‘Wolfman’ Makeup Oscar Man Rick Baker: Why No Oscar for ‘Planet of the Apes’?

Seven-time Oscar winner Rick Baker is philosophical about winning, losing and what would’ve become of him if being a Hollywood makeup genius hadn’t worked out.

A couple weeks before winning the best achievement in makeup Oscar for The Wolfman, Baker told The Hollywood Reporter you can’t count on anything when it comes to Oscars. “It depends on the year,” he said. “There’s always somebody that gets left out. Its just become five [nominees] for the visual techs. It was five for the visual techs for a while, then it went down to three and back up to five. It’s hard to say. Some years it’s hard to find three films, while other years some things get left out. …

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“There were so many films that got left out. For example, when I did Planet of the Apes, which is one of the biggest films I’ve ever done and I think it’s one of the best makeups I’ve ever done, and it didn’t even get nominated. …

“Who knows? I had just won the year before; so maybe they thought … let’s give it to someone else. You never know what’s going to happen. I’m just really glad to be nominated first of all. The film meant so much to me, and it’s one of the reasons why I am the person that I am and do what I do for a living. I so wanted to do this movie. It was a troubled movie, but it’s like the icing on the cake. I just got nominated for working on a movie that came out a year ago. A year ago, it was considered not really successful. I was so afraid that it was going to be totally forgotten and ignored, so I was really glad to see that it wasn’t. …

“I think all the films that are being considered this year are all worthy, and they’re not necessarily the biggest films nor the most promoted.”

Even if he hadn’t won, Baker would’ve thought it a privileged just to be employed. “So many of my dreams were to actually be able to make a living of what I did as a hobby. 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. I still do. I got into this because I love the work. I didn’t know anyone in the film business, and I didn’t really have a plan B.

“It’s a good thing it worked out because I would be sitting on the side of the freeway with a sign saying ‘Will do make up for food.’”

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