Dark Matter: A Guide to Aliens and Gadgets "Men in Black. Worms from "Men in black" Men in black coffee drank who

Earth, as depicted in Men in Black, is a complex and wonderful place. A small blue planet orbiting an unremarkable medium-sized star. A home both for the thousands of aliens brought here, and for the secret agency that protects them and people from the "scum of the universe."

But according to franchise producers Walter Parks and Laurie MacDonald, all these global ideas did not appear immediately. “The idea of ​​‘what if?’ was certainly attractive - what if aliens really live among us? What if there is a secret police unit? What if, by joining him, you can learn everything about the universe, but you have to give up the most intimate aspects of your life? Parks says. “But to tell the truth, it was the elements of style that initially attracted us: guns, sunglasses ... and black suits.”

Indeed, the visual part of the franchise is no less important than its plot. The creation of alien characters well illustrates the evolution from the man-made puppets and pounds of makeup in the first 1997 film to the modern CGI and motion capture technology of the new sequel to the Men in Black: International story. The filmmaking process for all parts of the film - from casting and the birth of characters to the design of weapons of the future and the appearance of aliens of all sorts - is described in detail in our new book Men in Black. A guide to the adventures of the defenders of the Earth from the scum of the universe". Here we want to describe the stories of several bright characters who were created almost spontaneously and with great pleasure.

Pug Frank

Typically, trainers would bring six to eight dogs to the set to play the same character, but one of them, named Mu Shu, was so great that “we ended up using him ninety percent of the time,” recalls Barry Sonnenfeld. He played in all three Men in Black films. "Mu Shu was just an amazing animal and his trainers were real professionals." One day he asked Christy, the trainer, "Do you think there's any chance I can get Mu Shu to hold a martini glass and smoke a cigar?" Ultimately, this effect was made on the computer. No animal was forced to smoke cigars on the set of this film. And there was no real smoke on the set!

C-18 cell people

The creation of the Camera was a shared effort, notes Douglas Harlocker. As we've seen throughout the franchise, "I was always looking for ways to play with scale," says Barry Sonnenfeld. “I love these guys,” he continues. "They're sweet and charming, but they talk like they're from New Jersey." Their city is entirely composed of particles of garbage collected from the floor of Grand Central Station in New York. They are part hamster, part rat, with large eyes and antennae that further accentuate their strangeness. “Their whole village is made of garbage,” says Rick Baker, who created all these creatures. And if you're a true MIB fan, then revisit the scene in the Camera and see if you can spot a continuity error.

Worms Glieble, Sneeble, Neeble, Mannix and Gordy

When designing aliens for films, Barry Sonnenfeld and Rick Baker had an ongoing dialogue. Barry often complained that aliens always looked like humans, and Rick began to develop several non-humanoid concepts. Barry inevitably responded, “But without eyes, how do the audience know where the alien is looking? And without ears, and without a mouth ... "- and so on. The search was not easy, but they adhered to the main idea - not to make every alien look like a person. Baker recalls, "The worms were the result of that thought." Later, Rick asked not only to draw worms with computer graphics, but also to find puppeteers so that it would be easier for the actors to improvise on the set. And indeed, when the team of puppeteers was assembled, the worm guys on the set literally came to life. In the second film, they even got their own bachelor kennel - with mini-furniture, a Jacuzzi and a soft carpet, on which the whole film crew loved to wallow.

Universe on a chessboard

In the new part of the film, agents Em and H meet a new character - Pawn. “The idea was that Pawn and his people live in the back room of an antique shop,” explained designer Charles Wood. “The backstory was that they were allowed to live here incognito, but they paid for their housing with the production of weapons.”

The original idea for civilization on a chessboard came from executive producer Walter Parks. "It was one of the old ideas of all context - could there be an alien civilization living on a chessboard?" says writer Matt Holloway. It was just one of the ideas: a world where everyone - from pawns to the queen - would fulfill their roles.

The idea was visualized by designer Charles Wood and his team of conceptual artists. They created cute little figures that lived on the chessboard and created a special atmosphere there. Chief among them was the character Pawns - funny and caustic. His face (using motion capture technology) and voice was the comedian Kumail Nanjiani, who got freedom in improvisation and brought a lot of new things to his character.

background

The myth of government agents who know the whole truth about the alien presence on Earth, but prefer to hide it, was extremely popular in the United States in the second half of the 20th century. Conspiracy theorists, fueled by the Roswell Incident, Project Blue Book, tabloids and other credible sources, reacted with interest to any reports of top-secret agents intervening in the affairs of ordinary citizens. People in black suits and glasses, driving black cars, have taken the place in the mass consciousness of the ancient folklore demons, whose appearance did not bode well: according to a common urban legend, if a person happens to encounter something inexplicable, agents in black will come to him, they hang noodles on their ears, accusing them of groundless alarmism, or even erase their memory in order to keep their dark secrets intact. Some sensationalists are not satisfied with the well-worn thesis of a government that "can't help but lie", and tend to believe that the agents are most likely aliens themselves - because then their desire to maintain secrecy becomes even more motivated ...

The topic was waiting for its splash into pop culture, and it happened in 1990, when Aircel Comics published Lowell Cunningham's comic book Men in Black. During the year, three issues managed to see the light, after which the publishing house was bought out by competitors from Malibu Comics and continued to release the series already under its own banner.

“I heard about“ men in black ”from my friend,” the author later recalled. - He saw a big black car on the street and said: “These people in black drive. The ones that show up at UFO landing sites and keep everything secret." I thought it would be a great project."

In 1992, the comic book caught the eye of film producer spouses Walter F. Parks and Laurie MacDonald, who immediately acquired the film rights: the couple believed that with the right approach, Cunningham's plot could be developed into a profitable franchise. But this required a very special director, able to fill even a gloomy plot with humor, and the director of the dilogy "The Addams Family" Barry Sonnenfeld seemed a very suitable candidate. Prior to making his directing debut, Barry worked as a cinematographer on the first Coen Brothers films, and also stood behind the camera on the production of such sensational films as Throw Mom from the Train, Big and Misery. But by the time Parks and McDonald were ripe for the offer, Sonnenfeld managed to sign on to direct the film Get Shorty, and was forced to refuse the offer. Quentin Tarantino and John Landis also showed no interest in the project (the latter, who called the tape "The Blues Brothers" with aliens, later regretted it). The back-up contender was Les Mayfield: according to rumors, the remake of "Miracle on 34th Street" he baked quite met the expectations of Walter and Laurie, but when the film came out, both were disappointed. Deciding it would be too risky to trust Mayfield with a $90 million sci-fi comedy, the producers approached Sonnenfeld again, who agreed to make Men in Black his next directorial project, promising that no time would be wasted and that it would parallel " Get shorty" he'll be pre-production on their tape.

