First the garage, now the whole workshop. Rick Baker, the legendary Hollywood make-up and special effects wizard, has officially announced his retirement. Fresh from a sale of some of his career memorabilia, Baker shared the news with Californian public radio station KPCC that he was putting away the prosthetics for good.
"I said the time is right, I am 64 years old, and the business is crazy right now,” he explained. "I like to do things right, and they wanted cheap and fast. That is not what I want to do, so I just decided it is basically time to get out.”
Baker, of course, is the make-up artist behind some of the most memorable, marvellous and maquetted cinematic creations of the past four decades. He emerged as the heir apparent to Jack Pierce in the mid-‘70s, collaborating with fellow SFX guru Carlo Rambaldi on King Kong in 1976 and going on to work on An American Werewolf In London and Star Wars.
Since then, there’s been projects as diverse as Videodrome, Harry And The Hendersons, Ed Wood, The Nutty Professor, Men In Black, How The Grinch Stole Christmas and The Wolfman, and seven Oscars reaped for his troubles.
Disillusionment with the filmmaking process has been gradual process for Baker, with the nickel-and-dime make-up budgets an increasingly stark contrast with mega-bucks VFX resources. "I could’ve done it in a garage basically,” he complained of his work on Maleficent.
For happier memories of Baker's finest work, head over to the Prop Store site or take a gallop through Empire’s celebration of his classic creations.
from Empire News
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