A couple of weeks ago, photos started to circulate of J.K. Simmons engaging in a rather hearty looking workout with a personal trainer. So besides thoughts of how Peter Parker and that kid from Whiplash were going to have to watch their asses, our main hypothesis was that this regimen was intended to bolster Simmons' appearance for his role in Justice League. Well, as it appears, we were wrong. In fact, the only reason J.K. Simmons is getting built is simply for himself, in an effort to remain healthy.
The truth came out in a recent interview between J.K. Simmons and Business Insider, as the former Spider-Man actor addressed those rumors rather deftly. Simmons' explanation for this newer, buffer look is as simple as the following:
This is all coincidental. After the second and final time that I got hugely fat in my life and when I lost that weight six or seven years ago, I pretty much decided that I was going to stay in decent shape for the rest of my life.
This "last time" that J.K. Simmons got fat was around 2009, which lead to his transformation that most would have first seen in the 2014 Academy Award nominated film, Whiplash. Since then, Simmons has been in the best shape of his life, and hasn't let himself go since. In fact, the main reason he stepped his gym time up was because he met current trainer, and amateur gym photographer, Aaron Williamson, while he was filming Terminator Genisys. So now, not only is Simmons healthier than he's ever been, but the last Terminator film has officially given the world something positive to think about.
So now that neither Justice League, or the upcoming Boston marathon drama, Patriot's Day are labeled as the cause for this physical upkeep, the big question is how those roles were influenced by Simmons' svelt body type. Well, as J.K. Simmons himself will tell you, it absolutely does not change a thing. Particularly, he was eager to point out to DC Comics fans that they shouldn't expect a radically different, read: Snyder-ized, version of Commissioner Jim Gordon. His reasoning for that is pretty cut and dry, as he said:
I'm not going to mess with something that iconic.
So those of you who were worried that Commissioner Gordon was going to become a Greek god prone to kicking people down wells in Gotham City can sign a breath of relief. He'll be just as you left him, smart, sage, and leaving most of the action to Batman. However, if Justice League happens to throw just a little more action towards J.K. Simmons, you won't hear us complaining, because the man has earned it.
Justice League opens on November 17, 2017; with Patriot's Day slated for limited release on December 21st.