Parks and MacDonald, who started production at the facilities of Amblin Entertainment, planned to take only the general concept from the original comic, since the gloomy dry tone of Lowell Cunningham's story did not set up fun and could scare off the general public, while the partners aimed at the family audience. In the presentation of Cunningham, agents of a secret supra-government organization calling themselves "Men in Black" ("MMB") were interested not only in aliens, but also in demons, werewolves and all kinds of paranormal phenomena, and were ready to maintain secrecy at any cost, up to physical destruction unwanted witnesses. The central character of the comic was Agent X, who had fallen into disgrace and was forced to flee from his own colleagues in order to stay alive. Screenwriter Ed Solomon did a great job of shaping it all into a story about a rookie, former New York cop-turned-Agent Jay, who discovers that the planet Earth is a safe haven for many alien life forms disguised as humans, and that it is now his job to to make sure that they do not buzz, but at the same time to powder the brains of the population, sticking its nose into other people's business. The screenwriter made Jay's partner an experienced agent Kay, and the main villain was a giant alien cockroach that landed on Earth without permission, whose activity could lead to the destruction of the planet. The agents received at their disposal a neutralizer rod for instant erasing someone else's memory, a variety of superweapons and a car that James Bond himself would envy.

casting

Few people know, but the main characters of Men in Black could not be Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, but David Schwimmer and Clint Eastwood. But both refused to participate in the project at an early stage. Didn't want to play the "recruit" and Chris O "Donnell, who decided that it was too similar to his roles in Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. And only then did Sonnenfeld listen to the opinion of his wife, who was a fan of playing Smith in the series " The Prince of Bel-Air". Recalling that he had seen a black actor in Six Lines of Distance, the director agreed that he was good and contacted Will. The actor was dissatisfied with the script sent to him and wanted to refuse the role of Agent Jay, but another female intervention helped to resolve this issue too: Will's wife Jade found the story interesting and persuaded him to accept the offer.

pre-production

Before production got underway, there was a full year of pre-production during which Sonnefeld was finishing up Getting Shorty. One of the producers, Steve Molen, invited Rick Baker, a master of special effects and special make-up, the owner of several Oscars, who had a hand in such cult projects as Star Wars, American Werewolf in London, Gremlins 2, to the project. ”,“ Crazy Professor ”,“ Scarecrows ”, etc. Baker was handed the script and tasked with designing the aliens, giving him plenty of time and space to let his imagination run wild.

“For this film alone, we made more drawings than I did in my entire career,” Baker later recalled. - Everything that I drew was sent to Steven Spielberg, everything had to be endorsed, every wrinkle. And often I got the answer: “Stephen liked the head of this creature, and Barry liked the torso of another. Can't they be connected?"

But with all the desire, even with a year of head start, Baker could not provide the entire film with special effects. So on the horizon was Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), George Lucas's Eric Brevig-led film visual effects company, which had, among other hits, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones" and, of course, "Star Wars". Although Baker worked "the old fashioned way" - with the help of animatronic dolls, his skills were very useful to ILM: in many cases, Brevig's wards took Baker's ready-made designs and created computer versions based on them.

Filming

Filming began in March 1996 and lasted until the end of July. Smith was still finishing work on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air at this time, so the first couple of weeks were filming episodes without him. The opening scene with agents and illegal Mexican immigrants was completely done in the pavilion in a couple of days: the director was afraid that night shooting in a real desert would slow down the process for weeks. In addition, in a real desert, it would not have been possible to arrange cacti so beautifully. In the end, slightly unrealistic lighting only went to the benefit of the picture, giving what was happening an interesting entourage. Most of this scene was written by Tommy Lee Jones himself, who really wanted to show off his knowledge of Spanish.

The graphics for the desert sequence were done at ILM, directed by Eric Brevig. A tortoise-fish-toad-like alien named Mikey was depicted in different frames either by Baker's assistant John Alexander, hidden in the depths of a rubber suit, or by his computer double (the rubber Mikey could not run and bare his teeth so naturally). In the end, Mikey got shot - a painted shot, but with a very tangible result: instead, a 50-gallon barrel of blue goo was blown up in front of the lens.

Steven Spielberg's favorite scene - giving birth in a car - was also filmed jointly by Brevig and Baker. While Tommy Lee Jones was talking to actor Patrick Breen (sonnenfeld used him in all his films because he said he could look natural), Will Smith in the background was trying to give birth to an alien squid. The first frame was filmed on location, the second - in the pavilion against the background of a chroma key, later both shots were glued together, and dangling tentacles were added to them. The newborn squid did not have to be drawn: Baker brought an animatronic doll to the set, which could not only move its limbs, but even vomit Will Smith very naturally.

Initially, the action of the script jumped around different locations from California and Kansas to Nevada and Washington, but the director decided that it would be more appropriate to focus the plot in his native New York, since it is easier for an alien to get lost in this motley city: “I wanted to move the action there, because many New Yorkers themselves resemble aliens. I decided that if the aliens live on Earth, then in this city they will be very comfortable, and none of the New Yorkers will even look at them once again. Barry also liked the appearance of the city itself, the architectural elements of which could very well be camouflaged spaceships.

According to the script, the headquarters of the "men in black" looked like a chain of featureless buildings with a complex layout. Production designer Beau Welch dismissed this idea and persuaded the director to give the design of the building the spirit of the 60s (when, in fact, the MIB organization arose). Set in the Sony studio pavilion, he filled the interiors of the building with rounded elements reminiscent of flying saucers, and made the main hall look like the TWA terminal of John F. Kennedy International Airport to emphasize that the organization is dealing with guests from space. The exterior plans for the headquarters were given by a giant building near New York's Battery Park, which in real life contains the ventilation system of the Holland Tunnel.

