Discussion Make up artist Rick Baker excited about Ep 7

I remember when Baker bashed the Yoda puppet in TPM. He just likes good work, CG and practical, and will criticize poor work.

I say bring him on as the Makeup and Practical Character Design supervisor.

 

Oh please, yes!!

My favorite part of that:
And he hopes the new movies ease up on visual effects, and attempt more practical effects.
“I think the problem that people have with the digital stuff is the problem I have: Just because you can do anything doesn’t mean that you should,”

I could not agree more!

 

No disrespect to Mr. Baker as he's probably the best in the business (now that Stan Winston is gone ), but Star Wars already has a large cast of creatures, aliens and monsters. Both CGI and prop based. I wouldn't want a Baker type coming in and "re-doing" existing characters. Sure he could make some "new creatures", but I don't think these new creatures would take center stage, and I wouldn't want them to. So to be honest, I think the ST job is actually beneath Baker. He should stick with "original" films who need new creatures created.

 

Yeah but someone does have to MAKE all the creatures. Why not baker? They re-worked ponda boba's race for the PT, why not make the quarren look good. What about that thirsty bat/mouse guy. Let baker make a cool animatronic head that you can't see through the eyes of.

 

I would love to see Rick Baker working on the new SW Movies.I was lucky enough to see his panel at SD Comic-con in 2011 and he's the man.

 

I disagree. The ROTS opening battle was muddled and confusing. There was no tension. We knew that Obi-Wan and Anakin were going to live. The idea and execution of buzz droids did not add much to the scene. In my view, it detracted from it. The Jedi were made into such superheroes, that all of the tension in that scene was sucked away when it began (with them flying in perfect formation and cracking some jokes).

In the climax of Jedi, there was a lot of tension. Yes, we knew that the Death Star was going to be destroyed. But, we did not know if Lando and the Falcon would make it out of there. Will Luke escape from the Death Star before it explodes? Other lesser characters such as Wedge and Ackbar were also in danger. It was exciting and well done without any CGI.

 

I wouldn’t go as far as saying there was no tension. The thing was we all already knew Anakin and Obi Wan were already going to survive because of the OT. It may have been different for younger fans.
Did you think Luke was going to die on those last moments in the trench, did you think he was going to blow up the death star? He’s the main hero, do you expect him to die and let the rebellion be destroyed? No! There are better examples than mine, but this does its job!

 

No answer?

 

I suggested this in another thread but Guillermo Del Toro's make up company would do an excellent job I would think.

 

By Del Toro's makeup company I assume you mean the ones that worked on the Hellboy's and Pans Labyrinth?

Baker worked on Hellboy, along with Spectral Motion, who also worked on Hellboy 2 and Pans Labyrinth.

And I agree. If not Baker then Mike Elizalde and his team at Spectral Motion. They're mostly Baker alumni anyway.

 

Argh I should have done more research on that. My bad.

 

We're watching Muppet Christmas carol here, and I just thought that Disney owns the muppets now, so hopefully the new movies will have some muppet involment. The muppeters are so stinking talented, I would love to see them come on to do the puppet-y parts. They could even do puppetry assisted CG characters, ala http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Henson_Digital_Performance_System

 

Rick did INCREDIBLE work on the underrated Harry and the Hendersons...but then again NOTHING can match the incredible animatronic masks in ROTS. Watch the special features...LOTS of practical models, makeup, etc.