Halloween is just a few days away, so get those costumes ready. Who better to help you with some last minute ideas, than Rick Baker. The legendary makeup artist, whose credits include King Kong, American Werewolf in London, Thriller, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Maleficent, just to name a few, recently lent out his expertise to one lucky FX prodigy. Bella, the eight-year-old daughter of commercial actress Jesse Meriwether, got the thrill of a lifetime when, she got to tour Baker’s studio. Find out what happen when the kid of the Cootie Queen met the Scream King.- James Knight
My name is Jesse Meriwether. I am also known to some as “the Cootie Queen” (yes… my mother is so proud) because of an Orbit Gum Commercial that I was in (yes… that’s the one).
But all you really need to know about me is that I am the mama of two beautiful little girls: Issabella (8) and Lucciana (4).
We go to Mississippi every summer... It was during this past visit (Summer of 2014) – in early July – that this happened:
Now… to be completely fair – Bella did not build the hand from nothing. It was originally a toy that was for “Girly Time Manicures”.
I guess Bella decided this toy would serve her better a different way. So she broke it at the knuckles, duct taped the fingers into a bent position, and covered the whole thing in modeling clay.
But still… I was impressed… and proud.
I was more than happy to bake her clay sculpture in the oven. I was less happy when she told me she wanted to take an “American Werewolf” style picture and send it to Rick Baker…
At the end of everything, Mr. Baker turned to Bella and said:
RB: Now Bella… I’m not giving you all this stuff for free. I want you to DO SOMETHING with it. And I want to see pictures. And if you don’t – then I’m going to hunt you down – and take it all back. Ok?
BELLA: (with her big buck tooth grin) Ok… thank you…
For the goodbye – we gave hugs instead of handshakes. And we screamed nearly all the way home.
It really was a day we won’t ever forget.
IN CLOSING
That weekend we went to “Frends” (the makeup supply store Mr. Baker told us about) and got Bella some monster clay. She’s been slowly figuring things out ever since.
When Bella’s not sculpting – she’s experimenting with face painting (blending, color combos, shapes, etc). She has elected her little sister to be the resident face-painting model. I think Lucci was really excited about the position for the first few days. She may be over it now…
Finally, a few words on what I have learned because of this experience.
First,
I never would have put that wolf hand picture up online if Bella hadn’t urged me to do so. I just assumed that a response was HIGHLY UNLIKELY (i.e. Impossible), and so not worth the effort.
Children don’t really know what “impossible” means… because they haven’t learned it from us yet.
I think that is a beautiful quality. It’s one that I will try to hold onto more often in the future.
Secondly,
I have been in “the industry” for 10 years now. And while the commercial world isn’t exactly “cut throat” (especially when compared to the theatrical side) - Even so – after a while it’s easy to get the idea that no one will do anything for you – unless you do something for them first.
Well… I think we can all agree my 8-year-old is not a very well connected person. There’s nothing really extraordinary about her. She’s just a sweet, nerdy kid.
But Rick Baker took the time to make a big impact on her life all the same.
I thank him and will always be grateful for that.
I’m also grateful to him for showing me that you can make it in this town (I mean REALLY make it), without becoming a monster.
Which – considering his line of work – might just be irony at its very best.
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