In one of the first scenes where Will Smith is chasing a cephalopoid, he is jumping off the same bridge where the infected non-humans will chase him a decade later in I, Legend (and this is not the only interesting coincidence: for example, Smith cracks a joke in the frame about Captain America, not yet knowing that Tommy Lee Jones will play a role in the film of the same name). An actor's fall into a passing bus needed some kind of joke, and Smith came up with one at dinner: "Today, black men are raining from the sky!" Agent Kay told the passengers. Because the New York Philharmonic, whose locations they wanted to film the chase, demanded a million dollars in rent, Sonnenfeld found another location: the Guggenheim Museum; he just looked very alien.

Filming was hard for everyone. So, John Alexander almost drowned in his own sweat inside Mikey's rubber suit, and Vincent D "Onofrio, in the guise of farmer Edgar, had to sip water and sugar for fifteen takes, so that by the end of the day he became ill. By the way, for the role of the beetle, having pulled on the skin of a farmer, Vincent approached very seriously: before filming, he watched a lot of documentaries about insects, adopting a cockroach demeanor, and eventually developed a gait on stiff legs, which became the hallmark of his character. Smith also prepared himself: before filming, he made a special visit a convention of contactees with aliens to get the impression.Tommy Lee Jones on the set was terribly worried about the fact that his tie was constantly thrown to the side, and this moment was reflected in the plot when Smith's character states: "You know what's the difference between us "The suit suits me."

Vincent's make-up was applied for 6 hours daily. To make his own face look like an ill-fitting mask, the skin on his cheeks was pulled together and fixed in that position. “Poor Vincent, we drove him through hell,” Baker recalled. “He walked like that all day, unable to even blink.”

The famous scene in which D "Onofrio pulls the sagging skin on his skull was done by combining Rick Baker's mask and the efforts of ILM. But Tony Shaloub, who played the pawnshop owner Jack Jeebs, Rick Baker embellished the physiognomy not for the sake of the alien, but simply so that he would not cause sympathy: the actor was made protruding teeth, squint and huge ears. A complex shot in which a new one rapidly grew in place of the shot head of a buyer of stolen goods was drawn for 7 months. In addition, Sonnenfeld made sure that Shaloub's voice sounded unnatural. "In this scene, we forced Tony to breathe helium,” the director recalled, “so his voice went from very high to normal in literally seconds.”

At times, Baker would intrude rather unceremoniously into the script with his ideas. “According to the story, Smith’s character learned about the existence of aliens during a conversation in a bar, when, at the request of his future partner, the bartender lifted the skin on his neck, and light poured from there,” Rick recalled. - That's all. I said: I'm sorry, but I think it's unconvincing. As a result, we came up with a face for the bartender that opens like a door. And that there was a little green man inside, sitting in front of the monitors. True, then we outplayed everything and put a little man in the head of the deceased Mr. Gentle, and left the bartender alone.

As a result, the future agent Jay encountered aliens not in a bar, but at the headquarters of the Men in Black, where he met certain “worm-like guys” invented by Baker with a mustache, drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. “I thought there were not enough aliens in the script,” the special effects master later explained. “But when I go to the cinema to see a film like this, I’m counting on something.” In this scene where Tommy Lee asks the worm-likes to pour coffee on him, Baker suggested using real puppets and puppeteers. The wires that controlled the animatronic puppets were hidden in the wall panel, while the puppeteers themselves sat behind the wall and saw what was happening on the monitor. “I always dreamed of working with Kermit from Sesame Street, but I never imagined that I would come across something ten times better! Jones joked later. “Who knows, maybe one day Kermit will be just as lucky?”

As for the head of Mr. Gentle Rosenberg, played by Mike Nussbaum, the humanoid planted inside it had to be made in two sizes. The first, miniature, moved normally and worked on medium shots, but was not suitable for large ones: it immediately became clear that he was not real. The second doll, with carefully crafted external details, was made three meters high and filmed against a blue screen, then to be inserted inside the head using the overlay method: in a reduced form, it looked very authentic. “We called this little one Chucky,” Sonnefeld recalled. "The whole scene is an alternation of big and little Chucky to the music of Danny Elfman."

It was Chucky who first saw Will Smith, who came to the shooting. The actor was pleasantly surprised and later said that, having encountered an almost real alien, he immediately “driven into the topic” and received inspiration for months to come. And he might not have: in the end, in most of the scenes with the participation of aliens, he and Tommy Lee had to play in front of an inexpressive blue screen - the rest was then completed by specialists from ILM.

No one knew what the scene with the flying ball would look like, the ricochets of which make a commotion at the MIB headquarters. She, in general, was not in the script, and no one gave sanctions for her shooting. Sonnenfeld, at his own peril and risk, took rough shots and showed them to Sony's superiors, explaining that if you add a glowing ball here, you get a spectacular and funny parody of a pinball. The authorities agreed and allocated more money.

The memorable episode in the tunnel, where special agents rush in their high-speed car along the ceiling to the singing of Elvis Presley, was filmed in the pavilion. The miniature tunnel was filled with cars, of which about eighty were made for this purpose, and the actors hanging upside down were filmed separately, so that later they would alternate the camera's passage through the tunnel with the image of their faces. The episode cost its creators several hundred thousand dollars.

When it came time to shoot the final scene, in which the agents were chasing down a giant vicious cockroach in Corona Park, Sonnefeld got nervous. He had not really liked the scenario finale before, and now, five months after the start of work, the last doubts that he was too sluggish disappeared. A brighter climax was needed. But the almost exhausted budget of the picture was embarrassing and the fact that Rick Baker had already managed to build a giant three-meter-high animatronic cockroach for filming the scene, in which he had invested all his love.

Barry Sonnefeld: We ended up rewriting the script because we didn't have a proper ending. The original plan was for Will and the bug to discuss the nature of the universe. I convinced Sony that what we needed was not an argument, but an action, because we are shooting an action adventure after all. So we threw out Rick the beetle at the last moment: although he talked, he could not move. Rick, of course, was in shock ... "

After asking the authorities for money, Barry decided to shoot the whole scene with an exploding cockroach against a blue screen - the actual insect was instructed to draw and animate specialists from Industrial Light & Magic. They decided to deprive the computer cockroach of his voice: having thrown off the skin of a farmer, he lost all humanity and now he could only roll his eyes angrily, attack and bite. For expressiveness, extra legs were added to him and increased in size so that he could swallow the hero of Tommy Lee Jones.

