‘An American Werewolf In London’ & Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ Make-Up Artist Rick Baker Set For Locarno Honorary Award

Rick Baker, the veteran make-up artist behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video and Hollywood classics like The Nutty Professor and An American Werewolf in London, will be awarded the honorary Vision Award at this year’s Locarno Film Festival. 

Baker will be handed the award at the festival’s Piazza Grande on August 12. 

“Rick Baker was responsible for a Copernican revolution in cinema: visionary and revolutionary, he opened new paths for the imagination of entire generations, showing what it truly means to witness physical transmutation on the big screen,” Locarno director Giona A. Nazzaro said in a statement. 

“His filmography includes collaborations with George Lucas and David Cronenberg, Brian De Palma and Joe Dante, Tim Burton and Peter Jackson, John Carpenter and Mike Nichols, among many others. Presenting the Vision Award in Locarno to a pioneer and innovator like him, an absolute genius and incomparable craftsman, is an honour through which the Festival celebrates the infinite possibilities of cinema and its bag of tricks.” 

The Vision Award honors craft artists. Previous winners include Italian costume designer Milena Canonero, American sound designer Ben Burtt, and film editor Pietro Scalia.

This year’s Locarno Film Festival runs from August 5 to 15. Veteran American artist Cindy Sherman has designed the official festival poster. Also receiving honorary awards at this year’s fest are Darren Aronofsky, Isabella Rossellini, and Asia Argento.