THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 12 JANUARY 2020 AWARDS 1
JOKER:
NIKO^ T
AVERNI
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RRAY:^ CFLANIGAN
/FILMMAGICW
hen supervising
sound editor Alan
Robert Murray sat
down to talk with director
Todd Phillips about their sonic
approach to Warner Bros.’ Joker,
the filmmaker said he wanted
realistic sounds instead of the
typical tones expected in a comic
book-inspired film.
“He didn’t want overdone
punches and sound design that
made it seem unrealistic,” says
Murray, a two-time Oscar winner
(American Sniper, Letters From
Iwo Jima) who earned his 10th
career nomination — a record for
sound editing — with Joker. “So
it was more of following Arthur’s
Echoing a Madman’s State of Mind
For Todd Phillips’ Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix, sound editor Alan Robert Murray based his choices
on Arthur Fleck’s gradual transformation into the unhinged villaindescent into madness. Everything
would start off normal, and then
our sound effects reacted to what
was going on with Arthur.”
For a sequence in which Arthur
Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is beaten
up by three Wall Street suits on
a subway car, Murray explains
that the sound gets more sinister
as the scene progresses. “It was
building the scene, starting at
a normal atmosphere and then
amping it up as the torment
increased on Arthur,” he says,
adding that this included sounds
such as the screech of the subway
car. “On top of that, the trains
going by in opposite directions
took on a sinister sound. They
were made up of processed jets
and roller coasters and anything
that was dark and gritty to bring
the whole thing with Arthur
into perspective.”
Another example of how
the film used sound to reflect
Arthur’s state of mind is in theopening scene, which shows
Arthur working as a clown when
gang members steals his sign;
he chases them into an alley and
is attacked. For the gritty and
early ’80s feel, Murray
used period sounds
such as vehicle noises
with V8 engines
and mufflers from
muscle cars. “As we
got deeper into the scene, the
sounds of the city got harsher and
louder. It was accented by sirens
to keep that gritty, nasty, always
threatening feel of Gotham,” he
says. “We had to create sirens that
were not New York, but something
committed to Gotham, so we
ended up crossing from regular
sirens into a more European flair.”
Murray adds that to make the
audience “feel that they’re right
there with Arthur,” they recorded
sounds with an ambisonic (sur-
round sound) mic, “which helped
in the Atmos mix.”And with Arthur’s final trans-
formation into Joker in front of a
rioting crowd on the city’s streets,
Murray notes that “nobody’s ever
chanting things like ‘Joker, Joker.’
It’s more of a wounded animal
cry out from the crowd. He’s now
become total Joker.”
The work on this sequence
involved gathering a group on the
New York set of the Warner Bros.
lot. “We recorded specific yell
outs, but not words. More like a
warrior’s scream,” says Murray,
who also incorporated processed
animals sounds, including lions
and wolves, into these crowd
vocalizations.
Hildur Gudnadóttir’s haunt-
ing score also was a key factor
in creating the sound. “Our
director would decide what was
going to start the scene — either
Hildur’s score or we would
come in with a tonal sound.
And we would trade off during
the scene.”BEHIND THE SCREEN | CAROLY N GIARDINA
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MurrayAWARDS SEASON
2020