“We had 45 shots of the beetle, and each shot cost about a hundred thousand dollars,” the director recalled. - The final scene had to spend an unbudgeted four and a half million. But it was an extremely successful investment!”

The setting for Crown Park, which hosted the 1939 World's Fair, was built in Sony's most gigantic pavilion (once the site of the yellow brick road scenes for The Wizard of Oz). The agents' date with a virtual bug was filmed for several weeks, and the actors had real grass under their feet all this time. The huge pavilion was not easy to light: the green of the grass absorbed the light, as did the black velvet that covered all the backdrops around the set. To keep the greens from fading, the pavilion maintained high humidity and low temperatures. “It was cold and damp and uncomfortable,” Tommy Lee Jones recalled with a shudder. And these were still flowers: in the same scene, in order to depict the movement of an actor swallowed by a cockroach through the intestines of an insect, he was thrust into a container with a nasty-looking liquid gelatin. In turn, Smith bravely fought with an empty place for days on end, scattering jokes of his own composition (so that the actor at least knew where to look, they kept a cockroach head on a stick in front of him).

How to piss off a space bug? It's simple: you need to start trampling cockroaches crawling under your feet - the death of distant relatives will surely excite the alien. This brainstorming scene was written the last weekend before filming and brought to life almost immediately. True, the Society for the Conservation of Nature, whose representatives were present on the set and vigilantly watched that not a single insect was harmed, did not allow trampling on real cockroaches, so Smith crushed bags of mustard with his soles. He composed most of his accompanying monologue on the set.

Finishing

Having edited a rough version of the tape, Sonnenfeld arranged a test screening and, to his chagrin, found out that the audience was confused in the plot. The script told about the confrontation between two races, the Baltians and the Arquillians, who fought for an inexhaustible source of energy - a small galaxy. The third race - the bugs - decided to steal the galaxy so that the war would continue forever, because then the scavengers could continue to feast at the expense of the slaughter of both sides. As a result, the ships of the enraged Baltians and Arquillians began to fire at each other, and the Earth, located between them, took all the blows. The script said this rather vaguely, and the director took a risky step, just a month and a half before the premiere, completely rewriting the plot: in the simplified version of the plot, the Baltians did not exist in nature, and the Arquillians decided to burn the Earth just in case, so that the stolen galaxy would not get beetles.

In the film, the director found three scenes that allowed him to change the tone of the plot: an episode with a talking pug Frank, an episode with a large monitor in the MIB headquarters, on which ultimatums addressed to earthlings were displayed, and an episode in a Russian restaurant where two aliens were having lunch. In the final cut, the words were changed for the pug, new text was written on the monitor, and Karel Stryken (Larch from The Addams Family) and Mike Nussbaum were both made Arkillians and forced to communicate in an unknown language, signing the dialogue with captions with a completely new meaning. By the way, the chef in the restaurant, decorated with a balalaika and a portrait of Gorbachev on the wall, was played by a Soviet actor from Chisinau Boris Leskin - it is he who asks the hero D "Onofrio:" Where is Ivan? The waiter Ivan himself, as everyone remembers, at this time lies under the table, broken in half. Fortunately, no one had to be broken in half to shoot the scene: instead of a corpse, a mannequin was used, on whose head Rick Baker pulled a mask depicting his own face. Oscars "always had an unusual sense of humor: even his own father, finding magazines about monsters in Rick's bedside table, for a long time seriously suspected that his son would grow up to be a sadist or masochist. Director Barry Sonnefeld also never missed an opportunity to have fun: over some jokes that were born on the set , he laughed so much that he fell exhausted to the floor and writhed, clutching his stomach.

The sound of the neutralizer used by the "men in black" to instantly erase the memory of unwanted witnesses, the sound engineer of the tape borrowed from a charging flash.

The most recent finishing touches in the film were the first and last shots. At the beginning of the picture, a computer-generated dragonfly flies over a miniature highway and a six-meter piece of the Arizona desert, built in the Sony Pictures pavilion, accompanied by credits. Although this episode was always included in the script, it looked too expensive, so the money for it was given only six months after filming, when investors watched a rough cut and decided that a dragonfly would not hurt for greater beauty. For this job, Sonnenfeld brought in Alan Munro, a special effects specialist with whom he had worked on The Addams Family. The titles themselves were drawn by another of his longtime colleague, the legendary artist Pablo Ferro, who stylized them to look like his own titles from Kubrick's "Doctor Strangelove".

The last seconds of the film, in which the camera rapidly receded from the central characters and ended up in deep space, were invented by Sonnenfeld as a finishing touch. The Sony bosses liked the idea, and the director was allowed to spend almost a million dollars on the implementation of his idea. The famous shots were partly shot from a helicopter, partly drawn by Eric Brevig and his henchmen, and just before the premiere, all this was stitched into a single frame a la "reverse zoom".

A cat left in a Russian restaurant after the death of its Arquillian owner purrs just like the zombie monster from the 1996 computer game Quake.

There was one more hiccup about the shooting range scene in which the recruits fired at the silhouetted aliens: Sonnefeld didn't like the scene and was going to cut it, but he wanted to show it to his superiors first so they could see for themselves that it wasn't funny. However, the authorities were delighted. Considering the fact that the film was already short (in order to stretch it to 90 minutes, we even had to slow down the speed of the final credits), Sonnefeld ultimately decided to leave everything as it is.

Outcome

After the release of the film, Vincent D "Onofrio, despite the death of his character, still had a hand in the franchise, voicing beetles in the animated series of the same name.

What happened next? On July 2, 1997, the premiere of "Men in Black" took place. The tape has collected around the world nearly 600 million dollars. Ray-Ban has tripled sales of its sunglasses. The film was made into an animated series and a parody called "People in White", a sequel, a triquel appeared and several computer games were released. Rick Baker won another Oscar for makeup. The theme park Universal Studios Orlando has a attraction based on "Men in Black". Marvel Publishing, which managed to transfer the rights to the original work of Lowell Cunningham, released an official comic adaptation. Will Smith remembered that he was also a musician, wrote a hit of the same name and further expanded the army of his fans (later he would refuse the main role in The Matrix and prefer to star in Sonnefeld in Wild Wild West, which he would later regret for a long time ). The director, after the premiere, was forced to speak on a popular talk show and explain to the indignant Americans that, having made “worm-like guys” smokers, he did not at all try to promote smoking among underage aliens.

