Comic-Con 2011: Men In Black III Coverage and Panel

Congratulations, you are NOT at the Twilight panel! 

That's how Rick Baker was introduced this afternoon to an enraptured crowd.  He's at San Diego Comic-Con to take a tour through his seven-time-Oscar winning career, but also talk a bit about Men in Black III. 

A few minutes earlier I had the opportunity to chat with him one on one.  I let him know that a few months back I was in my local optometrist when a harried props buyer came in and begged to borrow a display.  (Dr. Schirer let him have it, for $100 cash.) 

Baker seems to think that set-up might be for Jemaine Clement's character, the villain Boris.  MIB III is a time-shifting story between 2011 and 1969 and some of the signifiers are glasses.  Sunglasses are always big in Men in Black. 

The time travel aspect is what Baker really sank his teeth into.  It afforded him an opportunity to create aliens that would have existed in the popular consciousness at the time. 

If that doesn't make much sense, know that in the (very swift and brief) reel we later saw, there were Barbarella-ish dames and and a big-brained dude who was a direct homage to the beings on Talos IV from the original Star Trek pilot The Cage from 1966. 

Baker promises there's a Gort/Colossus of New York-inspired creature in there, too, but, alas, a Robbie the Robot homage got killed before it made it past the pitch stage.

There's no point in hiding that Men in Black III has been a very troubled production.  (I did remind Baker that Casablanca didn't have an ending when they were shooting, either, and that worked out okay.)  To hear Baker tell it, the racing and schedule-juggling is very indicative of all large-scale modern filmmaking.  Some of the larger issue woes haven't been too bad for Baker, however.  It's kept some of the focus of the producers out of our workshop.

Men in Black III will be beaming to theaters on May 25, 2012.