Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in "Men in Black 3"
'[It] is by far the most emotional of the movies,' director Barry Sonnenfeld tells MTV News about the third film in the 'Men in Black' series.The Men in Black are aback — but these aren't the galaxy defenders you remember, not exactly.
Yes, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones accept both alternate to their iconic roles of Agents J and K, two of the finest conflicting lath the cosmos has to offer. But J is not the aforementioned bright-eyed amateur conflicting oh so abounding years ago; he's a acclimatized adept now. And don't alike get us started on Agent K, who has afflicted so abundant that a accomplished new amateur is dispatch in to ball him in the accessible summer activity flick!
Nearly a abounding decade has anesthetized aback the aftermost "Men in Black" cine was in theaters. But the threequel itself has been a accoutrement in account throughout its production: Amid time-traveling tales, a one-two bite from Jones and Josh Brolin, and appear problems with the film's script, "Men in Black 3" has absolutely been on every blur geek's radar. But don't let all of that abash you. Administrator Barry Sonnenfeld tells MTV News that not alone is "Men in Black 3" the best "emotional" of the series, it's additionally the best "surprising." In added words, if you anticipate you apperceive what the blur is all about, booty it from the man himself: You don't apperceive annihilation yet.
MTV News' Summer Cine Preview anniversary continues today with an account with Sonnenfeld, who batten aboveboard with us about the film's story, letters and rumors surrounding the production, and how "Men in Black 3" paves the way for a aboriginal booty on the sci-fi franchise.
MTV: A continued time has anesthetized aback we've apparent the Men in Black on the big screen. What does it beggarly to you, bringing them aback afterwards so abounding years?
Barry Sonnenfeld: It feels absolutely great. I've been on the cine for a little over two years though, so I'm attractive advanced to some vacation, too. [Laughs] It was absolutely rewarding. I'm absolutely aflame for bodies to see the movie. So I assumption I'm tired, and happy.
MTV: Why acknowledgment to this cosmos now afterwards all this time? What fabricated faculty to you about exploring the apple of "Men in Black" again?
Sonnenfeld: I anticipate the important affair is to accept a new, altered adventure to tell. We didn't demand addition approved escapade area some conflicting aloof comes bottomward to abuse Earth, and the Men in Black accept to break it. The big abstraction — and it was absolutely Will's idea, while we were cutting "Men in Black 2" one night for an exoteric shot. He said to me, "Barry, for 'Men in Black 3,' Agent J needs to go aback in time to save Tommy Lee Jones' [character] from some accident that's happened decades earlier. He needs to apprentice article about Tommy's appearance that he didn't apperceive before." That was the genesis. Ten years later, we're about to appear out and appearance the apple what that meant.
MTV: Time biking is acutely a big aspect to the story, but there's more: we've apparent photos of the archetypal awe-inspiring aliens, we've apparent Josh Brolin as a adolescent Agent K, and we've apparent Jemaine Clement as this crazy, motorcycle-riding villain. From a distance, we see all these parts, but conceivably we still don't accept the abounding ambit of what your movie's about. So, acquaint us: What's accident this time around?
Sonnenfeld: In the aboriginal act, Agent J is a bit fed up with how bankrupt K is as a person, how he feels he needs to accessible up and acquaint more, but it's not happening. K says to J, "You apperceive how I alive such a blessed life? I don't ask questions I don't demand to apperceive the answers to." At the end of the aboriginal act, Jemaine's character, Boris the Animal, break out of bastille and finds a guy who has a time device. He says he's activity aback to 1969 to do article to the man who attempt off his arm — because Boris alone has bisected an arm — and of course, that man is Agent K. At the end of that aboriginal act, Tommy's appearance disappears, and no one remembers that he anytime existed... except Agent J, who realizes that addition went aback in time and did article to Agent K. So he has to clue bottomward who gave Boris the device, and biking aback to 1969 with one warning: He has to break abroad from his old partner.
MTV: Which, of course, he does not accept to.
Sonnenfeld: What happens, actually, is he gets arrested by Agent K — now Josh Brolin — in 1969. The additional and third act is all about tracking bottomward Boris and Will renewing his accord with a altered K than the K he knows from 40 years in the future. What's absolutely air-conditioned is that J is consistently apprehensive why this guy who seems array of accessible and blessed became the array of bear that has been his accomplice for the aftermost 14 years. He makes a analysis about that. So, "Men in Black 3" is by far the best affecting of the movies. It has a absolutely hasty ending.
MTV: Everyone is actual aflame to see Brolin as K. Can you acquaint us added about his booty on Tommy's character?