And we? And we still don't know if aliens exist. And they are not even quite sure that the Americans flew to the moon ... What? Do you think otherwise? Moreover - do you own indisputable evidence of the existence of UFOs? Thanks for the signal, we've already left for you.

In American society, infected with conspiracy theories and the arms race, there is a myth about the mysterious "men in black" - representatives of a secret organization who hunt down and interrogate eyewitnesses of UFOs.

Lowell Cunningham and illustrator Sandy Carruthers come up with three issues of Men in Black for Aircel Comics, and three more a year later. The main characters were already here Zed, Kay and Jay - however, all white.

Hollywood producer (who took over DreamWorks two years later) Walter F. Parks acquires film rights and tries to approach director "The Addams Family" Barry Sonnenfeld, who is currently filming Get Shorty. In the director's chair, they only want to see him, so you have to wait.

Film adaptation producer Spielberg manages to persuade Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith on the condition that the script be improved - it seemed to the actors that the writers had not coped with the spirit of the comic. Smith's candidacy was lobbied by Sonnenfeld's wife, a fan "Prince of Beverly Hills"- the sitcom that saved the young hip-hoper Smith from bankruptcy. Kay was originally going to be played by Clint Eastwood.

The first film in the franchise comes out, where one of the sidelines is removed at the last moment during the editing. The whole variety of alien races is invented by Rick Baker, who worked at Videodrome, Ed Wood, Exorcist, "Star Wars" and Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. Leading up to the film, Marvel publishes several new issues of the comic, followed by a comic based on the film. In the footsteps of the film comes the shooter Men In Black for PC and PlayStation, Will Smith releases a single of the same name, and sales of Ray-Ban glasses of the Predator 2 series soar threefold.

On Warner Bros. The WB launches Men in Black: The Series, a sequel to the film that ran for four seasons until the sequel's release. Kay was kept on staff and rejuvenated, Jay's mustache was shaved off, and the MIB headquarters moved under the LaGuardia airport building. Besides, there were almost no jokes here.

Men in Black II is on the screen - the story of how Jay has to re-recruit Kay (who retired at the end of the first series) to fight a new scourge - an alien viper Serlina in the guise of Lara Flynn Boyle from Victoria's Secret advertising A far more ridiculous film collects a significant box office, but critics take it coolly, and Boyle takes it for the role "Golden Raspberry". Even on the set, Will Smith suggests to Barry Sonnenfeld the idea of ​​​​a sequel with a journey into the past, but it hangs in the air for a long time.

On April 1, Sony Pictures announces that the third part is being launched, and a year later it is confirmed that the same Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones will play the main roles.

On June 11, 2010, a teaser with Will Smith in MIB's signature suit appears, announcing that "You expect us to have 3D with explosions, but we care about something else - I'm here to make 3D attractive."

On May 25 , the newest film adaptation of Jay and Kay 's story -- Men in Black III -- hits the world 's screens . Instead of Zed (Rip Torn, who played him, is now serving time for multiple offenses), the agency is now run by O, Kay's former secretary. By the beginning of filming, the scriptwriters had not yet come up with an ending and sometimes composed lines right in the course of filming. Will Smith appears on the silver screen for the first time after a three-year hiatus as the film's budget grows to 215 million because of his whims. Three days before the release, the game Men in Black: Alien Crisis appeared on sale, where instead of the main characters there is another character, but there is Frank the pug.

