In Men in Black: International, directed by F. Gary Gray (The Fate of the Furious, Straight Outta Compton) and taking place after the events of the previous films, newly minted Agent M (Tessa Thompson) heads to London to suss out a potential mole. She’s partnered with veteran Agent H (Chris Hemsworth), who makes up for his lack of brains and reason with experience, and the two are thrust on an international mystery… hence the subtitle.

Back in September, press gathered at London’s Leavesden Studio to witness how this new direction for the franchise, a crazy mix of new tech with fun throwbacks, came together. Here’s what we learned.

Ground Zero

Though the Men in Black franchise launches fans to other parts of the world, it goes back to where it all began, New York City.

As a young girl, Molly (Thompson) finds an alien as cute as tie-dye Build-A-Bear lurking in her room. The encounter prompts the Men In Black to intervene, though the girl pretends to be asleep while her parents’ memories are wiped. With the knowledge that aliens are real, Molly spends the years that follow trying to track down this mysterious organization. In an unexpected move, she does.

Molly tracks the Men In Black back to the New York City headquarters with the same familiar wind vent entrance and the same familiar Agent O (Emma Thompson). Molly talks her way into a job — on a probational period, at least — and becomes Agent M.

While the film spends a lot more time at MIB London, run by Liam Neeson’s High T, executive producer Walter Parkes confirms, “Emma is definitely probably more as a higher commander than Liam. So, we do imply that New York is more important, but I think it just becomes a launching pad. What audiences are going to enjoy a lot of is we’re opening up the world.”

According to Parkes’ fellow EP, E. Bennett Walsh, “The first three movies as black-and-white films. They’re set in New York, they’re very New York. The comic book was in the ‘60s, but [Parkes] always said it’s a 1960s black-and-white comic in terms of that palette.”

London is different.

Hyperloops

To think there’s only one MIB base and it’s in Manhattan is just hubris. There are, in fact, multiple headquarters all around the globe, one of which happens to be in London. The Men In Black producers hope fans will one day see the other locations, but, as Walsh says, “If the film’s successful, we will certainly be going to new headquarters throughout the world.”

In the meantime, we have New York and London and they are connected through a hyperloop transportation system. “The hyperloop system connects all of MIB,” Walsh says.

Glimpsed in the latest trailer, the hyperloop may seem like your typical dingy New York City subway train with a shallow pool of soda lingering in the crevasse of the orange seats, but for MIB agents, it transforms into a high-tech, sophisticated bullet train.

According to production designer Charles Wood, the Men In Black canon changes heading into International by virtue of the new headquarters.

“In the original films, the MIB lore went back no further than the 1960s. The organization existed only to that point,” he says. “In this film, the guys are saying, ‘Why don’t we forget that and why don’t we suggest the MIB organization has been around since the turn of the last century?’ Once we agreed upon that ideal, then it meant that this world could go into an earlier time or a later period.”

London Headquarters

The producers took advantage of the European setting — at least, what is technically still a pre-Brexit Europe — in the design of MIB London. Meaning, “What we wanted to do is become very pan European and pan world and bring color into it,” Walsh says.

The Black Friar Pub is the main entry point to the U.K. base of operations, which is still largely comprised of white walls and floors as a contrast to the black of the agents’ office attire, but pops of color abound, from the digital green lettering directing aliens to fill out their earthly visa forms to the actual aliens themselves.

“In the London branch, in keeping with this European Classicism, they commissioned paintings like in the 16-, 1700s when painters would paint famous battles to commemorate them,” Parkes notes. “That there are certain battles that have been painted to commemorate great moments in MIB history and you might see a shoutout to Will [Smith] and Tommy [Lee Jones] there.”

Forget might. You do see a shoutout. On the walls of the head honcho’s office hangs paintings, one of which definitely dramatizes a time when Agents J and K saved the world.

“This is more about that golden age of British deco,” Parkes says.

“In the original films, the language was that of midcentury, modern, the ‘60s,” explains Wood. “The challenge was to find our own aesthetic. Because we were coming to London, the idea really was, from the get-go, we should celebrate the fact that we’re in Europe, London, so why not take this world of MIB into a more historic place.”

Some Names to Know.

