Hey folks, Harry here... One of the great moments of geek glory in my life was actually getting to hang out and talk at length with Rick Baker on the set of the Grinch. I remember clearly seeing him from behind... that long mane of brown hair with the Reed Richards white streak... He was facing the Mayor of Whoville, and he turned and came over to talk to me... For the next hour or so we talked make up... For him Grinch was a perceived swan song for the medium of makeup... so many of the filmmakers have become obsessed with CGI... More and more people in makeup design are beginning to start playing with CG themselves... robotic animatronics... away from the purity of applications and grease pencils... no more egg membrames to make a blind eye... that gave way to contacts... and now Lucas just repaints the eyes. With THE MUMMY, cgi makeup techniques began to push forward. Who would want a bunch of old fashioned artists... folks that harken back to the 'creaky days' of Chaney and Jack Pierce? I told him that there will always be a place for transforming phantasmagorical makeup.... At the time... looking about myself at a hundred plus WHOs... I couldn't imagine anyone not DEMANDING to work in this medium. FOLKS... I tell you now... between Rick and his people's work on the GRINCH... and then the work they'll do on PLANET OF THE APES... we are going to be witnessing a renaissance in the field of magical make up. CG outpacing make up? Hmph... Not so long as cool folks like Tim Burton walk the earth and there are fans like us that marvel at the geniuses with brushes and paints and latex and hair plugs and so on.... Here's the report on POTA...
Hi Harry,
Larry Talbot here. Well I went to the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in LA yesterday and was lucky enough to hear Rick Baker give a little speech. People from the audience kept asking Apes questions and he stressed that he really couldn't talk about it but he did let slip that his crew will be producing about 500 apes and that at this time there are no plans to introduce animatronics. It will be a make-up job to enhance the performances of the actors. He said that based on a test they did Thursday he hasn't been as excited about a project for years and that he gave up a planned and much needed year off with his family to do this project. Thankyou Rick!