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Subtitles

Characters

• Agent Kay- the legendary employee of the MIB, participating in the affairs of the organization since its inception. He is stingy with emotions, but at the same time he has a rather specific sense of humor. Very smart and well educated. In love with Eileen. Carries the Iceberg weapon with him, as in most cases it is the best help. Doesn't let Jay drive. His story is a mystery to viewers and Jay. Only Zed knows Kay's story.
• Agent Jay- a young American, Kay's partner; previously worked for the police. He is rather naive, due to which he sometimes causes problems for himself and others. Painfully refers to criticism and jokes directed in his direction. With all this, Jay is quite brave and resourceful. He really wants to drive a car, but Kay won't let him.
• Agent Al- a former mortuary worker, was recruited by MIB after a fight with the Beetle (see movie). In seasons 1-3, he works in the organization as a medic. In season 4, she finally wins the position of an operative for herself by inviting the alien genius Dr. Ziltor to her place, but due to the demand of the Alien Rights Commission, she is forced to work with her partner, Agent X, with whom she immediately did not work out. Without convincing Zed to remove him from work, she nevertheless refused to return to the laboratory and eventually worked together more or less with X, although their verbal squabbles became commonplace. Also, Agent Jay repeatedly fell in love with her.
• Agent Zed- the head of the LHC. Acts as a representative of humanity during negotiations with alien races. He has a coffee machine in his office. Also, Zed, as the head of MIB, marries aliens in love who arrived on Earth.
• Jack Jeebs- a small merchant of alien origin, has the ability to regenerate. Although he is a peace-loving citizen, he does not miss the opportunity to earn extra money and sometimes, reluctantly, helps obvious criminals, for which Kay repeatedly shot him in the head, which always grew.
• Duck - brother of Jack Jeebs, criminal and ally of Alpha. With it, a military satellite of the MIB and a large alien ship Terrasix were captured.
• Frank- an alien in the guise of a pug; informant, lives in a newsstand. For cover, he uses a humanoid robot-newsman. Often, due to his own inattention and frivolity, he gets into various unpleasant stories related to other aliens, and endangers his life and the lives of those around him, then Kay and Jay have to save him and resolve the situation. Collaborates with MIB, but is not completely reliable - sometimes begins to help criminals out of fear or greed. He is friends with Jeebs and often comes to visit him (recently in a long quarrel). The real appearance differs little from the one in which he most often appears, however, Frank is in no hurry to change it - when a human costume was offered to him as a reward for cooperation, he refused, preferring a newer, more fashionable and comfortable version of the pug costume.
• Worms- four undersized yellow-skinned aliens living in the kitchen of MIB. They are addicted to coffee, so they periodically take over Zed's office with a coffee machine located there. They are restless, because of which they often get into various unpleasant situations from which Kay and Jay have to save them, most often this happens when they make another outing for coffee. They are terribly afraid of their emperor, because only the elite are allowed to drink coffee on their planet, which they are not.
• Twins Idikiukup and Bob- one-eyed green aliens speaking in a language incomprehensible to the viewer and Jay. Incredibly smart, able to find a way out of almost any emergency.
• Zen Zarcanicus, he is Troy- a formless symbiote alien; in the second season, he became an agent of the MIB. It lives by growing to someone's body, but every 20 hours it must change the carrier, since when it reaches the deadline, it will merge with it. Friendly and naive, can cure its wearer. He does not want to be under the care of his own mother, so he does not miss the opportunity to escape from her.
• Eileen- humanoid, agent of the alien unit MIB. During one of the tasks she lost her partner, after some time she starts working with Edie, to whom she treats like Kay to Jay. Is in a romantic relationship with Kay.
• Go- humanoid, agent of the alien unit MIB, Eileen's partner. He is very worried because he may not justify trust and not cope with the task. Managed to crash Kay's car, but Jay took the blame.
• Arkillians- a peaceful alien race, many of whose representatives live on Earth using pseudo-bodies - specially designed androids.
• Alpha- one of the main opponents of MIB, who was once one of the founding agents of the organization and Kay's mentor. Very cunning and smart, he managed to implant four aliens into his body and acquire their abilities. Later, he refuses such mutations, preferring to rely on the technique, which he also implanted in himself. Having survived the explosion from Jay's bomb, he wants to take revenge not only on Kay, but also on Jay.
• Buzzard- intergalactic poacher. It looks like a huge white grasshopper.
• Fmekki- old enemies of the Arquillians, outwardly similar to them. They wanted to destroy the planet of enemies only because it was larger than their own, but because of the actions of Jay and Kay, the planet of the Fmeks themselves was destroyed.
• Drekk- an intergalactic criminal, a mentally inadequate monster capable of firing heat rays from his hands.
• Zan'dozz Ziltor- a humanoid, a brilliant scientist who replaced El in the MIB laboratory. His inventions frighten and unnerve Jay, so he categorically refuses to be treated even in the most hopeless situations. Dr. Ziltor is extremely attached to his pet - bacteria.
• Agent X- a humanoid from the G-Dang galaxy, partner of El. Hired on the recommendation of the Alien Rights Committee. He is very arrogant, has a high opinion of himself, dreams of becoming famous. He does not like people, considering them ugly, shameless and self-affirming at the expense of others. In his native galaxy, although he was repeatedly awarded, he was suspended from work six times. He constantly insults El, which eventually earns her hatred.
• Agent You- Agent of the MV. Everything is done according to the special rules of the MIB. Can't live without rules. Sucks up on Kay and Zed. He works in the kindergarten of aliens, but he is satisfied with the work. When Kay is on a mission, Agent You, who doesn't like to fight, is sent along with Jay.
• Cla'Mikk- an alien with a lot of pockets on his body, working on the MIB.
• Ixionians- A race of oil-loving beings who, with the help of their leader Vangus, tried to steal all the oil from Earth in order to sell it on the Intergalactic Market. However, they failed and were completely overwhelmed by Alpha.
• Vangus- The leader of the Ixion, a race of aliens who love oil. Years ago, Vangus led the Ixions in their attempt to seize Earth's oil, which is a vital commodity in the Intergalactic market. Alpha stopped them. Thirty years later, Vangus returned and forced the MIB Organization to contact Alpha, who was in their custody at that time, in order to understand how to deal with Vangus. After Alpha's escape, Vangus teamed up with him in battle against the entire Earth.

Roles voiced (English version)

DVD versions

List of episodes

First season (1997-1998)

1. "The Long Goodbye Syndrome"

During a mission to stop the Skraaldian from breeding in the sewers, there was a fight with one of them. Jay fired a "ladies' cricket" at him, but before he died, he spat white goo at Jay. Now he is a desirable prey.

2. "Buzzard Syndrome"

Kay and Jay investigate an alien ship crash in the forest. They soon meet up with Treblor, an alien police officer from the Zombari Department of Punishment. Trebler mentions that the pilot of the crashed ship is a dangerous criminal named Zi-Ron. While Jay goes to capture Z-Ron, Kay learns that Trebler is not who he claims to be.

3. "Annoying Barking Syndrome"

Agents Kay and Jay investigate Charnock's landing at the farm. Their only clue is the skin. After that. As Jeebs and Frank argue at Jeebs' Pawnshop, the real Charnock appears as a fat, hulking man. Jibbs shows him the canned vacuum device, which is a miniature black hole that sucks everything into itself within a three-mile radius. He tells him it's not for sale, but he doesn't want to listen. He threatens to activate the core, but Jibbs knocks him out. Frank puts the device in his mouth to take it away. But, out of shock, he accidentally swallows it! Now Charnock is after him! Can Kay and Jay save Frank from being sucked into himself?

4. "Old Friend Syndrome"

While investigating the theft of a heart (one of two) from a Syntillian, Kay learns that the thief was Alpha, his former mentor, who stole a Verulian space integrator and left Kay for dead years ago. Kay and Jay discover that Alpha now possesses various alien body parts grafted onto his body and is after the Syntillian's heart, which will render him invulnerable. It's up to Kei and Jay to deal with him, but Kei decides to go into battle alone.

5. "Cover Syndrome"

The Tarkanian ambassador arrives on Earth to attend the conference with his bodyguard. Jay, because of the Worms, knocks over a tray of coffee on the ambassador's bodyguard, and, as luck would have it, incapacitates the poor fellow - representatives of this race cannot stand liquids at all. Negligent agent Jay has to take on the duties of a bodyguard, dressed in the guise of a Tarkanian and trying to ensure the safety of the ambassador, who should be attacked. At the same time, not forgetting to flirt with an attractive translator in this image ...

6. Neuralizer Syndrome

Jay and Kay go after ship hijackers who are stealing flying cars and selling them on the black market. They try to hijack a spaceship disguised as laundry equipment. Jay is distracted by an old girlfriend from his "pre-MIB" life, but after their reunion ends when exposed to Kay's Neuralizer, the Neuralizer falls off. Jay picked it up. While chasing the hijackers, Kay says, "You can't go home again." They can't catch the hijackers. Then, without paying attention, Jay neutralizes Kay until he is sixteen years old! With Kay's memory loss, how can he and Jay stop the hijackers?

