8 Little Known Ways Jack Nicholson Made Burton’s Joker Awesome

8. He Picked The Makeup Design

The most important element of the Joker is the look. You can have the best performance ever, but if he doesn't go beyond simple clown makeup all you'll end up with is kid's birthday entertainer. No one understood that better than Nicholson. Everyone knew he could do psycho - after One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and The Shining it became his own little niche - but he wasn't just doing any old psycho here; this was the freaking Joker. Taking no chances, Nicholson wouldn't take the role until he'd seen and approved what his character would look like. Burton presented him with a few different designs, one of which thankfully passed muster. We can kinda understand this intenseness; Cesar Romero's Joker had been much simpler, with the actor not even shaving his moustache for the role, and dated accordingly It not only shows how Nicholson understood what the character needed to work seriously, but also highlights how much sway the actor had on the production.