‘Gotham’ Star Ben McKenzie Reveals Challenges Of Directing An Episode

“Gotham” star Ben McKenzie took over the director’s chair for Season 3, episode 16 of the Fox series, and he found the experience quite challenging.

The preparation process for directing the episode went smoothly, the actor told the 21st Century Fox blog, and he had a lot of help from the show’s writers. But when it came to the actual directing, McKenzie admitted he found the whole experience overwhelming.

“As a director, you’re given a lot of people coming up to you constantly asking for your opinion on everything from which location you should shoot at, how that location should be dressed, props, casting, dialogue,” he said. “I was surprised at how much I didn’t know that I knew, and I was able to answer more questions than I thought I was going to be able to.”

READ: Did Jim Gordon break Jervis Tetch out of jail?

Before taking on the role, McKenzie said he received a piece of sage advice from executive producer and director Danny Cannon: “Don't make a decision on something you don’t need to make a decision on quite yet.”

As a director, McKenzie said a lot of people require him to make “a million decisions” every day, but he learned to prioritize some and leave the others for another day. “Some you need to make early on because they’re more important and determine the rest of the shooting. Many can wait. You can take your time, think about them, and come to a more reasoned and thought-through decision later on, and everyone benefits from that,” he said.

When asked if he’d like to direct another upcoming episode, McKenzie was game and simply answered, “Well, I haven’t been fired yet…”

In the show, McKenzie plays Detective Jim Gordon, who has just recently reunited with his Uncle Frank (James Remar). It has been revealed that Frank has dealings with the Court of Owls, but he wants to take them down with the help of his nephew. But more than that, McKenzie believes Frank is going to help Gordon come to terms with his past.

“He’s yearning for some connection. Everything in his life at the moment has fallen apart. His killing of Mario, which saves the love of his life also loses her at the same time. So he doesn’t have much going on and there’s a connection, perhaps subconscious,” he told Collider of his character.

McKenzie added that Gordon desperately wants to learn more about his father’s life and death, and the best person to share details about his dad is his uncle. “His father was killed in front of him in what appeared to be an accident and his uncle is on the scene and his uncle has information to give him, and Gordon is constantly searching for answers and the answers are never really close at hand, or if they are, they’re never really satisfying. And so that will lead him into contact with the Court of Owls,” the actor added.

“Gotham” airs every Monday at 8 p.m. EST on Fox.