DC Comics’ Joker comes to life in an eye-popping pumpkin sculpture

The Joker
The Joker

Here's a Halloween treat for comic book fans, courtesy of one very skillful trick.

With just a pumpkin, some carving tools, a long stretch of time, and a huge amount of talent, sculptor Andy Bergholtz brought one of the most famous -- or infamous -- faces in comics to life. That is, of course, the Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime and Batman's arch-nemesis in DC Comics since 1940. And Yahoo! Movies has the exclusive first look at this incredible pumpkin carving and the inside story of how it was made.

Bergholtz told Yahoo! Movies that he carved the face of the Joker in one eight-hour stretch, and you can see the entire process in a 2-minute time-lapse video below. Bergholtz said he used traditional clay sculpting tools to carve down the pumpkin. He glued pieces he carved out back on for the hair, but other than that there's nothing but pumpkin and elbow grease in this Joke-o'-Lantern.

Surprisingly, Bergholtz has only been carving pumpkins for a year. He said that another sculptor he knows, Ray Villafane, had been encouraging him for years to sculpt squash, but he resisted. Then last year Villafane recruited him to help carve pumpkins for Heidi Klum's Vegas Halloween party. Bergholtz said, "I instantly fell in love with the art form and haven't looked back since."

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Bergholtz was commissioned to carve the Joker to help celebrate DC Comics' Super-Villains program, an up-close look the bad guys who have plagued Gotham City and Metropolis through the decades. Fans were asked to choose the Ultimate Super-Villain Team, and, of course, Joker was selected the top "Wild-Card" with 79% of the vote.

Watch a time-lapse video of Andy Bergholtz sculpting the Joker:

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