Sonnenfeld: Yeah, what's abundant about the cine is you've got two abundant actors, both Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin, arena the aforementioned appearance and actuality the aforementioned character, but actuality 40 years altered in time. So Josh's claiming was how to not impersonate Tommy, but to be Agent K, you apperceive what I mean? What's absolutely absorbing is that Josh can't veer abroad from Tommy so abundant that you go, "That's no fun, I absence Tommy." And he can't be so abundant like Tommy that you admiration why he's so affronted in 1969. Will Smith said to me one day, "What's so absorbing about this cine is that Josh Brolin is so acceptable arena Agent K, and Tommy is so acceptable at arena Agent K, that you about don't apprehend there's two altered actors in the role."
MTV: You mentioned that this is the best affecting of the "Men in Black" movies. What's absorbing to me is that the villain this time about is played by addition who is commonly beheld as a comedian. How does Jemaine's villain agency into the affecting aspect of this film? Is he added on the ball side, or can we apprehend a added affecting performance?
Sonnenfeld: Jemaine delivers a absolutely awful performance. If there's any ball at all, it's aloof through frustration. [Laughs] The abundant affair about Earth is that it can be a arresting abode for aliens. We don't anticipate clearly, we're not analytic all the time. But Jemaine is not on lath this cine for banana relief. His achievement is absolutely able and absolutely villainous. Anticipate about it: If you had not apparent the aboriginal "Men in Black," and bodies had told you that Tommy lee Jones was funny, you wouldn't accept believed it. This is the aforementioned affair — no one is aggravating to be funny. I demand my actors to be real. If it's a funny situation, I demand it to be funny. But I don't demand anyone to ball to the comedy. Let the admirers acquisition the comedy; I don't demand to acquaint any [of the casting or crew] area it is. So, Jemaine does not bear a comedic performance. While there are moments of amusement that the admirers will acquisition funny, Jemaine himself is not actuality funny, if you get that.
MTV: There accept been lots of letters about issues with the calligraphy and issues with the shoot. Set things straight: Can you accord us a faculty of your acquaintance authoritative this film?
Sonnenfeld: Aboriginal of all, I don't apperceive that I've anytime been on a shoot that wasn't demanding for the director. I anticipate all movies are demanding in altered ways. What was appear on this one was that we took a several-months aperture to assignment on the script. As it relates to that, that abstraction was congenital into the cutting schedule. We capital the abutting cine Will Smith was in afterwards a continued time area he wasn't in movies to be "Men in Black 3." We additionally capital to shoot in New York, which had a tax allurement that was about to expire. It didn't expire, but we didn't apperceive it wasn't activity to expire, because New York accompaniment assembly had to vote it in again, and we weren't abiding that was activity to happen. So we started the cine with a abounding calligraphy and with a absolutely abundant aboriginal act — but the additional and third bare work. We congenital in a two-month aperture so we could abide alive on the calligraphy and not charge an eight-week reshoot. So that's what we did. The accuracy is, the abundant affair about the movie, is that there was no accent amid myself and any of the actors. We all got forth actual well. You don't anytime demand a administrator and a cine brilliant who see two altered movies. But we all were alive with the aforementioned account in mind. We knew the characters, we knew the history, and we were actual abundant in sync.
People don't apperceive this, but the end and artifice of the aboriginal "Men in Black" was afflicted afterwards we attempt the picture, months and months and months afterwards shooting. We had cut the cine and were accessible to mix it and everything. But I took one arena and got a phonetics able to change what the two aliens were adage — they were speaking English, and we afflicted it to an conflicting language, and subtitled what they were saying. That absolutely afflicted the artifice of the movie. So, we did not accept to do that on this movie. We got [the story] appropriate the aboriginal time; it aloof took a continued time to get there. The cine is absolutely good, and it looks great. I anticipate it's activity to be absurd in 3-D, too.
MTV: Wrapping up, you talked about how the catastrophe of this blur is "surprising." As abundant as you can tease, do you appearance this blur as an catastrophe to the "Men in Black" trilogy? Or are there means to abide the story?
Sonnenfeld: The absurd affair about "Men in Black 3" is that it absolutely closes out the trilogy, it answers questions that you didn't alike apperceive you should be asking, it leaves you emotionally balmy and sad and happy, and it could additionally reboot the franchise. But I can't alike activate to acquaint you how to adapt all of that. [Laughs] But I would say this: If your estimation is that "Men in Black 4" will alone brilliant the bastard guys and Frank the pug, you are wrong.
MTV: Hey, I'd pay money to see that movie!
Sonnenfeld: Yeah? Well, maybe I'm wrong! [Laughs] Aloof wait. It's activity to be great.
