Set
Gotham City in Joker was set in 1980s New York City, according to Todd Phillips, "to separate it, quite frankly, from the DC universe".[104] Mark Friedberg, the production designer of this film, said he established the filming location of Gotham Square in Newark as a film set because there was still poverty.[105] He wanted Gotham to look like a gritty city, as described in Taxi Driver (1976), so he named all structures and lines in this film and drew a specific map of Gotham city.[106] He displayed 1970s brightly colored muscle cars on the set, "conveying dissonance and being awful and beautiful at the same time". He also tried to describe Gotham as a decaying city through graffiti, garbage on the road and cracked sidewalks.[107][108] The VFX team added fictional buildings, changing the skyline of the city to give the sense that the city was pressing down on Arthur.[109] Lawrence Sher said sodium-vapor lights were used in this film, representing Arthur's isolation and his more hopeful side.[110]
Arch bridge in Brooklyn Army Terminal, used to depict the exterior of Arkham State Hospital.Arkham State Hospital is based on Arkham Asylum.[36] Warner Bros. Korea explained that it is a more realistic name in the real world.[111] The exterior of Arkham State hospital was filmed at Brooklyn Army Terminal,[112] while the interior was pictured in Metropolitan Hospital Center of Harlem.[113] Throughout the film, two walls are shown inside Arkham State Hospital; one is clearly white in the first and last scenes, the other is dirty yellow in the scene in which Arthur runs with a medical report. This difference was intended to make the audience confused and to question the possibility that Arthur had been in hospital the entire time.[36][111]
Character design
One of the most important inspirations for Arthur's behavior came from the Little Tramp in Modern Times (1936), while his "ridiculous" movement was inspired by Charlie Chaplin.[36][109] Arthur's dance was influenced by that of Ray Bolger, and his gesture of making a smile from two fingers was from the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz (1939).[42][114] In preparation, Phoenix lost 52 pounds (24 kg) to look "wolf-like and malnourished and hungry",[39][115] and watched videos of people suffering from pathological laughter to refine his own laughter for the role.[116] He sought to portray a character whom audiences could not relate to and did not look to previous Joker actors for inspiration; instead, he read a book about political assassinations so he could understand killers and their motivations.[7] Phillips identified Arthur's normal face as being his "real mask", while Joker served as his true personality.[117] He had also identified the genuine laugh occurring only in the last scene.[118] Director Todd Phillips said that he intentionally left it ambiguous as to whether Arthur becomes the Joker of traditional Batman stories or inspires a separate character,[40] although Phoenix believes that Arthur is the former.[119][120]
Make-up and costumes
Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou, the makeup designer and hairstylist tried to show Arthur Fleck to "be handmade and realistic". Georgiou designated Arthur as a man with unwashed hair. Arthur's costumes, designed by Mark Bridges, were matched to look "aged, overdyed and distressed" through wearing him with cheap polyester pants and an acrylic sweater. His color palette was inspired by the aesthetics of the 1980s: blue, maroon, brown, mauve and gray.[121] Bridges explained Arthur's costume color started from a "juvenile mode" and later changing to align with the tone of the film.[122] In the first scene, Arthur's "too small" hooded jacket and white socks emphasizes the childish concept, being a reflection of him living with his mother Penny, with her calling him "my little boy",[121] and the influence of Charlie Chaplin.[123] However, he wore a charcoal sweater during the scene in which he is interviewed by the social worker and finally wore a "scab-colored knit top" in Arkham State Hospital.[122] A line depicting his old suit for many years was interpreted a mustard-toned vest and a patterned bottle-green shirt.[121]
After turning Arthur into Joker, his design was also changed. His hair was dyed "broccoli" green and he wore a suit similar to the one in the original Batman series.[121][122] However, the Joker suit in this film had different colors compared to previous films (purple suit with a green or yellow shirt). Mark Bridges noted that it was result of Phillips' intention to not want to be "connected to anything else". Initially, the color of the suit in the script was set to terracotta, but Bridges changed this to red to give "more expressive" emotion. Additionally, his suit colors (green, yellow, purple and red) were contrasted with those of his antagonists, including Thomas Wayne, giving them to gray and blue like Batman. Clown makeup was drawn with a classic, antique feel, with darker colors and tones and menacing eyebrows. Due to copyright laws stating that no two clowns can look alike, Ledermann faced a challenge.[121]
