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The Joker's Make-up
by Alan Jones
as featured in the November 1989 issue of Cinefantastique
Posted by raleagh on Thu, 10th January 2008 at 6:20pm
This article has been viewed 150 times |
Nick Dudman, responsible for Jack Nicholson's leering makeup as The Joker, had to pass muster with the actor before he was hired. Before taking the role, Nicholson flew to England to meet with the filmmakers and look over his prospective make-up artist. After Nicholson had approved Dudman's resume, director Tim Burton called the make-up man to prepare him.
"He warned me Nicholson would contractually have total make-up control," said Dudman. "This one man would have the power of veto over everything I did - from publicity, to what I designed. I went to the Dorchester Hotel to meet him; I hadn't seen many of his movies apart from THE SHINING, but I was fond of THE RAVEN - something which horrified him! He was fascinating, pleasant, polite, and relaxed; totally the opposite of what I expected. That's often the case with celebrities as their unfounded reputations often precede them."
Dudman prepared a series of sketches and paintings of his proposed make-up designs for The Joker, which were submitted for Nicholson's approval before he agreed to sign for the role. Dudman made a life-cast of the actor at Tom Burman's studio in Los Angeles after Nicholson accepted the designs and the part. Dudman's concept was to design a prosthetic make-up based on a life-cast of Nicholson smiling as broadly as he could. Recalled Dudman, "The first thing Jack said to me was, 'I never wear make-up in movies, apart from when I'm injured.' He hates it! That filled me with enormous confidence."
Dudman said he never considered the "Cesar Romero" approach of the TV show, and was unable to use a dental plate that would have drawn back Nicholson's lips. "I tried a dental plate I'd had made, but he couldn't talk!" said Dudman. In consulting a dental technician, Dudman also discovered that wearing such a plate a few hours a day for three months might displace Nicholson's teeth. "You don't mess around with someone of Jack's stature," said Dudman. "His face is his fortune. Nor did we want to get sued!"
Dudman sculpted six Joker designs, and selected two with Tim Burton to submit to Nicholson for final approval.
"Luckily he chose the one we liked with a slight change on the chin shape," said Dudman. With two weeks until the start of filming, Dudman prepared a set of appliances for test shooting. Said Dudman, "I insisted on camera tests because I was very worried about having someone pure white with bright green hair wearing a purple suit next to someone dressed entirely in black in a film with a sombre tone that took place mostly at night. We found what I suspected; all the detail was bleached out even at the lowest light level. The chin disappeared into the neck, the eyes went small and piggy, and the whites of the eyes and the teeth looked yellow."
Dudman shadowed the make-up to make it work on film and used a make-up on Nicholson, prior to his transformation, that played up the contrast with The Joker design. "I healthified him," said Dudman. "Just a hint of something more with basic colours. I'm all for not using prosthetics until you have to." The prosthetics consisted of six appliances - a nose tip, two upper lips, a chin, and two lower lips with cheeks.
For The Joker's white face, Dudman used Pax Paint, a mixture of adhesive and acrylic paint plasticised so it wouldn't crack. Dudman shaded the design with gunmetal grey powdered eye shadow, dissolved in alcohol. When brushed onto the Pax base, the alcohol bonded the shading to the makeup which wouldn't rub off. That feature came in handy for the scene where The Joker's flesh-coloured disguise gets washed off by a bucket of water to the face.
Dudman, who was assisted by Reza Karim and Sue Reynolds, said he achieved what he set out to do with The Joker, which was let Nicholson's talent shine through the make-up. "Audiences knew what The Joker looked like," said Dudman. "We weren't inventing anything new. The trick was to give them The Joker without losing Jack. I decided early-on we wouldn't touch his eyebrows. My feeling was always minimalist. When Jack was so electric in the first, I knew I'd made the right decision."  |