Note. September 11, 2001.

7. Symbiont Syndrome

When Kay becomes infected with the Millicrons, Jay takes his place in an operation to transport a teenage symbiont named Troy to New York. He must do this within twenty hours, or he will be swallowed up by Troy forever. But Buzzard returns to capture the symbiote for his mysterious boss.

8. "Inanimate Syndrome"

An inanimate, werewolf who can transform into inanimate objects escapes from prison to Earth. However, the MIBs get help from Eileen, an intergalactic cop who stirs up some forgotten feeling for Kay.

9. "Mental Link Syndrome"

A crazed Alcidian named Forbus preys on humans, sucking out all their vital fluids. However, during the chase, Forbus forms a mental bond with Kei, causing him to feel the same way he does.

10. Mind Journey Syndrome

Jay mistakes a cerebro-accelerator for a pair of headphones, making him the smartest person on earth. However, it would also make his brain explode in twenty-two hours. But his enhanced brain is MIB's only hope after an alien-hating zealot uses time travel to wipe out MIB's five founders.

11. "El Syndrome in my dreams"

An alien dream eater known as Vermax attacks the crew of a NASA shuttle returning to Earth. When Kay, Jay, and L arrive at the landing site, the Vermax attaches itself to Jay and sends him into a deep sleep state. Al enters Jay's dream to wake him up and take out the Vermax.

12. Alien Life Syndrome

The Blastulans are increasing the temperature on planet Earth with a plan to colonize the planet. At the same time, Jay believes that Kay may be an alien spy for the Blastulans.

13. "Syndrome" Take no prisoners ""

Dr. Lupo and three of MIB's most dangerous criminals manage to escape and capture most of MIB. Only Jay and the Worms can save the day.

Second season (1998-1999)

14. "Little Big Man Syndrome"

The Fmekki steal human forms from their opponents, the Arkillians. Jay is reduced to a tiny size in order to figure out what the Fmekki want to achieve.

15. "Short term cloning syndrome"

Agent Jay works around the clock. He wants to get some rest. When he spots El's short-lived clone, he asks El to make one for him. Al at first refuses him, but then agrees to make three - and only three. Alpha's newest scheme - to use his own Jay clone to steal Zed's brain - is messing things up.

16. Head Loss Syndrome

Alpha is back and his alien implants are falling apart. To begin with, he forces Jeebs to find new body parts for him, but when he discovers that the Troy symbiont is with MIB, his plans change.

17. "Man to man pug syndrome"

Drekk, an old friend of Frank the Pug, escapes custody on Earth. Frank is threatened with being boiled alive if he helps Jay and Kay arrest Drekk.

18. Big Bad Bug Syndrome

The Beetle Queen announces a reward for the capture of the MIB agent responsible for the murder of her beloved dead son, Edgar. Now El must hide from several evil Beetles - including Edgar's brother, Edwin - who want a reward.

19. Halloween Pumpkin Syndrome

It's Halloween, and begging for sweets with the Worms becomes dangerous - Jay meets an alien who kidnaps children.

20. "Sonic Boom Syndrome"

21. "Bad Seed Syndrome"

22. Small World Syndrome

Preparing to conquer the land, the Fmekki break into the MIB headquarters to put their tiny paws on the growth formula. They made a fool of themselves, mistaking one of the Worms for the owner of this formula, and kidnap him…

23. Black Christmas Syndrome

Only the Men in Black can save Christmas when Drekk kidnaps Santa Claus.

24. "Supermen in Black Syndrome"

The Tomazitronic Materia Amplifier grants super powers to Kay, Jay, and El, as well as the trio of alien criminals, leading to a super brawl.

25. Star System Syndrome

Kay and Jay travel to Hollywood to investigate the disappearances of alien actors.

26. "Military Satellite Syndrome"

Alpha and Duck, Jeebs' brother, take over a MIB military satellite. Jay and Kay fly into space to stop the destruction of MIB headquarters.

Third season (1999-2000)

27. "Anthropoid Worm Syndrome"

Two law enforcement officers from the planet Kalifadik begin to punish criminals on Earth by using teleport guns to send aliens to prison. As soon as the MIBs try to stop them, Jay and one of the Worms fly through each other in the process of teleportation and slowly turn into each other.

28. "Cold sweat syndrome"

Merged together, Dak and Alpha find themselves in Antarctica, where a huge alien ship is buried. Now it's up to Kay, Jay, Jeebs and Worms to stop them from using it.

29. "Puppy Tenderness Syndrome"

Pug Frank meets the alien Veronica, with whom he falls in love. What he doesn't know, however, is that Veronica is working for Javkor, who wants to steal their most powerful weapon from MIB.

30. Lost Continent Syndrome

Kay and Jay must stop the plans of the alien terrorist Quintoon to raise the legendary continent of Atlantis.

31. "Wild West Trip Syndrome"

When MIB fails to stop Metaphyte from threatening the city of Phoenix, Jay and Kay must travel back in time to the Wild West to find Metaphyte's cocoon while it is still vulnerable. Unfortunately, Vexron, who lived at that time, decided to do everything to prevent them.

32. "Greed Syndrome"

The Beetle Queen herself has come to Earth and is hiding in an inn, waiting for her eggs to rest and hatch. Complicating matters for MIB is the presence of the Emperor of Worms, who happens to be staying at the same inn as the Bugs.

33. Worms Farewell Syndrome

When Zed orders the Worms to be deported home for yet another misdemeanor, Jay goes to great lengths to prove their innocence.

34. "The Light Out Syndrome"

Kay is blinded by the Darkon beam and will need Jay's help to stop the Darkon from creating a permanent solar eclipse.

35. "Retirement Syndrome"

Zed surprises everyone by deciding to retire. Jay teams up with L as Kay is chosen as the new head of MIB. Since Zed is neurotic and has sailed to Long Island to fish, Alpha returns with renewed vigor, stronger than ever.

36. "Ice Cream Sardine Syndrome"

Jay accidentally swallows an alien egg and becomes pregnant. At the same time, the Fmekki are shrinking everything in their path.

