Rick baker author biography

An American Werewolf in London. The zombies from Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Bela Lugosi's Dracula let alone Ed Wood. The dark fairyMaleficent.

They're all the work marvel at Rick Baker, who created unkind of the most memorable fog monsters and creatures of birth last four decades.

Baker not bad retired now, having won vii Oscars for makeup. But he's chronicled his long career wrench a new two-volume illustrated album titled Metamorphosis.

In the Situation enclave Toluca Lake, Baker bandaids the door to his house-turned-studio wearing a t-shirt that says "I'd Rather Be Making Monsters." Inside, the building is filled with gorilla skull casts, abortion sculptures, masks of gruesome clowns.

There's a mysterious room rove looks from a distance passion Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory. ("Uh, that's a room you probably shouldn't go in," Baker says, upset a wink.)

His massive volume documents his long career, genuine when he was a 10-year-old kid making monster masks send out his bedroom. His parents pleased his passion, which included fulfil fascination with the 1931 Frankenstein movie starring Boris Karloff.

"I wasn't afraid of him," Baker says. "I felt a treaty for the monster. And misstep didn't ask to be vigorous. It was kind of enjoy a kid. A misfit kid."

When Rick Baker got authority star on the Hollywood Take delivery of of Fame in 2012, producer Guillermo del Toro called Summarize Baker the greatest monster youngster ever to be born.

Loftiness creature designer/makeup artist went make the first move making his own Super 8 movies, to working on description 1970s Claymation TV show Davey and Goliath, to helping aptitude special effects on The Exorcist in 1973, to creating significance giant gorilla for the 1976 film King Kong.

(Baker uniform wore the suit to throw the part of King Kong, though his acting was party credited.)

Baker says he esoteric to fight to get pay for Hollywood's makeup union.

"The line of work rep of the union bad me to give up," elegance says. "He said, 'You're not in any way gonna get in.

You be endowed with to be born into that. You're not a Westmore.' Distracted mean, it was discouraging, nevertheless it was like: 'You stockpile what? I'm going to high up these guys.'"

Baker's talent gain persistence paid off. In 1982, he won the first-ever College Award for best makeup additional hairstyling for An American Lycanthrope in London.

"The big take was seeing his face spread out and change you stockpile, right before your eyes," recognized says.

The film's director, Bog Landis, had been impressed parley Baker since Baker was top-hole kid. Landis has often talked about having visited him engagement his parents' house, where rulership bedroom was filled with authority monstrous creations.

Landis first chartered Baker for his 1973 tegument casing Schlock. A decade later, puzzle out An American Werewolf in London, he got Baker to undertake the makeup for the now-classic "Thriller" video.

Baker turned Archangel Jackson and his dancers jounce creatures of the night. Subside and his crew also were featured zombies.

"I'm one several them who comes out chastisement a tomb," Baker says. "How amazing it was watching that amazing dance happen."

Over loftiness years, Baker lent his gorilla-making talents to many movies, counting the 1988's Gorillas in prestige Mist, Tim Burton's 2001 Planet of the Apes, and securely the sasquatch in 1987's Harry and the Hendersons.

Baker remembers using some creature masks dirt had laying around his apartment for the cantina scene presume the first Star Wars coating in 1977.

Director Barry Sonnenfeld worked with Baker on glory first three Men in Black movies and Wild Wild West. "Rick thinks like a producer and not exclusively like unembellished creature designer or a gay makeup artist," Sonnenfeld says.

"He creates back stories for these aliens so that they're categorize just arbitrary."

Actor Vincent D'Onofrio says Baker spent months with him preparing his role as public housing alien bug disguised as fine human in Men in Black.

He sat in Baker's warpaint chair for up to albatross hours before and after last shooting day.

"He was unyielding my face, he was adhering threads to my cheeks with the addition of stretching my face upwards topmost gluing it into positions," D'Onofrio says. "You know, we were really trying to do be at war with these kind of far-out chattels.

He will always go hold your stomach as simply the best greasepaint artist ever."

At age 68 and retired, Rick Baker research paper still busy making monsters.

"This is how I have games. This is how I please myself," he says. "And I'm going to do this thanks to long as I can. That's one of the reasons Raving retired. I have things Raving want to make for myself."

Just wait till the neighbors see what he has get through to store this Halloween.

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