Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1531774
for those locations with Jared Gerbig and Mike Fails. Hugh Sicotte reprised his role as Concept Artist. Dan introduced me to Karen O'Hara, who became the set decorator, along with her extraordinary team. We hired JP Jones as property master and Jeff Shewbert, a young dynamic construction coordinator with a can-do crew. This LA-based team helped design, build and manage what became miles of scenery. The story opens roughly where the first one ended, albeit a few years later, at Arkham Asylum. This iconic institution has been rendered many times from the comics to TV shows to DC features. It's where the most murderous DC criminals are sent, a dark and scary place. But also one that is easier to escape from than prison, which is why they are sent there, so they can escape and foment more stories. Even though Arkham is usually gothic and creepy, we wanted to continue the stripped bare, brutalist aesthetic of the first film. The simpler, the sadder, the better. On Joker 1, we shot the Arkham records room in a basement hallway in the extra-gritty Metropolitan Hospital in NYC. We loved the sad '30s hospital née prison vibe, defined by its bile- colored tiled walls. Joker 1 ends back at Arkham in a matching hallway built at Steiner Studios. By Joker 2, Arthur has been moved to an Arkham facility on an island. We wanted that place to match stylistically to the Arkham of Joker 1, denoting Arkham's municipal industrial style. The multileveled Arkham Asylum sets included Arthur's cell in the maximum security E Ward, with labyrinthine halls, three-story brick staircases, and windows that looked back into the set and onto hard backings. The crew built a stadium-sized restroom with Rube Goldbergian plumbing, a caged dining room, and a large, similarly tiled maximum security recreation room with vaulted ceilings. Additionally, we built a punishment basement, F Ward, the scary torturing place. It's also where the love scene happens. Arthur does a lot of walking around in Arkham. Thus, we spent a lot of time designing actual A. DOWNTOWN GOTHAM. DOWNTOWN LA-BROADWAY LOCATION PRODUCTION STILL. B. EXTERIOR ARKHAM LOCATION IN BELLVILLE, NJ. SET PHOTO. A B