Editing Gotham City (section)

====1989 Batman series====
{{main|Batman (1989 film series)}}
[[File:Gotham skyline.JPG|right|thumb|Gotham City's [[skyline]] in the 1989 ''[[Batman (1989 film)|Batman]]'' film]]
''[[Batman (1989 film)|Batman]]'' (1989) director [[Tim Burton]] wanted a timeless alternative to New York and described it as "hell burst through the pavement and grew".<ref name=DenOfGeek/> The look of Gotham was overseen by production designer [[Anton Furst]], who won an Oscar for supervising the art department.<ref name=EntertainmentWeekly>{{cite magazine |last=Daly |first=Steve |url=https://ew.com/article/1992/06/19/designing-set-batman-returns/ |title=Sets Appeal: Designing 'Batman Returns' |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |date=June 19, 1992 |access-date=December 25, 2010 |archive-date=October 10, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010170405/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,310819,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Furst stated ''Batman'' was "definitely based in many ways on the worst aspects of New York City" and was inspired by [[Andreas Feininger]]'s photographs of 1940s New York. Furst's draftsman [[Nigel Phelps]] created numerous [[Charcoal (art)|charcoal drawings]] of the buildings and interior sets for the production.<ref name=BuildMoviescapes>{{Cite book|last=Hanson|first=Matt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f48nl_3Up8gC&q=furst+%22the+worst+aspects+of+New+York%22&pg=PA37|title=Building Sci-fi Moviescapes: The Science Behind the Fiction|date=2005|publisher=Gulf Professional|isbn=978-0-240-80772-0|language=en}}</ref>

Following the death of Furst, Burton tapped [[Bo Welch]] to oversee production design for ''[[Batman Returns]]'' (1992). Burton wanted Welch to re-imagine Gotham, stating "''Batman'' didn't feel big to me – it didn't have the power an old American city has".<ref name=Ranker>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ranker.com/list/what-city-inspired-gotham/eric-vega|title=The Many Inspirations For Every Onscreen Portrayal Of Gotham City|last=Luis|first=Eric|date=2019-10-30|website=Ranker|language=en|access-date=2020-03-27|archive-date=March 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200327231402/https://www.ranker.com/list/what-city-inspired-gotham/eric-vega|url-status=live}}</ref> Welch wanted to expand on the same basic concept for the sequel but moved away from European influences to show more American [[Art Deco]]/[[World's Fair]] elements.<ref name=EntertainmentWeekly/><ref>{{cite magazine|last=McCarthy|first=Todd|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117901465.html?categoryid=31&cs=1|title=Review: 'Batman Returns'|quote=Lensed seemingly entirely indoors or on covered sets, pic is a magnificently atmospheric elaboration on German expressionism. Its look has been freshly imagined by production designer Bo Welch, based on the Oscar-winning concepts of the late Anton Furst in the first installment. Welch's Gotham City looms ominously over all individuals, and every set-from Penguin's aquarium-like lair and Shreck's lavish offices to Bruce Wayne's vaguely 'Citizen Kane'-like mansion and simple back alleys-is brilliantly executed to maximum evocative effect|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=June 14, 1992|access-date=December 25, 2010|archive-date=April 27, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100427011546/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117901465.html?categoryid=31&cs=1|url-status=live}}</ref> When asked what inspired his interpretation of Gotham, Welch stated "[H]ow can I create a visual expression of corruption and greed? That got me thinking about the fascistic architecture employed at world's fairs&nbsp;... That feels corrupt because it's evocative of oppressive bureaucracies and dictatorships&nbsp;... So I looked at a lot of [Third Reich] art and images from world's fairs".<ref name=Ranker/> To physically make the city seem darker, he designed tall "oppressively overbuilt" cityscape that physically blocked out light.<ref name=Variety>{{cite web |last=Daly |first=Steve |url=https://ew.com/article/1992/06/19/designing-set-batman-returns/ |title=Sets Appeal: Designing 'Batman Returns' |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=June 19, 1992 |access-date=December 25, 2010 |archive-date=October 10, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010170405/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,310819,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Ranker/>

When [[Joel Schumacher]] took over directing the [[Tim Burton / Joel Schumacher Batman film series|''Batman'' film series]] from Tim Burton, Barbara Ling handled the production design for both of Schumacher's films, ''[[Batman Forever]]'' (1995)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://deadline.com/video/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-production-designer-barbara-ling-quentin-tarantino-production-value-news/|title=How 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' Production Designer Barbara Ling Brought Quentin Tarantino's Favorite Restaurants Back Into The '60s — Production Value Video Series|last=Grobar |first=Matt|website=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=November 7, 2019|access-date=February 10, 2020|archive-date=January 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110021035/https://deadline.com/video/once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-production-designer-barbara-ling-quentin-tarantino-production-value-news/}}</ref> and 1997's ''[[Batman & Robin (film)|Batman & Robin]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/b/batmanandrobin.html |title=Film locations for ''Batman & Robin'' |website=The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations |access-date=December 25, 2010 |archive-date=November 29, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101129120053/http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/b/batmanandrobin.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.shoestring.org/mmi_revs/batman-robin.html |title=Barbara Ling's no-holds-barred production design makes Gotham look more surreal than ever |publisher=Shoestring Radio Theater |access-date=December 25, 2010 |archive-date=September 3, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100903065038/http://www.shoestring.org/mmi_revs/batman-robin.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Ling's vision of Gotham City was a luminous and outlandish evocation of modern [[Expressionist architecture|Expressionism]]{{cn|date=March 2025}} and [[Constructivist architecture|Constructivism]].<ref>''Batman & Robin'' DVD extras</ref> Its [[Futurist architecture|futuristic]] design, which ''[[Washington Post]]'' critic Desson Howe felt evoked the 1982 film ''[[Blade Runner]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/batmanforever.htm|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|title='Batman Forever': Robin Debuts|last=Howe |first=Desson|url-status=live|language=en-US|access-date=March 7, 2022|archive-date=January 19, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090119040902/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/batmanforever.htm|quote=Departing from former ''Batman'' director Tim Burton's gothic approach to New York, Schumacher and production designer Barbara Ling compulsively layer the background with a [[Futurist architecture|futuristic city design]] that seems to aim for ''Blade Runner'' by way of ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''}}</ref> were described by Ling in her book, ''Bigger, Bolder, Brighter: The Production Design of Batman & Robin'' as a cross between 1930s Manhattan and the "Neo-Tokyo" of ''[[Akira (1988 film)|Akira]]''. Ling cited "[[neon sign|neon-ridden]]" Tokyo and the [[Machine Age]] as her influences, describing her Gotham as "like a [[World's fair|World's Fair]] on [[Methylenedioxymethamphetamine|ecstasy]]".<ref>Barbara Ling, ''Bigger, Bolder, Brighter: The Production Design of Batman & Robin''. 2005. [[Warner Home Video]]</ref> When Batman is pursuing [[Two-Face]] in ''Batman Forever'', the chase ends at Lady Gotham, the fictional equivalent of the [[Statue of Liberty]]. During Mr. Freeze's attempt to freeze Gotham in the film ''[[Batman & Robin (film)|Batman & Robin]]'', the targeting screen for his giant laser locates it somewhere on the [[New England]] shoreline, possibly as far north as [[Maine]]. The soundtrack for ''Batman & Robin'' features [[Gotham City (song)|a song named after the city]] and sung by [[R. Kelly]], later included on international editions of his 1998 [[double album]] ''[[R. (R. Kelly album)|R.]]''