J.K. Simmons Explains His Approach For Playing Commissioner Gordon In Justice League

Very much like Man of Steel's Henry Cavill, Justice League Part One actor J.K. Simmons says that when it comes to his portrayal of Commissioner James Gordon in the upcoming film, he plans to take most of his inspiration from the comics.

While praising actors who have previously played Gordon, and acknowledging that their portrayals have left him with an impression of the character even though Simmons himself is not a huge comic book fan, he told Collider that the biggest thing he's doing to prepare for his role -- which he plans to start shooting in a couple of months, due to scheduling -- is reading up on the source material.

"Well, to read the comics, yes, absolutely. I'm still a couple of months out from doing that and I have two other films before then, so I haven't gotten started on that," Simmons admitted. "Obviously, a lot of really wonderful actors have played that character previously, and most of them I saw at the time the movies came out, never imagining that I would be doing the same thing. So, I can't say that I don't have some impression of that character in my head that's based on what I saw, but I'm not planning on going back and watching any of the other films. I'm just planning on learning as much as I can about him through the comics and getting my feet wet in the first movie, and then hopefully continuing on from there."

According to Collider's story, Justice League Part One started filming this week. It was scheduled to, although everything that's coming out of the set so far looked to be pre-production photos like workouts and socializing. Coming off a long publicity tour for Batman V Superman, it seems likely they're shooting mostly low-key character stuff first, with big action set pieces to come once director Zack Snyder and Batman V Superman actors Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, and Gal Gadot have had a chance to get back into fighting shape.

Justice League Part One will also star Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, and Ezra Miller as The Flash. The film is due in theaters on November 17, 2017.