If you’ve never heard of Donal Logue, you’re not paying attention.
The prolific character actor has been the highlight of countless films and television shows over the last two decades. In the 2013-2014 TV season alone he held down major roles on Vikings, Copper, Sons of Anarchy, and Law and Order: SVU. Currently, Logue is in a role he seems born to play — Detective Harvey Bullock, the rough and sarcastic dirty cop on the Fox series Gotham.
As a huge fan of Gotham, I was excited to meet and sit in a roundtable interview with Logue at New York Comic Con. During my brief time with him, he spoke about the light and dark of his character, what he’s excited to see unfold this season, and his favorite Batman villain.
You play a really interesting character on the show. Tell us about playing the gray area with Bullock.
Bullock’s a struggle. It’s been fun but it’s been hard to find enough balance between the light and the dark. He’s a pretty dark guy but he’s also been the comedic foil for the show so I’ve been scrambling a little bit. I’ve done a lot of comedies in the past and it was pretty straight forward what those were. Things like Sons of Anarchy and Vikings, they are what they are. This one was like okay, you’re bouncing on different sides of the line. It’s been a lot of fun though. I think I get a lot of the fun stuff to do too. Sometimes other people in the cast are like “Man, you get the fun stuff to do.”
Do you think it’s important to break up the tension? A lot of these shows are very heavy…
I think it’s pretty critical. It’s just hard to know where to place it. In certain scenes you’re like “Look man, the emotional temperature of this scene or the darkness of what happened doesn’t call for a light moment.” It’s just about where to find those spaces to do it.
Do you prefer comedy or do you like drama?
I think it’s all good. I think comedy is harder but I think drama is really fun. Really dark, crazy drama is a blast for some weird reason. I also find what’s funny is on really dark dramatic shows that there’s a lot of laughter on set and sometimes in comedy, especially if it’s not going well, it’s not a happy environment. It’s kind of counter-intuitive to what people think. But it’s a hard job trying to do all of the different things.
What surprised you about your character, the show in general, or any episodes we’ve seen so far?
I have to say things haven’t surprised me that much about Bullock. I think it was confirmed that I’m a better person than people think. I think I started in a better way. Things will be shown that will come to form. I will say that I’m really excited because I got to do stuff with Alfred which made me super stoked. The show opens up a lot after the first x amount of episodes. I don’t want to give away stuff but I’m excited to get to see what everybody else is doing. That is really fun for me and we’ve got a crazy cast, incredibly talented. Ben and I are trucking through this stuff together and that’s really fun. We’re always working out that kind of dynamic but to get to see what everybody else brings to the table is my favorite part of Gotham.
You’ve worked in TV and movies. Do you like working in TV or is that more of a camaraderie aspect?
A job is a job but movies kind of went away. Like the Tao of Steve days, it’s all financial. You can make little independent movies and get your money back. But we did a movie called Nine Full Moons that comes out in November, I think. It was 60 grand to make. There’s some really cool, really low budget movie making going on. So that’s exciting to do. Ben and I did this Thrilling Adventure Hour thing last night in Brooklyn. So to get back to doing stage stuff or just getting up in front of people, its good to always keep it busy, as long as it’s with good people and it’s good material.
Who is your favorite villain?
Who’s my favorite villain? (laughs) It’s a tie between Stalin and Hitler. They will both be in Episode 8! (laughs) You’ll see, there’s a lot of villains to choose from. People like to throw so many out. We’re holding back on some but that’s what it’s going to be. My favorite is always The Riddler, and we’ve got a good one. Now he’s getting unleashed a little bit too so you’ll see.
Catch Gotham every Monday, 8/7c on FOX. Click here for our roundtable interview with Robin Lord Taylor!
Feature Photo Copyright: CR: Martin Roe/FOX
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