• High T: Neeson’s High T is the current head of MIB’s London headquarters, as well as a mentor to and former partner of Agent H (Hemsworth). “When we were looking for the person that was gonna run MIB London, we really came to Liam because we wanted a father-type stature against Chris,” Walsh says.
• Agent H: High T calls Agent H “one of the best to ever wear the suit,” but Walsh calls him “a little full of himself.” Hemsworth calls his character “reckless in his approach” and someone who "certainly doesn’t take advice from others.” That’s because he’s riding on the fact that he’s saved many charges over the years.
• Agent C: Actor Rafe Spall (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) plays this other agent based in London. All we know is what Parkes mentions of him, which is that he is a “rival” for Agent H.

Aliens

Rick Baker, the legendary monster movie makeup artist, was involved in the first three Men In Black movies, but not International, due to retirement. That was “another challenge,” according to Parkes. “What we had to do,” he says, “was pull, throughout the world, creature designers. We used people from Baker’s studio who were still active, we went to Weta Workshops. We did do a combination of CG and prosthetics.

The producer mentions that, “When we started the film, everybody thought, ‘Well, we’ll just go CG because technology is cheaper and we’ll make all the aliens.” But on set, acting extras, who spent hours in the prosthetics chair, grab lunch in between takes in full alien gear. Blue-skinned office workers with mushrooms sprouting from their cheeks snack on craft services, while pinkish agents walk the floor in the London base.

The Hive: The Hive is the name given to a collective alien force, almost like a hive mind, that can take the shape of anyone — including MIB agents. Hence, London’s MIB base becomes compromised.

“The Hive is the villainous force that High T and [Agent H] defeated four years before all of this,” Parkes explains. "Our story deals with a repeating history: The Hive have come back and they discover that the circumstances of the great moment that made Chris’ character a hero may not have been true.”

“Edgar, the bug, was such a great villain,” Walsh says of the giant cockroach from the first Men In Black. “Even in MIB III,” he continues, “Boris was such a great villain. We really had to make sure that we’re at that same level with our antagonists [in International].”

Vungus: Vungus is considered alien royalty in the universe. He’s having a great time at a nightclub in London, just nearby St. Paul’s Cathedral, when he’s set upon and assassinated by a set of alien twins from The Hive with a small dagger. It’s his death that kickstarts the mystery.

Pawny: Voiced by Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick), Pawny is the pint-sized secret third member of the Agent M and Agent H team-up. After a battle with the twins in London, a clue leads M and H to an antique shop in Marrakech, Morocco, where they encounter this little pukwudgie, garden gnome lookalike who’s been attacked himself. “Pawney protects a queen, but since the queen is dead Pawney needs a new queen, which becomes [M],” says Walsh.

“We’re doing facial capture,” the producer adds of the role. “This could easily be voiceover acting, but we actually have Kumail on the floor when we’re [filming scenes with] Pawny because of the comedic timing and so much can happen spontaneously.”

Riza: Played by Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible — Fallout), Riza is a multi-armed alien of the avian variety. Walsh describes her as “a keeper of alien pets” on an island in off the coast of Italy, but costume designer Penny Rose goes into more detail.

“She’s an arms dealer,” Rose says of Riza. “She lives on an isolated island in an old monastery and she has had an affair with [Agent H] in the past. So, I wanted to dress her in an alien but normal way. It’s very colorful, it’s very Mediterranean, and it’s very unexpected.”

Riza and M have a bit of a scuffle when the agent arrives on her island with Riza’s ex-lover in tow. Given the character’s multiple limbs, “it makes the fight very unique and very different,” says stunt coordinator and second unite director Wade Eastwood.

Gadgets

Neuralyzer: Duh. Can’t have Men In Black without its signature memory wipe device.

According to Walsh, the neuralyzer has been updated. “We had to rebuild the original,” Bohanna says. “We had an original sent to us as a copy [for a flashback]… and then we did our own version, a modern version.”

There was “lots and lots of different opinions” and “debate” about what the updated neutralyzer would be because, “it’s never really explained if there’s a workshop downstairs [in MIB New York]… or if it’s imported from a different planet.”

