RIP - Christopher Lee and Rick Baker's Career

There’s sad news in the movie world this week. First, veteran actor Christopher Lee passed away last week. Younger movie goers might recognize him as Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels, as Sauroman the White in the Lord of the Rings films, or maybe as Willy Wonka’s terrifying dentist father in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Despite these relatively recent screen credits, Lee worked steadily as an actor beginning in 1947. He started off as a bit player, but went on to play iconic characters like Sherlock Holmes, Rasputin, and, of course, Count Dracula. 

Lee found his niche in the 60s and 70s playing various ghouls, villains, and monsters in Hammer Films. Hammer Pictures was a British production company that specialized in cheaply-made Gothic horror films that were heavy on fake blood and scantily clad ladies and light on believable special effects and well-written dialogue. One look at Lee’s filmography from that period gives you a sense of the kinds of movies he made – Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, The Vengance of Fu Manchu, The House That Dripped Blood – you get the idea. 

Despite these schlocky entries on his resume, Lee was a class act and a really interesting person besides. He played in a heavy metal rock band, was an expert swordsman, and long before starring in the films, was a Tolkein fan who re-read the Lord of the Rings series every year. Lee was still working on film projects when he passed away last week at the age of 93. Of course, it’s sad to see talented performers take their final bow, but for someone like Christopher Lee who worked so long and did so much, his rest is well deserved. 

 

The other piece of sad Hollywood news this week is about a much more premature departure. Master makeup artist and monster maker Rick Baker is closing up shop. If his name sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve heard it on the Oscars – like seven times. Baker is responsible for the makeup special effects that led to ultra realistic gorilla suits in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan and Gorillas in the Mist, the terrifying werewolves in An American Werewolf in London and The Howling, and the ridiculous menagerie of aliens in the Men in Black trilogy. He’s responsible for Harry and the Hendersons, The Nutty Professor, Hellboy, King Kong, and Maleficent. He’s the guy responsible for Michael Jackson’s transformation from werewolf to zombie in the “Thriller” video for crying out loud. And now he’s retiring and shuttering his 60 thousand square foot facility. 

He’s not leaving movie making because he’s old or bored, but because CGI – computer generated imagery – is taking all the work he normally did. It’s cheaper to have a new design school graduate design a monster on computer than to have a seven time Oscar winner build one with foam and latex. Pixels are cheaper than paint, and Baker’s art is largely becoming a thing of the past. Recently auctioned off some of his more notable creations including Jim Carrey’s Grinch costume, Vincent D’Onfrio’s Edgar suit from Men in Black, and Benecio Del Toro’s animatronic head from The Wolfman. It’s a great opportunity for collectors, but a sad sign for filmmaking. 

Cheaper isn’t always better, and while CGI can create miraculous images, there’s a loss of tactility and craftsmanship that movies shouldn’t lose. We go to the movies partly for a visceral, you-are-there experience and GCI is so smooth and so perfect, it’s often more like watching a cartoon than a live action film. It lacks that real world punch that comes from well-designed practical special effects and makeup. If Rick Baker sees fit to retire, he’s certainly entitled. He has nothing left to prove, but movie makers and movie goers will be poorer for his absence. As new filmmakers come up, I hope they find a way to use CGi to augment rather than replace important artists like Rick Baker.

This review originally appeared on Q90.1 Delta College Quality Public Radio. Go to www.deltabroadcasting.org for more information.