Rick Baker
It's a funny relationship that makeup artists have. I always feel kind of like a dentist. People look at me and think of pain.
The first time I made myself up, I was looking at my reflection in the mirror and it wasn't me looking back. It allowed me to do things I couldn't do as myself. I found out how powerful that was and how much that can mean to an actor.
I'm amazed that movies ever get finished at all - much less come out good once in a while. It's an awful lot of work and it can go wrong a thousand different ways.
Grinch had so many people in make up - virtually everybody. We had about 100 people a day for five months. And every day we would use 100 sets of appliances.
I do what I did as a hobby as a kid, you know, and make a living at it. And I just feel like I'm one of the luckiest guys in the world 'cuz I get paid to make toys and play with them.
I have a job that I truly love, and an enormous crew of people that can do things better than I can!
I was born in 1950 and watched science fiction and horror movies on TV and was always really fascinated by them.
I always wanted to make aliens that looked like '60s aliens.
I have always tried to stay current.
Sometimes we think of a creature like a person in a suit, but then you have limitations of two eyes and two legs - they have to see and breathe. I got more into puppetry because it offered more possibilities.
I wanted to make sure to always stay current, try to find new material and stay with the modern techniques.
I hate wasting time or money and that happens all the time for no good reason, and then people save money by skimping on the important things.
So many people of my generation all grew up with that shock theater package on television of 'Frankenstein,' 'Wolfman,' 'Dracula,' 'Mummy,' all the Universal stuff.
I love making scary faces, that's just how I grew up.
I find it kind of disturbing when people cheer when someone just gets stabbed brutally.
CGI has a lot of backlash now. I think it's just because there are so many people doing it. It's a tool and it's only as good as the people behind it.
When I do a mask, I do try to put a lot of character and a lot of expression into the sculpt.
It's fun doing new things.
I don't want to be doing movies that I don't want to do. They take so much out of you.
When my parents died, it became clear to me that there was an end in sight. Death was never a real thing to me. And then when that happened I realized I only have so many years left, if I'm lucky.
When you're working on a movie you always hope that people will go for it and enjoy what you're doing.
It's funny: I've been very successful and done a lot of films, and I don't really have an agent - I don't really pursue jobs, I let people come to me.
I'm not really listed anywhere; I don't know how people find me!
I do fat people and these makeups are really hard to do, but I want to make monster movies.
I'm not a big gore hound but monster gore is different to me than killing a teenager in any way that you can when another human-like person does it. I don't know how I rationalize that really but it seems different to me.
There's a limit to what I can do with a makeup or with animatronics.
I do a lot of CG stuff for fun.
There are so many decisions in making a movie.
I enjoy doing digital work. I enjoy sculpting digitally. I've had my digital sculptures on covers of the top digital magazines.
I've said this so many times but there's a magic when you have a really good actor in a really good makeup.
I can't tell you how many people would say to me as a teenager, 'Why don't you grow up and start thinking about getting a real job?'
I feel like I have to top myself every film I do, and it gets hard.
Usually people who are in my position, they run a company and they hire people and then they take the credit for it.
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.
The problem I have with schools is, people are taught, 'This is how you do this.' They're not taught about why you do this.
The first time I made myself up, I was looking at my reflection in the mirror and it wasnt me looking back. It allowed me to do things I couldnt do as myself. I found out how powerful that was and how much that can mean to an actor.Collection: Powerful
I can't tell you how many people would say to me as a teenager, 'Why don't you grow up and start thinking about getting a real job?Collection: Jobs
It’s fun doing new things.Collection: Fun