‘Gotham’ season 2: Michelle Veintimilla talks Firefly
Gotham’s recent episode introduced Bridgit Pike, the downtrodden sister of the city’s most dangerous arsonists who was forced to take up the family flamethrower when one of her brothers met an explosive end.
But a surprising thing happened when Bridgit broke her first law — she really liked it.
“It’s really empowering — I hope that girls are going to watch and have that same reaction,” says actress Michelle Veintimilla.
The new episode, titled “By Fire,” continues Bridgit’s transformation into the costumed villain called Firefly. Veintimilla talked with THR about the role, confessing she didn’t even know the character’s destiny.
“I didn’t know anything about Bridgit being a villain when I was auditioning for the part. I started right away, but the writers were always on set, and there was a lot of downtime. During that time, they brought me up to speed and told me that they wanted to do Firefly, and they wanted her to be female. I actually read a ton on the past incarnations of the character, and then realized that we were doing a brand new take on it.”
She talked about growing as an actress already.
“My first day on set, we were doing a lot of stunt sequences — I was running, climbing up ladders, jumping off boxes, crawling through vents, all these things. There was no way that I could’ve prepared for that. That’s the cool thing about this role, and being able to play the villain that Bridgit becomes: I realize that I always had that strength inside me, and now I’m on the other side of it and realize I can do a lot more.”
Even though she’s a villain, Michelle still sees her character as a role model.
“Bridgit has an incredible amount of heart, and she sees the injustices that happen in Gotham, and she feels very passionately about trying to right the wrongs. I think that it’s going to be interesting to see what makes her turn bad. It doesn’t come from testosterone-based aggression; I think she feels cheated, because she’s had the strength all along and hasn’t had the chance to really express that. Now she has, and she’s going to run with it.”
Check out the full interview HERE
Gotham airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on Fox.