For The Joker (2019), Joaquin Phoenix was paid 4.5 million dollars. Following the massive success of the first film, his salary jumped to 20 million dollars for the sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux (2024).
In Oppenheimer (2023), Gary Oldman spent only one day on set to play Harry S. Truman. Despite his limited screen time, his performance was so intense that it became one of the most discussed and memorable scenes in the entire film.
Unlike most of his films, Zack Snyder limited CGI as much as possible in Man of Steel. He blew up real set pieces—walls, glass, foam structures—and then used digital effects to enhance the impacts, adding the sense of superhuman power.
Zack Snyder wanted Lex Luthor in BvS to feel like a modern and unstable genius, more a megalomaniac tech CEO than an old mogul. Eisenberg’s tics and chaotic energy were intentional, showing a man constantly walking the line between genius and madness.
For The Dark Knight (2008), Michael Caine based Alfred’s military background on his own real-life experience. He drew from his time in the British Army during the Korean War to give the character a sense of quiet, hardened authority.