What is the secret behind the popularity of ``Men in Black'', which remains popular even after more than 20 years?

A state full of lovable Alien

It wasn't just the human characters that were interesting. The Alien' unique personalities really stood out. The special effects make-up master Rick Baker was in charge of creating the Alien. He was also not satisfied with the original script because there weren't enough monsters, but by changing the setting to New York, a melting pot of races, the number of Alien that appeared increased and the scope of their activities expanded dramatically.

Baker's favorite character is Mikey, the Alien who appears at the beginning of the film, pretending to be an illegal immigrant. The character, played by a costumed actor, never makes another appearance, but Baker was so passionate about Mikey that he wanted to make a spinoff film about him.

"Men in Black" (c)Photofest / Getty Images

Sonnenfeld, on the other hand, focused on Chucky, an Alien who lurks inside the brain of an old jeweler and controls a human body. When the jeweler's head is dissected, his flesh-and-blood form is revealed. Although Chucky appears small in the film, the model Baker created is about three meters in size, and the motions of the character, which are computer-controlled, were programmed into his brain. Baker's puppets were used as the main puppets for many of the other Alien, and CG was mainly used to create their facial expressions.

Some actors breathed life into the Alien characters through their acting. Vincent D'Onofrio played Edgar, a farmer whose body was taken over by the villainous Alien Bug. He left a strong impression with his insane performance in Full Metal Jacket (1987), and here he again impressively embodied the Bug's crazy personality. Taking inspiration from Peter Sellers' performance in Dr. Strangelove (1964), he humorously portrayed the movements of a human being taken over by an Alien.

Unique gadgets that add excitement to the action