I went to Burbank to get Jack’s (Nicholson) lifecast. I took one smiling, one neutral, plus plenty of pictures to see how he smiled. We did it all at Tom Burman’s shop (he and his wife were brilliant). I then sculpted five different looks from subtle to extreme and showed them to Jack (since he had final say). Luckily, he chose the one I hoped he would. The process usually took 2 hours. There were no issues really. It was glued on with 355 silicone adhesive so no gum allergies would arise (Nicholson is allergic to spirit gum- 1989Batman). The hardest thing was arriving at a “white” that worked on a dark set next to a guy dressed in black rubber. That took some testing. In the end, we heavily shaded it with a metallic gunmetal.
Heath Ledger’s Joker brought a different take on the character. His make-up was not precise and clean but reflected the more chaotic look that Nolan was bringing to the Dark Knight. It was a collaborative effort between Nolan and make-up artist John Caglione Jr. In an interview with IGN, Caglione described the thought process:
What would it be if this guy slept in his makeup? If he didn’t spruce up his makeup for two weeks? You think of a clown’s makeup and for the most part they’re pretty detailed with sharp lines, but this had to be the opposite of that.
To achieve that lived in make-up look, Caglione worked with Ledger to scrunch and contort his face as he applied the makeup—an old trick borrowed from theater. This resulted in lines and creases in the paint that made it look like the character had been wearing his makeup for days.
When it came time to make Suicide Squad, Warner Bros. hired makeup artist Alessandro Bertolazzi to take on the challenge of making over the Joker, a pop culture icon. He described how Warner Bros. tried to assist him in this endeavor:
Warner Bros. gave me all the comics to read. That didn’t help, because the character was too iconic, and looking through all the different looks would have been too complicated. They had already made an amazing, beautiful Joker before me [in The Dark Knight.] And now I had to create something that was different from the previous Jokers, but [incorporated] the rules and paid respect to the iconic Joker.
In the the end, it took three hours to apply Leto’s make-up. In discussing the transformation, Bertolazzi said:
We started painting in the face and doing the skin, because the Joker’s skin is the most important. We did six or seven layers of makeup, because I wanted it to look really dirty and really sick—with the pale skin, the veins, and a wound. This is a guy who hasn’t ever taken a shower.
This also included the various scars seen on the Joker. Originally, it was David Ayer’s idea to give the Joker a scar. Bertolazzi did him one better, actually…six better by adding seven scars.
This guy is completely crazy,” said Bertolazzi. “I imagine him in front of a mirror in the morning, like everyone else, but he never brushes his teeth. Instead he takes a blade and cuts his face, just for fun.”
If you look closely, you may notice various differences in the Joker makeup from different scenes. This was done on purpose as Bertolazzi played around with the Joker’s makeup throughout the production. He made it a point to change something in every single shot—“I gave him more details or less, depending on the moment.”
Now we come to Todd Phillip’s Joker as played by Joachin Phoenix. What we know about it is extremely limited as the movie is still in production and details are sketchy at best. A number of stills have been released to give a glimpse of what the Jokers makeup looks like but seeing as this is a work in progress, things may change. With not a lot to go on, the picture I used in the Evolution is the one released by Director Phillips but it is not of great quality. We work with what we have.
So where does that leave us? Which Joker reigns supreme? Each one shows a different side of a multi-faceted coin. From the original lunacy and campiness of Caesar Romero’s Joker. The stylish, self-absorbed menace of Jack Nicholson. The chaotic, terrorist, mass murderous version of Heath Ledger, or the love-sick, crazy of Jared Leto’s totally different take on the Joker. Where Phoenix’s version of Joker will fit in is yet to be determined.
So as you review the metamorphosis of the Joker, who do you believe is the definitive version? Now is your chance to review and state your opinion on who is The Joker?
