It’s been in the news for a while that make-up master Rick Baker would be auctioning off his incredible warehouse of creations, which will be up for the public on Friday, May 29. While this is great news for collectors that have the money, it has also come with a sad note, that Baker will be retiring from the business.
If you’re not FX inclined and don’t know the name Rick Baker, you certainly know his incredible FX work: An American Werewolf in London, Men in Black, Hellboy, The Nutty Professor, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and many, many others. While Baker has continued to thrive in a CGI world, and is still in demand as a top make-up artist, apparently he’s ready to step down and retire.
Uproxx tells us that Baker’s reasoning is, “I like to do things right, and they wanted cheap and fast. That’s not what I want to do, so I just decided it is basically time to get out. I would consider designing and consulting on something, but I don’t think I will have a huge working studio anymore.”
It would be nice if Baker would make one more great monster movie as a last goodbye, and while it’s a big loss to the movie industry that he’s leaving, what else can we fans demand from Baker? He’s given us so many great effects and creatures, we fans could never be able to repay him in a million years.