Jada Pinkett Smith Says She Has ‘Fun’ Playing the Villain in “Gotham”

ABC/Rick Rowell(NEW YORK) — Jada Pinkett Smith’s latest project has her heading to the small screen in Gotham, a Fox series based on the DC Comics characters Detective James Gordon and Bruce Wayne. Smith portrays Fish Mooney, a hot-headed gangster and nightclub owner in Gotham.

“I had a lot of fun with her. Because she was a blank canvas, I dived right in and did some of the most bizarre things,” Smith said of her character in the October issue of Health magazine, on newsstands Friday. “One morning I came to the producers, and I had a guy on a chain walking on his hands and knees with the word liar across his face in red lipstick. I said, ‘This is what Fish Mooney does when she’s betrayed by one of her henchmen.’ I was hardcore! Some things worked and some things didn’t.”

One of the things that didn’t work was an accent for the character. “I went in for the table read and did this over-the-top Mid-Atlantic accent, like Joan Crawford. And Peter Roth from Warner Bros. called me that afternoon and said, ‘Jada, I don’t know how to tell you this, I love you to death, but…'”

When Smith isn’t on the set of her own TV show, she’s watching her favorite small-screen guilty pleasure. “My guilty, guilty, guilty is RuPaul’s Drag Race! It’s the only reality show I watch, and I do not miss an episode,” she revealed.

She also spends time with her Hollywood husband, Will Smith. She said date nights can get a little difficult thanks to their star status.

“A lot of times, we’ll do [date nights] at the house because when we go out it can be a little hectic,” she explained. “So we have different places around our yard where we like to set up a little Arabian tent, pillows, wine and cheese, candlelight. Will likes really thought-out productions.”

Fox’s Gotham premieres Monday.

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