Rick Baker

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.

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.

When you're working on a movie you always hope that people will go for it and enjoy what you're doing.

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!

I do fat people and these makeups are really hard to do, but I want to make monster movies.

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.

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.

I enjoy doing digital work. I enjoy sculpting digitally. I've had my digital sculptures on covers of the top digital magazines.

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 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 feel like I have to top myself every film I do, and it gets hard.

Usually people who are in my position, they run a company and they hire people and then they take the credit for it.

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.

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.

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.

I have always tried to stay current.

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.

So many of my dreams were to actually be able to make a living of what I did as a hobby.

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.

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.

The first time I made myself up, I was looking at my reflection in the mirror and it wasn't me looking back. It allowed me to do things I couldn't do as myself. I found out how powerful that was and how much that can mean to an actor.