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Scum of the Universe — Men in Black II, part 2

To convince the neuralyzed Kay that what he is saying is true, Jay shows Kay that most of the workers at the postal office are actually aliens. Dozens of concepts were devised, and ultimately nailed down to four.

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Scum Of The Universe — Men In Black II, part 1

Rick Baker and Cinovation Studio returned to design and give life to the creatures for Men In Black II, accompanied on the visual effects front by Industrial Light & Magic. Like its predecessor, the film posed an ambitious challenge of bringing to the screen a vast array of practical and digital creatures; and yet, Sony Pictures demanded completion of the project in a fraction of the time the same teams had been given to produce the first film.

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Scum Of The Universe — Men In Black II, Serleena

Responsible for the design of Serleena’s various forms throughout Men In Black II were Rick Baker himself and ILM art director David Nakabayashi. “The trick,” recalled Nakabayashi, “was to give Serleena creature continuity, even though it would be seen in many different forms. There had to be visual cues telling the audience that Serleena was one creature.”

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Monster Gallery: Men in Black II (2002)

Monster Gallery: Men in Black (1997)

Scum of the Universe – Men in Black, Part 3

Rosenberg is revealed to be a mechanical human disguise that houses a small, green humanoid alien — dubbed ‘Chucky’ or ‘Mr. Gentle’ by the crew — designed directly after classic depictions of grey aliens with large eyes and craniums.

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Scum of the Universe – Men in Black, Part 2

It was during production that both Sonnenfeld and the producers realized that the MIB headquarters looked empty — as in they lacked a consistent alien presence. As originally envisioned, the headquarters had to represent a 60s airport or way station, and yet the footage shot up to that point only displayed few alien characters. The producers thus decided to introduce more exotic creatures into the scene — in the style of the iconic Star Wars cantina sequence — and commissioned additional creature effects.

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Scum of the Universe – Men In Black, Part 1

“When I first went in and talked to Barry Sonnenfeld about Men in Black,” said special effects wizard Rick Baker, “I said it would really be hard to do an alien that does not look like something you’ve seen 40,000 times on TV. That was one of the challenges — to do something that doesn’t look like something which has been done before. I don’t know if we totally succeeded in that, but some of them are original-looking.”

Bringing to life the fair of the bizarre to be at display in Barry Sonnenfeld’s Men in Black was a long process that involved a wide diversity of artists. Before Rick Baker’s Cinovation Studio became attached to the project, various concept artists and illustrators had begun devising creature designs based on Ed Solomon’s script — which also changed its plot and story beats as production progressed. Artists involved in this early phase included Yasushi Nirasawa and Ricardo Delgado, as well as Carlos Huante — who would eventually have the most influence on the design and aesthetic of the aliens. The Men in Black creatures would go on to become characterized by their whimsical, bizarre aesthetic combined with organic, life-like texture.

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Monster Gallery: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

Thestrals

The coaches were no longer horseless. There were creatures standing between the carriage shafts. If he had had to give them a name, he supposed he would have called them horses, though there was something reptilian about them, too. They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible. Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither – vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats. Standing still and quiet in the gathering gloom, the creatures looked eerie and sinister.
-J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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