Rick Baker is one of the most famous Hollywood special effects men, beloved by movie fans everywhere particularly for his groundbreaking (and still hugely impressive) transformation scene in the 1981 horror classic “An American Werewolf in London”.
Baker’s association with werewolves continues to this day, being the man responsible for the effects in the new version of “The Wolfman”, starring Benicio Del Toro and Emily Blunt and directed by Joe Johnton, and ShockTillYouDrop.com caught up with the man himself to talk about his latest work. “I did something I don’t do, I pursued this,” Baker admits about the project. “I went in and said I wanted to do it.” That said, he was disappointed that he wasn’t more involved with the transformation scenes in the film. “I would have loved to have been more involved with (that). They utilised some of my design sculpts and skin, made models from that. I was intentionally left out of it, which to me is stupid. I pour my heart and soul into it when I do a movie like this. I think they did some terrific stuff, though.”
Baker is full of praise for the film’s lead actor as well. “What’s about him (Del Toro) is he goes for it. He doesn’t hold back. He doesn’t care if he looks stupid, he puts trust in the fact they won’t use it if he does. He tries things that others actors won’t.” Baker is just the like the rest of us in one sense, however, admitting “I haven’t seen the final thing… I’m looking forward to seeing it, though.”
