#cinovation

Do you know how to paint monsters? Check out this segment from one of our painting tutorials: bit.ly/MonMaskPntFcTLR

December the 8th 1950 was the birth of special effect (and creature creator) make-up artist, Rick Baker.

The man behind the mask and one of the most talented special effects artists since the 1970’s, Rick Baker found his fascination with creatures when he became aware of Jack P Pierce, who created the make-up on all the classic Universals monsters, being most recognised for his work on Frankenstein’s Monster.

Ricks passion was started. He began to make creatures in his mother’s kitchen, every bit of money saved going on products to create masks:

So many of my dreams were to actually be able to make a living of what I did as a hobby. I used to have to save my allowances to buy a quart of rubber to make a mask, and it's how I spent all my free time. I still do. I got into this because I love the work. I didn't know anyone in the film business, and I didn't really have a plan B. It's a good thing it worked out because I would be sitting on the side of the freeway with a sign saying 'Will do make up for food'. Rick Baker IMdB

This passion and drive led Baker to become assistant make-up artist to Dick Smith on the film Exorcist (1973), which then catapulted his career supervising the creation of aliens in Star Wars (1977), and the creation of the Wolfman in, An American Werewolf in London (1981), which was considered one of the scariest make-ups of that time.

In 1983, Baker turned Michael Jackson and backing dancers into the undead, it was this creation that led to Rick creating creatures for; Harry and the Henderson’s (1987), Men in Black (1997) and Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes (2001), his early fascination of gorillas helping the latter creation.

All of this was a far cry to making body parts and monsters limbs out of pastry, and baking them in the oven. It was early in his pre-teens that he discovered simple make-up, especially involving blood and gore provoked strong reactions in people. Baker took a special glee in placing fake gashes and wounds on kids and sending them screaming back home to their parents. But one incident in particular, in which he made up a neighbourhood kid to look badly burned, leaving the boy's father a sobbing mess, convinced Baker he should pursue the less harmful creatures of fantasy, so as to provoke fear instead of shock and panic.

After creating the title creature for a B movie ‘Octaman’, Rick earned a position assisting Dick Smith on the film Exorcist (1973), transforming child actress Linda Blair into the vomit spewing evil possession. Versions of the make-up having to be re-done because it was too frightening to use.

Following this, Baker collaborated with director John Landis on the 1973 movie ‘Shlock’, a comedy horror about an ape-like monster who falls in love with a blind girl. This made Landis aware of Bakers talent, who was, before he saw Bakers work, going to use a really bad monster suit on this film, later admitting that Baker’s work was the best thing about the film.

Baker then created a demonic baby for ‘B’ movie ‘It’s Alive’, before moving onto a TV movie, ‘The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman’ (CBS 1974) in which he turned actress Cicely Tyson into a hundred year old woman, this work earned himself and fellow artist Stan Winston an Emmy Award.

The project that really made Baker a household name within the industry was on the big budget remake of ‘King Kong’. Director Dino De Lorentiis was eager to follow the growing advances in special effects and technology, hoping to use a life sized, fully functioning gorilla, when he discovered this was not achievable, he turned to Baker, where he created a gorilla suit made of bear fur, with mechanics in the face to create accurate facial expression. Playing the part himself.

In 1977, director George Lucas called upon Baker to create aliens to be used in the Cantina scene on the planet Tatooine, paid him $50,000 and six weeks to create as many aliens as possible. The results, despite the budget restrictions, (and a jazz band of aliens which saved both time and money) remained a signature scene in one of the major blockbusters of all time.

This led to Bakers defining factor, not only did it change his career, but changed the way prosthetic effects were made for future generations. The film, ‘An American Werewolf in London’ (1981), created by old friend John Landis, meant Baker had new challenges to overcome. Landis wanted the transformation between human to wolf, as brutal and painful as it could be. Baker then created elaborate mechanisms to generate effects such as the stretching of a hand into a paw in real time, and a foam rubber mask to elongate the snout, along with deteriorating flesh and ending up with a flesh covered skeleton puppet. This work was so impressive that an new Oscar category ‘Best Make-up Effects’ was added, Baker being the first to achieve this award.

Baker was now one of the most sought after effects artist in Hollywood. His speciality in fantasy and realism, puppetry and make-up skills earned him a place to work with director Steven Spielberg on a film called ‘Night Skies’, where a group of aliens terrorised a farming family. Here Baker and a team of artists were hired to create the aliens from scratch, Spielberg however, had a change of heart and clashed with Baker over budgets and scheduling, the two rarely worked alongside each other again.

Un-perturbed by this, Baker kept himself busy until director Robert Towne hired him to work on his film; ‘Greystoke: The legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes’ (1984). Bakers work was so life-like, that many viewers didn’t realise that they were not watching real life gorillas in the jungle. This led to him working on the drama ‘Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Diane Fosse’ (1988), where he was required to portray gorillas in their natural settings.

Because of bakers’ regocnition for his horror effects, old friend Landis hired him for Michael Jackson’s video ‘Thriller’. Already a fan of Baker due to him being a horror buff himself, Jackson praised Baker (even as he places to yellow oversized lenses into his eyes) during the ‘ in the making of documentary’, even dedicating his song ‘Threatened’ to him in (2001). Baker actually appeared in the video ‘Thriller’, he was seen as a zombie shuffling towards the camera, whose arm falls off.

Going onto create effects for ‘Videodrome’(1983), ‘Werewolf’(Fox 1987) and Beauty and The Beast (CBS, 1987-1990), it was the effects he created on the film ‘Harry and the Henderson’s’ that won Baker his second Oscar, his third being achieved on ‘The Nutty Professor’ (1996)

Baker formed Cinovation Studios in 1981, where a vast array of effects, creatures and aliens were created for many films including:

How the Grinch stole Christmas- the Grinch earning Baker another Academy Award

Men in black 2

The Ring

The Haunted Mansion

Tron Legacy- all to name but a few.

His dream came when asked to provide special effects for the film ‘Wolfman’ (2010), resulting with an Academy Award for Best Achievement in make-up. It is fair to say that Rick Baker holds the record for the most Academy Award wins and Nominations ever bestowed on a Make-up artist.

Rick Bakers high demand continues due to his ability to bring realism to a production, through make-up, special effects and puppetry. Achieving all this through passion and commitment, starting out baking body parts in his mother’s kitchen. Never forgetting his mentor, he presented Dick Smith with an honorary Oscar in 2011, quoting: