Though he’s most familiar to audiences as J. Jonah Jameson, J.K. Simmons hopped over from the Marvel universe to DC for Justice League, in which he played Commissioner Gordon. He didn’t have a major role in the theatrical cut, but the Oscar-winning actor provided a fan-pleasingly traditional take on the Gotham cop. The good news is we should see some new footage of him in the role in the Snyder Cut, coming to HBO Max next year.
While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Simmons was asked about his thoughts on the Snyder Cut finally being released. Like many of the rest of the cast, the Spider-Man star is happy for the filmmaker getting to realize his original vision for the pic and is personally interested to see it when it’s released. He also promised that it’ll definitely be a lengthy movie, due to how much Snyder wants to achieve.
“I’m always in favor of a director’s vision, especially a filmmaker who’s been so iconic in that genre in general,” he tells THR. “There were obviously a variety of reasons for the way things shook out the first time around with that film. Whatever your feelings were about the version that was at first released, I think even if you absolutely loved everything about that film, I would certainly be interested as an audience to see Zack’s vision. The one thing I do know for sure is that it will be long, because he’s got a lot of stuff that he wants to get in there.”
Simmons isn’t wrong on that score. The Snyder Cut is believed to be clocking in at almost 4 hours long. It’s said that Warner Bros. is considering chopping it up into smaller “chapters” to make for a more manageable viewing experience, though fans would probably prefer leaving it as one complete piece. As the actor says, there’s good reason for the enormous runtime, as there are so many elements missing from the theatrical cut to be added in, like Darkseid, Martian Manhunter, Knightmare sequences and much more.
Simmons was the sixth actor to portray Jim Gordon in live-action, following Lyle Talbot (1940s serials), Neil Hamilton (Batman ’66), Pat Hingle (Burton/Schumacher films), Gary Oldman (Dark Knight trilogy) and Ben McKenzie (Gotham). He’s already been replaced in the role though by Jeffrey Wright, who’ll debut in 2021’s The Batman. And sometime that same year, we’ll also be getting the Justice League Snyder Cut.
