Rick Baker

This deluxe two-volume set explores seven-time Academy Award–winner Rick Baker’s 40-plus-year journey as a special makeup effects artist. Features a foreword by John Landis, a preface by Peter Jackson, and an introduction by Rick Baker.

Rick Baker: Metamorphosis chronicles the career of the legendary special effects and makeup artist, best known for his creature effects and designs. This deluxe, two-volume set, replete with more than 1,600 four-color images and original sketches, covers the makeup artist’s forty-plus-year journey, from his early days as a young “monster maker,” creating body parts in his parents’ kitchen, to his more than seventy film and television credits, which resulted in seven Academy Awards, one Emmy, and three BAFTAs, among numerous others.
From the gory zombies of Michael Jackson’s Thriller and the staggeringly lifelike Bigfoot in Harry and the Hendersons to the creative builds in Men in Black and the groundbreaking effects in An American Werewolf in London, Rick Baker’s special effects, makeup, and prosthetics count among some of Hollywood’s most enduring legacies.

J. W. Rinzler, former executive editor at Lucasfilm Ltd., is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Making of Star Wars, and the Times (London) bestseller The Complete Making of Indiana Jones. He also wrote The Star Wars, the #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novel, adapted from George Lucas’s original rough draft.

John Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer best known for directing National Lampoon’s Animal House, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London, and Coming to America, among other films. He also directed Michael Jackson’s music videos for “Thriller” and “Black or White”.

Peter Jackson is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter, and film producer best known as the director, writer, and producer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit trilogy among others.

Dick Smith, an American Academy Award–winning special makeup effects artist, nicknamed the “Godfather of Make- up,” was known for his groundbreaking work on such films as Little Big Man, The Godfather, The Exorcist, and Taxi Driver.

Brandon Alinger is the chief operations officer of the Los Angeles branch of Prop Store, a company specializing in film props and costumes as memorabilia. Alinger is the coauthor of Star Wars Art: Ralph McQuarrie, as well as the author of Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy and research assistant on The Making of Return of the Jedi.