“The thing about the neuralyzer, it’s a very interesting prop in the Men In Black universe,” Parkes says. “The idea of taking people’s memories away and putting in false memories, which we’ve used but sort of around the kind of periphery of our plots, might have a little more central role in this one.”

Black hole containment: This thing may look like a normal cube, but this is how the MIB in London take care of your renegade black hole. According to Walsh, it unfolds like origami and only the correct configuration will cause the object to take the next correct shape. It’s a puzzle.

Lock-pick microbot: Not much else is known about this. Thankfully, the name of it is pretty self-explanatory.

Weapons: Some of them have already been spotted in the trailers, including one that can turn a desert into a Grand Canyon in a matter of seconds. Simply put, “We have a lot of guns,” says Walsh.

Vehicles

Jaguar: J and K had the iconic Ford LTD as their ride. M and H have a Jaguar. Pressing the “red button” this time turns it into a high-speed jet, but for this vehicle, there are many more surprises in store. It’s a traveling arsenal. Virtually every part of the car holds a secret weapon, from the back bumper to the hub caps.

When Vungus is killed, M and H are forced to confront the twins, who are “able to control matter” and “able to pull up lumps of road,” according to prop modeler Pierre Bohanna. First M goes for the petrol can. She pulls it out and it becomes a pistol. That isn’t enough. So, she goes for the side mirror, which she slides out to reveal a secret station of slightly larger weapons. She also grabs the rear bumper, which, when locked onto this gun, becomes her magazine. But those, too, don’t work. So, H pops the hood of the car to reveal a giant rocket launcher.

Containment: “We have reinvented the containment,” says Walsh. After the battle with The Twins on the streets of London, a giant black van rolls up. Out of it pours MIB agents in black mech suits, each carrying various clean-up equipment. The most prominent of their gadgets includes a long metal vacuum of sorts with gelatin bristles that suck up any alien-related matter.

Alien hover bike: A clue from Vungus’ assassination leads the agents to Marrakech, Morocco, where not only do they meet Pawny, but they embark on a chase sequence involving an amber hover bike. H takes control as M clings to his back to flash the neuralyzer at the disgruntled townsfolk. “We’ve done a lot of training with Chris. He’s been on the bike loads, he can ride really well,” Eastwood says. “He got it on Day 1 and he was great so we didn’t need to do much more with him.”

Outside of London

Morocco: In an early draft of the script, London and Paris were chosen locations, per the demands of the story, but Istanbul, Monte Carlo, and Greece were three others destinations pitched for the film.

“F. Gary Gray was very specific about Istanbul being too close to London and Paris, so he wanted contrast, a visual contrast,” Walsh explains. “That's where Marrakesh came from, and it started to serve the story because from Marrakesh we go into the desert and the idea of Men in Black being in that environment we thought was just fun.”

In Marrakesh resides what used to be Pawny’s micro-kingdom before he was attacked. A unique 4D chessboard inside a globe marks his domain. “There’s a universe in the chessboard,” Walsh mentions.

Italy: Continuing the need for visual contrasts, the agents then go to an island in Italy, where they meet up with Riza. Ferguson’s character evokes Circe from the Odyssey with an island all to herself and the “alien pets” looks after. “[Gray] wanted to bring in the Mediterranean water and that comes right [after] Marrakesh,” Walsh says. “And because Men in Black is aliens hiding in plain sight, so putting them in an environment where you think they could be.”

France: In the first Men in Black, the World Fair towers served a different, much more alien purpose. In International, that location is the Eiffel Tower. “It was a lovely concept of why the Eiffel Tower was built in the lore of this movie,” Wood says. “There’s a whole backstory to it.”

Concept art (and now the trailer) shows three glowing doors reside within the mildly steampunk aesthetic of the Eiffel Tower. It’s where Hight T and Agent H once fought The Hive. Those three doors, according to Walsh, “open up into different universes.” They are portals into space, rather than flying saucers.

Wood’s biggest inspiration for this set came from old photographs of the interior. “Certainly when you look back to architects, back to the 1860s onwards, these people who built these extraordinary things, you get influenced by that period of architecture,” he elaborates. “I’m talking about the Paris World Fair and that whole pre-century time of the industrial revolution. There’s a ton of photographic architectural reference, which starts on you a beautiful journey.”