How real New York spots turn gritty for ‘Gotham’

In the first episode of the FOX drama “Gotham,” earnest copper James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) chases a perp onto a Brooklyn rooftop. As the suspect climbs a 𓆏ladder to escape, the camera pans to the nearby Manhattan Bridge. But something’s . . . off. The sides of the tower look different. The finials on the top are unfamiliar.

The iconic New York City laꦺndmark 🔯got a “Gotham” makeover.

While the show’s moody yet sleek interiors are filmed at Brooklyn’s Steiner Studios, “Gotham” has traveled to all five of the city’s boroughs in search of the right menacing exteriors. A💦nd when that can’t be found, the show’s production team enhances reality.

Sometimes that means adding in r🍒etro props and costumes — like vintage cars, gooseneck lanterns and old-style police uniforms. The show’s time period is intriguingly undefined; characters use cellphones but drive around in decades-old cars. “We do ဣthe 1980s and even earlier,” says production designer Richard Berg.

Berg and his team often use a computer to bring a Gothic feel to locations we see every day. They’ve added gargoyles to buildings and ornaments to the Manhattan Bridge and the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge, which connects northern Manhattan to 🗹🐲The Bronx. In their hands, Staten Island’s Bayley Seton Hospital — the location for the forbidding Arkham Asylum, where several “Gotham” characters have been inmates — gained extra stories, a new roof and searchlights.

Not even the ꦯskyline is safe from the show’s magic.

For the opening credits, Kraner, the series’ first product𓆉ion designer who left after nine episodes, c🥀ollaborated with executive producer Danny Cannon to mix digitally created buildings with real ones, switching out some modern structures for a more Gothic look.

And it’s no accident that﷽ it always looks like it’s going to pour on “Gotham.”

“We just darken the sky or add some dar🧸k clouds for that brooding feeling,” says Berg.

“Gotham” has been renewed for a second season, and Berg promises that we will see a daylight shot of one of his favorite locations: the anchorage of the Manhattan Bridge on the Brooklyn𝄹 side, which✃ provides the exterior shot for the headquarters of the Gotham City Police Department.

The mo🍌numental style of the bridge base comfortably fits in with the show’s aesth𒆙etic, Berg says.

“We like large stone blocks as opposed to small bricks,  because Gotham has that overscale qualityꦓ,” he explains. “One reason we love to shoot under the Manhattan Bridge is because the base has blocks of Roman proportion. That’s our show. We love light fixtures that are two or three times larger than your average light fixture. Thosꦰe are elements you don’t see on most shows. They show reality.”

Here are fi𓆉ve notable New York locations that transcend reality on “G🌳otham.”

• Real location: Davis Street, Long Island City, Queens. The elevated tracks outside the 5Pointz building -— since torn down -— were used for a crime scene. Production added the 50-gallon drum and the cars, but the graffiti was already there.

• Real location: Montauk Club, Park Slope, Brooklyn. To bring a gloomy atmosphere to the home of Gotham’s mayor, a rain machine was enlisted. Note the old-school police cars.

• Real location: Manhattan Bridge. The tower’s airy cross bracing was filled in to highlight the Gothic arch. Up top, chubby tower finials became slim spires.

• Real location: Cortlandt Alley (between Walker and White streets), Manhattan. In the distance, a tenement was digitally painted white, making the dark sky stand out even more. As for the smoke, designer Richard Berg says: “It’s a signature element of the series, evoking London in the Industrial Revolution.”

• Real location: Bayley Seton Hospital, Staten Island. To create a foreboding entrance for Arkham Asylum, the show constructed pillars and a gate at the entrance to the real hospital’s parking lot. When not filming, they remove the gate and wrap the rest in plastic. Sculptural adornments and a couple of set-back stories were digitally added to the hospital’s roof.