs.) That’s the stuff that I just avoid and can’t handle.
For the full interview, you can visit THR.
Are you excited about Sarsgaard being in The Batman?
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