37. "Mummy Fumbling Syndrome"

Kay and Jay are forced to fight a newly awakened Hyperian who is dressed as an Egyptian mummy.

38. "Little Kay Syndrome"

The Stellarian leader arrives on Earth for peace talks, while Kay and Jay will have to keep an eye on his daughter, Kima. When Kima is kidnapped by the Frostifarians, her age-reducing system malfunctions. Now Kima is growing up, and Kei is turning into a child.

39. "Bad Dog Syndrome"

Kay and Jay rush to stop the Toonstones from taking over Earth, whose king is hiding in the body of Frank the pug.

40. "Jay Back to James Syndrome"

After Jay leaves to ride LTD, it ends up getting fired from MIB. After that, he is neutralized and sent back to the NYPD ... Just in time for another attack by the Beetles.

Fourth season (2000-2001)

41. Loose Chair Syndrome

In MIB changes - Dr. Ziltor leads the laboratory instead of El, who becomes an operative and gets an alien named Agent X as a partner. While new changes are happening, MIB must stop New York from being taken over by Baruga.

Kay and Jay must rescue Worms from an alien world similar to Ancient Rome.

43. Back to School Syndrome

Jay poses as a high school student to protect an alien prince from terrorist aliens.

44. Opening Gambit Syndrome

Thirty years ago, an Ixion named Vengus arrived on Earth and was defeated by an agent MIB. Now that Vangus is back, MIB is looking for an answer from the agent who then defeated him - Alpha.

45. "Brilliant Future Syndrome"

While pursuing a huge criminal Worm, Jay travels to the future and discovers that the Worms rule the Earth.

46. ​​Lost Ball Syndrome

The Fmecks are back and trying to take over a small planet that looks like a baseball. To make matters worse, Kay is on this planet, and things are heating up there.

47. "Jay's Hot Boy Syndrome"

After Jay eats some alien food, he gains the ability to spit fire. But his new ability could have dire consequences if he continues to use it.

48. Parade Alle Syndrome

An alien witness protection program member is on the run from an intergalactic gang called the Association when they discover him on Earth.

49. "Virtual Shootout Syndrome"

Jay gets a low score on the new VR practice test for MIB, and the embarrassment naturally causes him to retake it. However, at this point, the game "bugs out" and the dangers Jay faces become truly deadly.

50. Breaking News Syndrome

An alien TV comes to Earth to film MIB agents at work, just as Drekk returns.

Note. This episode is no longer shown in America after the events of September 11, 2001.

51. "From rags to riches syndrome"

A superhero who calls himself "Cosmosis" rushes to the city's rescue from evil, but he's just an alien looking for a place to put his powers to good use. However, the MIB believe that his new profession could harm the Earth, and they try to provoke him using Jay as bait.

52-53. "Last Fight Syndrome"

In two series.

First part

Alpha, Vengus and the Ixions return to Earth, rallying to exterminate life on Earth. At the moment of the impending threat, Zed decides to tell the world about the existence of MIB. The saddest episode: as a result, Alpha destroyed the MIB.

Second part

When the agents of the destroyed MIB HQ succeed in coordinating a counter-invasion, the Ixions plan to deploy a weapon that will destroy all life on Earth. Kay and Jay will fight Alpha and Vangus in the final battle for humanity.

Have you seen the new Men in Black? Upset? Yes, it didn’t work out very well - the authors, it seems, didn’t figure out what they wanted: to reboot the franchise, turn it into a spin-off or make a direct continuation. No matter how you treat the picture, its belonging to the general universe of the special service for the supervision of aliens is undeniable. And there are several details in the film that strongly tie International to the previous three films. A film scholar in civilian clothes has found them all and is ready to point them out to the readers of this blog.

Agent Jay and Agent Kay

Despite the fact that the characters of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones - the main characters of the original trilogy - are not directly involved in the new film, they received a kind of cameo. Agents Jay and Kay can be seen in a painting that adorns the office of the head of the London branch of the Men in Black, Agent T. There are two paintings in the office, one depicts the repeatedly mentioned battle with Roy, in which T and H defeated the evil aliens, and the second just depicts the events of the first film of the series, in which Jay and Kay fought the legendary Beetle.

Pug Frank

The cutest pug Frank, well known to fans of the franchise from the second film in the series, where he became the partner of the hero Will Smith, returned to the series for a small scene in the lobby of the headquarters of the "Men in Black" headquarters in New York, when the future Agent M tries to enter there. Unfortunately, the pug named Mushu, who played Frank back in 2002, died long ago, so another dog was "invited" for the cameo, but it turned out really nice - Frank, as before, you can't fool.

Agent O

By and large, only one character has moved from the original trilogy to the new film, fortunately played by the same actress - Agent O, played by Emma Thompson. In Men in Black 3, she appeared at the very end to replace the late head of the organization, Agent Zed. In "The International" and Thompson, the role is larger, although here she is absent from the frame for most of the picture, since the action takes place in London and Marrakech, and Agent O "rules" New York.

noisy cricket

In the scene of Molly's transformation into Agent M and giving her a weapon in the new film, a weapon known to fans of the franchise from previous episodes appears in the frame for a couple of seconds. This is the Noisy Cricket, or, as it is sometimes called, the Lady's Cricket - an unsightly pistol, which in practice shows itself to be a very destructive weapon. Like Agent K in the first film, Agent M is not too impressed with the small pistol and abandons it in favor of a more imposing gun, so we did not see Cricket in action this time.

Worms

Alien guys who are not very pleasant in communication, which some call Worms (which is correct), and others Call Cockroaches (which is more convenient), first attracted attention in the first film, and in the second they played an important plot role. They do not behave very decently, swear and make vulgar jokes, but in general they are on the side of the earthlings, which allows them to live in the American headquarters of the Men in Black. So in the new tape we meet them at the station - they again conduct a scabrous conversation and "carnivorously" look from head to toe appetizing looking in black heroine Tessa Thompson.

celebrity aliens

The joke that many of Earth's celebrities are actually aliens has become a signature feature of the Men in Black. They didn’t forget about her in the new film either, although the mention of guests from other planets in our media space is not particularly elegant or expressive. For example, Piers Morgan, the host of the most popular television program in England "Good Morning Britain" and actor Donald Glover, were called aliens this time. You could have come up with something more interesting.