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Rick Baker Discusses the Creatures He's Created for Hollywood

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOIE CHEN, CNN ANCHOR: Holiday right around the corner -- do you know what you're going to be for Halloween yet? Well, you might get some inspiration from our next report.

Our Jim Moret visited with one of Hollywood's premier creature creators.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM MORET, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He was unrecognizable wearing the gorilla suit in the 1976 remake of King Kong. He was relegated to this nondescript, non-dancing role in Michael Jackson's "Thriller." But being incognito was the point.

Rick Baker is a special effects makeup artist. He's created everything from Bigfoot to this big fella.

RICK BAKER, SPECIAL EFFECTS MAKEUP ARTIST: I'm kind of like Mr. Halloween, you know.

(LAUGHTER)

I have a job that I love. I did this as a hobby as a kid. I literally would put bullet holes in my head and go lay in the street, wait for somebody to find me. Basically every day was Halloween for me anyway.

MORET: Baker crept onto the scene 30 years ago with the low- budget "Octaman." He created cantina creatures for the original "Star Wars," and this landmark transformation scene from "An American Werewolf in London" brought Baker his first of five Academy Awards. That was 1982, the first year makeup became an official Oscar category.

Welcome to Baker's 40,000 square foot monster-making lab.

BAKER: This is our display room. You'll see some fun things in here.

MORET: A macabre menagerie of monsters and misfits, even seemingly frozen folks, victims of "Batman & Robin's" Mr. Freeze.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BATMAN & ROBIN")

ARNOLD SCHARZENEGGER, ACTOR: Stay cool.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAKER: We had guys in the shop and we threw buckets of water on them and photographed them and got this kind of splash.

MORET: Baker's motivation for makeup came from this horror classic.

BAKER: In my little-kid mind I really wanted to be Dr. Frankenstein. When I realized that doctors, in fact, didn't sew people together and create monsters, I realized it was a makeup artist, and I changed directions.

MORET: One of Baker's favorite canvasses, Eddie Murphy. Using loads of latex, Baker transformed the actor into the rather plump Klumps in "The Nutty Professor" and its sequel.

BAKER: This is what we glue onto Eddie's face to create Sherman, like this. I think really the hardest kind of thing is something like "The Nutty Professor," where it's a human and it has to look human. I mean, aliens you don't see everyday. Well, most people don't.

MORET: In fact, Baker's new take on alien abduction shook the set of "Men in Black."

BAKER: A lot of the crew members didn't know that there was a little green man inside. The first take was ruined, because when the face opened up -- you know, it opens up automatically -- when it opened up, the crew members went "Whoa!" you know, so they had to do it again.

MORET: The movie-makers decided not to use this Baker-built alien for the film's finale.

BAKER: I was really disappointed when they didn't use him. CG is definitely, is taking away the rubber monster business. It's not the answer to everything. You know, it's really nice on the set to have something there that you can touch and feel, and the actors can respond to and can respond back.

Harry, I'm really proud of. The director, Bill Dear, came to me and said, "I feel that you're the only person to do this because you give your characters a soul," you know. And I went, I like that. You know, I try.

I did feel he was a very soulful character, you know, and it really came through.

MORET: Baker controlled Harry's facial movements like a puppeteer via remote control, a trick unnecessary for his latest creature feature.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS")

JIM CARREY, ACTOR: The Grinch. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BAKER: To know that there was going to be this Jim Carrey motor behind my face, you know and it was going to move these things around, he does some great stuff with it. He can move his face like no one else.

MORET: Baker has an affinity for furry figures.

BAKER: So this is actually horse hair. I've kind of been called the king of the apes.

MORET: Baker says he wanted to stop monkeying around after "Gorillas in the Mist" because his man-made gorillas were virtually indistinguishable from the real ones. But then came an offer to recreate one of his childhood favorites, "Mighty Joe Young," and now, he's working on a remake of this 1968 classic.

BAKER: "Planet of the Apes," it's the ultimate makeup movie. That movie inspired, I think, more makeup artists than any -- any movie in history. I just couldn't turn it down, you know. So since that phone call, I've been working, you know, 12-hour days, you know, to try to make this the most incredible thing anybody's ever seen.

MORET: Grueling hours don't seem to curb Baker's passion, determination or excitement.

BAKER: I have a blast every day. I mean, I -- almost every day when I come to work I pinch myself, and I can't believe that this is what my little hobby's turned into.

MORET: Jim Moret, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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