The Dark Knight’s Makeup Artist On Creating A Different Look For Heath Ledger’s Joker

Recently John Caglione Jr, the makeup artist on The Dark Knight, spoke with IGN on bringing Heath Ledger’s Joker to life. Caglione Jr is no stranger to using makeup to transform actors into comic book characters, as seen with the caricatures he created for Dick Tracy. But Ledger’s Joker created a unique challenge for the makeup artist. The makeup needed to bring the larger-than-life Clown Prince into the more realistic world of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.

Today, Ledger’s Joker is iconic, considered by many as the best villain of all time. But before 2008, the idea of turning the comic book-y and over-the-top Joker into a gritty, realistic antagonist seemed a stretch. Caglioni Jr’s final design bore little resemblance to the traditional designs of The Joker personified by either Jack Nicholson or Cesare Romero, or any Joker ever featured in comic book art. Instead, he brought The Joker’s fractured and unbalanced psychology into the character’s makeup. The final design is antithetical, almost heretical, but there were few criticisms. Instead, the makeup design earned Caglione Jr an Academy Award nomination and became a defining characteristic in making Ledger’s Joker iconic.

Inspiration From The Paintings of Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon’s blurred portraits were inspiration for The Joker’s makeup

Creating the makeup design was a collaborative process. From the start, Caglione Jr had meetings with Ledger, Nolan and costume designer Lindy Hemming to discuss The Joker’s look. Nolan, who is well-versed in art and literature, gave Caglione Jr a book of Francis Bacon’s paintings for inspiration. Bacon’s distorted and blurred portraits of people formed a strong basis for The Joker’s makeup, though Caglione Jr is quick to point out that Nolan never made him adhere to a particular look.

“I think it was his way of saying, ‘Lets blur this, lets loosen this up you know. Here’s a book to look at it and maybe you’ll find some inspiration….I think he actually had some of the pictures tagged with post-its that he liked. Just for inspiration.”

As the design process evolved, Caglione Jr used this inspiration to create something entirely new.

In total, Caglione Jr created five or six sketches which he overlaid on head shots of Ledger. On each photograph he added The Joker’s characteristic green hair and played around with various clown makeup designs, which included different facial scars.

These various makeup designs all stemmed from The Joker’s psychology, which Caglione Jr explored with Ledger and through various theatrical makeup styles.

Designing A Slept-in Look

Behavior is directly related to a person’s psychology, so it seemed natural to Caglione Jr that The Joker’s psychosis would influence how he applied makeup. Before embarking on a new makeup design, Caglione Jr asked himself:

“…What if this guy slept in his makeup? You know, this psychopath. [What] if he didn’t spruce up his makeup for two or three weeks? You know he never changes his clothes.”

The idea of a disheveled, unkempt look is completely at odds with The Joker’s normal appearance. Jack Nicholson and Cesare Romero were always immaculately turned out with perfect makeup and colorful suits, just as The Joker appeared in comic book art.

The makeup of Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight contrasts classic portrayals of the Clown Prince best exemplified by Jack Nicholson’s Joker in Batman (1989) and Cesar Romero’s Joker in the cult 1960’s Batman TV series.

Making Ledger’s Joker an untidy mess was a huge gamble. Caglione Jr had to make sure The Joker did not end up unrecognizable. However, during the process, he discovered that The Joker’s white makeup, red lips, green hair, and purple suit is so recognisable, that he could play around with the look of the makeup considerably without destroying the character’s identity. Even Ledger’s long, greasy hair and uneven, messy green dye job doesn’t distance him from the character.

“…You know I love Jack Nicholson’s makeup…,” admitted Caglione Jr. “[I]n the back of my mind maybe subconsciously it was the idea—but it never came up in meetings or discussions. It was like, ‘Lets roll up our sleeves and make this look, you know, like a real person could have done this to themselves.”

And since Ledger’s Joker applied his makeup himself, then who better to turn to for advice than the actor playing him. Caglione Jr said that Ledger played a vital role in perfecting the cracked, worn look of The Joker’s makeup.

“…[I]t was like a dance because certain parts of the makeup to get those cracks and all the jerky stuff you really need the cooperation of the actor’s facial gestures when laying down the make-up and the paint. So we had a lot of fun together in that movie. He would contort his face or raise his eyebrows, or I would even take one hand and scrunch the corners of his eyes to create crows feet.”

Theater Makeup of the 1920s

Caglione Jr brushed grey and white paints over the wrinkles and crows made from Ledger contorting his face. It’s a trick Caglione Jr picked up from the 1920s, when “theater actors would put white makeup on and scrunch up their faces and let it go. And paint little brown lines.”

Although Ledger’s Joker slept in his makeup and did not touch it up for weeks, his makeup did not remain the same throughout the film. For instance, during Batman’s interrogation of The Joker, both actor and makeup artist agreed to give The Joker a different look towards the end of the sequence.

John Caglione Jr was influenced by makeup from the 1920s, including the eye makeup of Eric Campbell who played a villain in a number of Charlie Chaplin films.

In the scene, The Joker refuses to tell the Caped Crusader where he is holding Rachel, and so Batman brutalizes him. The Joker’s face is somewhat messed up and therefore so was his makeup. Caglione Jr recalled discussing what he could do to the Crown Prince’s eyes with Ledger:

“I said, ‘Well there was this great villain in the Chaplin films. The actor was Eric Campbell. And he always played the big heavy in all the Chaplin movies. He had these big black eyes that kind of had these black eyebrows. And Heath was like, ‘Let me see a picture.’ So I pulled it up and we kind of went for that kind of look. It was a throwback to an old Chaplin villain.”

During the makeup design process, Caglione Jr admits that purposely creating a messed up version of The Joker’s makeup went against the grain as a makeup artist.

“…[Y]ou think of a clown makeup and for the most part they’re pretty detailed with sharp lines. But this had to be the opposite of that. You know it had a very broken down, very lived in [feel]. So yeah my first few times were too perfect. So I had to kind of let my hand go. It was hard you know. It was really hard to do that. And I remember like the first week. The first few days on set I would look at the makeup…And you’re looking at it as a make-up artist and I’m saying, ‘ This is the worst makeup in the world here you know.’ It was like ‘I hope I’m doing the right thing.’”

In the end, Caglione Jr’s risk paid off. It was a tall order creating a memorable Joker after Jack Nicholson. But along with Nolan, Lindy Hemming and of course, the late Heath Ledger, Caglione Jr created one of the most memorable screen villains of all time.