I do what I did as a hobby as a kid, you know, and make a living at it. And I just feel like I'm one of the luckiest guys in the world 'cuz I get paid to make toys and play with them.
— Rick Baker
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CGI has a lot of backlash now. I think it's just because there are so many people doing it. It's a tool and it's only as good as the people behind it.
When I do a mask, I do try to put a lot of character and a lot of expression into the sculpt.
I have a job that I truly love, and an enormous crew of people that can do things better than I can!
I can't tell you how many people would say to me as a teenager, 'Why don't you grow up and start thinking about getting a real job?
I hate wasting time or money and that happens all the time for no good reason, and then people save money by skimping on the important things.
I used to have to save my allowances to buy a quart of rubber to make a mask, and it's how I spent all my free time.
It's a funny relationship that makeup artists have.
I always feel kind of like a dentist. People look at me and think of pain.
Grinch had so many people in make up - virtually everybody.
We had about 100 people a day for five months. And every day we would use 100 sets of appliances.
I'm not a big gore hound but monster gore is different to me than killing a teenager in any way that you can when another human-like person does it. I don't know how I rationalize that really but it seems different to me.
I do a lot of CG stuff for fun.
I don't want to be doing movies that I don't want to do. They take so much out of you.
I always wanted to make aliens that looked like '60s aliens.
I'm amazed that movies ever get finished at all - much less come out good once in a while. It's an awful lot of work and it can go wrong a thousand different ways.
I do fat people and these makeups are really hard to do, but I want to make monster movies.
When you're working on a movie you always hope that people will go for it and enjoy what you're doing.
The first time I made myself up, I was looking at my reflection in the mirror and it wasnt me looking back. It allowed me to do things I couldnt do as myself. I found out how powerful that was and how much that can mean to an actor.
I've said this so many times but there's a magic when you have a really good actor in a really good makeup.
I have always tried to stay current.
When my parents died, it became clear to me that there was an end in sight.
Death was never a real thing to me. And then when that happened I realized I only have so many years left, if I'm lucky.
I enjoy doing digital work. I enjoy sculpting digitally. I've had my digital sculptures on covers of the top digital magazines.
The problem I have with schools is, people are taught, 'This is how you do this.
' They're not taught about why you do this.
Sometimes we think of a creature like a person in a suit, but then you have limitations of two eyes and two legs - they have to see and breathe. I got more into puppetry because it offered more possibilities.
I love making scary faces, that's just how I grew up.
Usually people who are in my position, they run a company and they hire people and then they take the credit for it.
I wanted to make sure to always stay current, try to find new material and stay with the modern techniques.
I feel like I have to top myself every film I do, and it gets hard.
It's funny: I've been very successful and done a lot of films, and I don't really have an agent - I don't really pursue jobs, I let people come to me.
I'm not really listed anywhere; I don't know how people find me!
There's a limit to what I can do with a makeup or with animatronics.
It's fun doing new things.
There are so many decisions in making a movie.
So many people of my generation all grew up with that shock theater package on television of 'Frankenstein,' 'Wolfman,' 'Dracula,' 'Mummy,' all the Universal stuff.