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

7. He Improvised The "Bird Dance"

It's one of Batman's tensest scenes. An everyday Bruce Wayne comes up against the Joker in Vicki Vale's flat, with the latter accidentally revealing his involvement in the millionaire's parent's murder. Shooting Wayne and menacing Vale, this is Nicholson's Joker at his most unnerving. Then, leaving the apartment he leaps into melodrama, starts laughing manically and dances off with a raspberry. Well that was... unexpected. It's a great encapsulation of the dual threat and unpredictability of the character, but boy if that is not how we expected the showdown to end. It seems like it was intended to be all part of the escalating ridiculousness of the scene, but it turns out that wasn't the case; Nicholson improvised that dancing exit. Called the "bird dance" by the actor, he came up with it on set. We mentioned in the Heath Ledger article that some of the defining tics of his Joker were also improvised, showing just how even in real life the character can't be predicted.