Rick Baker on the making of Michael Jackson's Thriller

The Archive interviewed make-up artist Rick Baker in 2003 about his work in film and television. Baker also worked on Michael Jackson's infamous Thriller music video, and talks about the star and the process of creating the "zombie" looks in this interview excerpt.





Detailed Description:
Rick Baker was interviewed for nearly two hours in Glendale, CA. He talked about his desire to become a doctor when he grew up, and having an epiphany that the doctor he actually wanted to be was “Dr. Frankenstein,” so he could make monsters. He described his youthful interest in monster magazines and model kits and discussed producing his own 8mm version of Frankenstein. He talked about the influence of television in his formative years and how being in front of the “box” led him to his career path, discovering the world of make-up through the horror/ sci-fi television series of the 1960s and the “Million Dollar Movie” which ran classic films. He talked about his first professional job, when he was a teenager, at the (Art) Clokey Studios, where he was a puppet designer for the stop-motion animation series Davey and Goliath. He talked about writing a letter to his mentor, legendary make-up artist Dick Smith, who invited him to his house and showed him his make-up lab and taught him the tricks of the trade. He spoke about their continued association that culminated in Baker’s assisting Smith on the feature film The Exorcist. He talked about the Emmy-Award-winning work he did (with Stan Winston) on the landmark television movie The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, in which the lead character ages to 110 years old. He discussed how, due to the fact that he was not in the union, he was paired with Winston and how their collaboration was complicated due to their divergent techniques. He described his memorable work on the Cantina sequence in the movie blockbuster Star Wars. He spoke about his groundbreaking, Academy-Award winning work for An American Werewolf in London, which featured werewolf metamorphosis sequences that did not rely on optical effects. Additionally, Baker talked about his work on Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video, the series Beauty and the Beast, and the feature film Ed Wood, in which he transformed Martin Landau into Bela Lugosi. The interview was conducted by Stephen J. Abramson on February 24, 2003.