Gil Perez-Abraham Talks Pivotal [SPOILER] Scene In The Batman
An emo-thriller take on the world of Gotham, The Batman explores the mysteries of the dark underbelly of the city with expert world-building and unexpected humor. I spoke with Gil Perez-Abraham, who played Officer Martinez, about what it was like joining one of the most anticipated films of 2022 and that pivotal moment he plays a role in.
Matt Reeves’ The Batman delivers one of the darkest iterations of the masked vigilante we’ve seen, as it channels Saw meets detective noir vibes. “This iteration of Batman is aggressive. It's definitely dark. It pulls us down there, but it's also inspiring and it leaves a beautiful, regenerative, second chance message,” Perez-Abraham told me in an interview. “The experience was nothing short of humbling. I’ve gotten to learn so much and I got to see behind-the-scenes of like what is a great big Hollywood film. I just look forward to the future if this is the kind of trend that we’re setting in this building up from Covid.”
The biggest lesson that Perez-Abraham took from the experience had to do with the energy his fellow actors brought to set. “They were loose and they were free and the aura that they brought with them on set wasn’t an air of like, ‘I’m a star and I’m here to do my job.’ We’re all here to make something together and we’re here to make something special,” he said, opening up about the pressure to get The Batman right. “There’s a big expectation and because of that we’re only going to exceed that if every single person has space. I felt like working for Matt Reeves, working with Jeffrey [Wright], the amount of space they gave to me, to a background player, to anybody felt like it was the same. It was a beautiful egalitarian experience and people got to really be creative because of that. Because we were shooting during Covid, I think that ratcheted up even a little more and people were bringing their A-game on a different level.”
As Officer Martinez, Perez-Abraham had a crucial moment with the Batman that helped him unlock some major answers when it came to the Riddler’s plan. “As an actor you know that scene’s coming so it’s like you have to erase that from your mind so you can do the other scenes because the other scenes are pivotal too. The biggest thing in that scene [is] I’m accidentally giving a piece of information, right?,” Perez-Abraham shared. “I’m just a man of the people and I’m talking to this guy. At first I wasn’t messing with him at all but now I see that you’re with Gordon so I’m gonna give you a shot. I come in there ready to shoot.”
He continued to say: “Keeping that secret and trying to trick myself into not knowing what it would mean to give him that information was a huge challenge. It’s like half of me is seeing Robert Pattison as Batman and is amazed and the other half of me is Martinez and he hates Batman and he’s coming around to the conclusion that maybe he’s good, but I got to keep an eye on it. So that cataclysm of hiding the secret and just saying, ‘Hey man, it’s just this’ — I wanted to make sure that I was free and able to be captured without putting too much mustard on it.”
The Batman is available in theatres. See more of my interview with Gil Perez-Abraham, below:
