Cerveris goes whole-hog as new ‘Gotham’ villain
Professor Pyg goes after cops he thinks are accepting pork
Michael Cerveris is bringing home the bacon like never before.
The Tony-winning Broadway actor and former Fringe star dons a disturbing pig mask and a flair for the theatrical as Professor Pyg, the newest Batman comicbook supervillain to debut on Fox’s Gotham (9 ET/PT Thursdays). Cerveris begins a multiepisode arc as the swine-inspired bad guy beginning Oct. 26, as the series continues its fourth season.
“Professor Pyg is a brilliant and chameleon-like person who has a highly developed sense of what’s right and wrong — it just might not be a sense of right and wrong that corresponds with everybody else’s,” says Cerveris.
The series’ newest antagonist arrives in Gotham City to kill “pigs” — cops he thinks are corrupt. And since most are on the payroll of the Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor), the list includes pretty much everybody except crusading good guy Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie). And while Gor- don’s colleagues turn on him when it’s clear he’s not on the kill list, Pyg views the detective as a kindred spirit.
Pyg ’s plan will change “episode by episode,” says executive producer John Stephens. His character, his Gotham agenda and what led him on this deadly path will be slowly teased out, leading to a “horrific reveal.”
Unlike the show’s classic Batvillains such as Penguin, Riddler and Mr. Freeze, Pyg is a newer foe in comics lore, first appearing in DC’s Batmanin 2007. Stephens says producers have wanted to add him to Gotham’s mix for a while: “He hits that sweet spot of being grotesque and terrifying, but also a little bit in that fairytale-esque world.”
Cerveris says Gotham’s first version of the Pyg mask looked similar to its comic counterpart but was “a little too cheery and pink.” So producers opted for one that more closely resembled a real pig. “It became somehow even creepier, but there’s also something weirdly amusing about it at the same time.”
And when Cerveris pairs the mask with his apron, “there’s that weird element of almost fastidiousness about him, combined with the grotesquery,” Stephens adds.
Cerveris loves “the delight” Pyg takes in his work as well as “the fantastic, weird buddy movie” that marks the villain’s relationship with Gordon. As Pyg tries to remake Gotham, he also wants to build Jim into a better version of himself. (Thus the Pygmalion inspiration for the spelling of his name.)
Stephens adds: “He is almost looking at Gordon as an ally, like ‘I’m on your side, Jim.’ And Jim is saying, ‘ No, you’re actually a sociopath.’ So it works in many ways as a seduction on Pyg ’s part as he tries to pull (Jim) in.”
Pyg will also run afoul of the Penguin, a confrontation that leads to a song-and-dance number for Cerveris. The actor says writers “couldn’t resist” bringing the comic-book and musicaltheater worlds together.
“Especially when they had somebody who played Sweeney Todd, they knew the direction they wanted to go,” Cerveris says, adding that he hopes Broadway fans who don’t watch Gotham “might give it a look simply because of that, and find that they have a new favorite show.”