Rick Baker

FANTASTIC FEST 2011: Mondo’s AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON Screening With Rick Baker Q&A

by Scott Wampler    Posted: September 25th, 2011 at 9:27 am

If you consider yourself a film geek and you still haven’t seen John Landis’ seminal An American Werewolf in London, please report to the nearest Alamo Drafthouse location and turn in your film geek credentials.  This horror-comedy—one that many have emulated over the years but that virtually none have been able to equal—is one of the best cinematic mash-ups ever made, and when it was announced that Mondo would be screening the film at Fantastic Fest with Rick Baker in attendance (and a special print created by Olly Moss), I knew I had to be there.  How’d the screening turn out?  Find out after the jump, folks.

Comic-Con 2011: Rick Baker Panel Premieres Footage from MEN IN BLACK 3

by Hunter Daniels    Posted: July 21st, 2011 at 3:44 pm

The Indigo Ballroom opened its’ Comic-Con 2011 series with a profile on makeup maestro Rick Baker. The panel celebrated his previous achievements – which include a whopping seven Academy Awards – and highlighted his alien effects for the upcoming 3D three-quel Men in Black 3, which re-teams Baker with franchise mainstays Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and director Barry Sonnenfeld. The time travel flavored scifi comedy also features new roles for Josh Brolin and Flight of the Conchord’s Jemaine Clement.

The discussion featured many anecdotes from the whole of Baker’s career and life and featured the premiere of the first footage from MIB3. Hit the jump for a description of the new aliens and select quotes from the panel.

Exclusive: Rick Baker and Dave Elsey Talk Makeup Effects at the 2011 Saturn Awards

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: June 24th, 2011 at 11:35 am

While on the red carpet for the 37^th annual Saturn Awards, we got the chance to speak with legendary makeup artist Rick Baker as well as Oscar winning makeup artist Dave Elsey. Baker was gracious enough to talk to us about his approach to makeup effects, how he became attached to monsters at a young age, his favorite creature that he’s designed thus far in his career, and he even spoke a little bit about Men in Black III, commenting on the production troubles the film has encountered. Additionally, Elsey talked about how he approaches makeup effects, and answered which is harder: applying makeup or having makeup applied on you.

Hit the jump to watch the interview, and if you missed our other coverage from the Saturn Awards, be sure to check out our conversations with Brandon Routh, Fringe’s Lance Reddick, and producer Dean Devlin.

INCEPTION Wins Big at the 2011 Saturn Awards

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: June 24th, 2011 at 9:00 am

The 37^th Annual Saturn Awards were held last night. The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films honored the best in film, television, special effects and more. Inception was the big winner of the night, taking home five awards including Best Science Fiction Film. Other winners in the top categories include Fringe for Best Network Series, Breaking Bad for best Cable Series, Let Me In for Best Horror Film, Alice in Wonderland for Best Fantasy Film and Salt for Best Action/Adventure Film.

Hit the jump to see the full list of winners, and don’t forget to check out Collider’s interviews from the red carpet at the event. We spoke with Brandon Routh, Fringe’s Lance Reddick, and producer Dean Devlin.

THE WOLFMAN Blu-ray Review

by Germain Lussier    Posted: June 10th, 2010 at 7:53 am

Much like a good set of fangs, The Wolfman is all about peaks and valleys. Its peaks are the gory and exciting action scenes. Its valleys are just about everything else. The Blu-ray, which features an unrated directors cut running an extra 16 minutes, does improve the film slightly but not enough to meet the public’s high expectations based on the legacy of the character. On the other hand, the extras are pretty entertaining including some awesome deleted scenes, in depth featurettes and two radically different alternate endings. Read more after the jump.

POPEYE Going CGI and 3D

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: March 22nd, 2010 at 10:44 pm

Sony is getting ready to power up freakishly forearmed sailor Popeye and giving him the CGI and 3D treatment.  Variety reports that Spider-Man producer Avi Arad is on the project with Mike Jones set to write the script.  Says Arad:

“Scott called me and said, ‘I have something for you,’” said Arad, who grew up watching Popeye shorts in movie houses in his native Israel. “I literally started singing the famous Popeye song (after securing the rights). What always blew me away is the level of the animation. It was so beautiful and unbelievably detailed.”

I’m going to go ahead and believe that was the case at the time Arad saw those shorts.  The character was adapted into a live-action film in 1980 starring Robin Williams and directed by Robert Altman.  Sony is already getting into the classic cartoon re-adaptation business with The Smurfs set to hit theaters on July 29, 2011.  For more on the history of the sailor man, hit the jump.

Rick Baker Video Interview THE WOLFMAN

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: February 11th, 2010 at 8:19 pm

If you look over Rock Baker’s resume, you can’t help but be impressed. As the makeup artist on such films as An American Werewolf in London, Coming to America, Tropic Thunder (he did Robert Downey Jr.’s makeup), and dozens of other high profile movies, the man is a legend in the industry and someone who I was extremely excited to talk to last weekend.

The reason I got to speak with him was for his work in director Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman.  In case you didn’t know, rather than just go with CGI, The Wolfman is a mix of practical effects and CG work.  And that’s one of the reasons the Wolfman looks so awesome in the film…it’s an actor under that makeup and not just a computer generated image!

So if you’re interested in Baker’s work on just curious how he got involved in the film, hit the jump.  Thanks to our partners at Omelete for making this interview happen.

Sir Anthony Hopkins Interview THE WOLFMAN

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: February 8th, 2010 at 3:25 pm

Over the weekend, Universal Pictures held a huge Wolfman press junket for journalists from around the world.  In attendance was the cast, as well as director Joe Johnston and make-up artist Rick Baker.  Over the next few days I’ll be posting a number of Wolfman interviews, as the movie arrives in theaters this Friday.  While I debated who to post first…I decided to go with one of the best actors working in the business, Sir Anthony Hopkins.

During the press conference, the Academy Award Winning actor talked about why he wanted to be involved with The Wolfman and a lot more.  As usual, you can either the transcript of what he said or listen to the audio of the press conference after the jump:

7 Movie Clips from THE WOLFMAN Starring Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: January 29th, 2010 at 10:13 am

Opening on February 12 is director Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman.  Starring Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving, the film has been the subject of a lot of chatter on the internet.  The reason is due to the reshoots on the film, and the fact that Universal has tested two versions to see which one plays better.  Even the music has been the subject of online articles as Danny Elfman was originally doing the score.  Then he was replaced by Paul Haslinger and then he was brought back.  So…it’s no surprise everyone is speculating if the movie is a train wreck or something cool.

While the film doesn’t show to the press for another week, I’ve spoken to a few people that saw the film and they all said it was good.  We’ll all know soon if they were telling me the truth.  Thankfully, Universal has provided us with seven clips from The Wolfman, so you can judge the footage for yourself after the jump.

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