inally, after five long years, Agents J (Will Smith) and K (Tommy Lee Jones) are returning to action in director Barry Sonnenfeld's Men in Black II. When a ferocious alien—posing as a Victoria's Secret model and going by the name Serleena (Lara Flynn Boyle)—lands on Earth and threatens to destroy the planet, Agent J must locate and de-neuralize Agent K, whose memories were erased at the end of the original film. And once Agent K has his marbles back where they belong, he and Jay take on Serleena and her two-headed henchman (Johnny Knoxville), variously aided and thwarted by the likes of the alien pawnshop owner Jeebs (Tony Shalhoub); Laura (Rosario Dawson), the waitress who looks on in horror as Serleena kills her boss; MiB boss Z (Rip Torn); not to mention Frank the Pug, Michael Jackson and the Worm Guys.
Smith is a jack-of-all-trades, a singer and actor whose credits range from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air to Men in Black, Independence Day to his Oscar-nominated dramatic turn in Ali. Jones is a Hollywood tough guy, onscreen and off, and he's known to audiences for everything from The Executioner's Song, Lonesome Dove and The Fugitive to Natural Born Killers, Batman Forever and Space Cowboys.
Dawson is a relative newcomer, who first made her mark in Kids, and has since mixed indie films (Ash Wednesday, Chelsea Walls) with more mainstream features (Josie and the Pussycats, the upcoming The Adventures of Pluto Nash). Boyle is a young acting veteran who's been up and down and has appeared in everything from Wayne's World to Twin Peaks, Poltergeist III to The Dark Backward, and from The Temp to TV's long-running series The Practice. Lastly, Sonnenfeld is the acclaimed director of photography turned director, and he's given audiences The Addams Family films, Get Shorty, Men in Black, Wild Wild West and now Men in Black II, which will open nationwide on July 3. Science Fiction Weekly recently met up with Smith, Jones, Boyle and Sonnenfeld during a press gathering on MiBII's behalf in New York City.
Tommy Lee Jones, you don't often revisit characters from previous films. What made you want to do a Men in Black sequel?
Jones: Well, I've only done it twice [the other time being the Fugitive sequel U.S. Marshals]. It was a lot easier this time, because I had a happily established working relationship with Barry Sonnenfeld and Will Smith and basically couldn't wait to get back together and continue having the fun we did on the first [film].
We heard that one of your last lines was changed after 9/11. Any truth to that?
Jones: I don't know that that's the case. I don't know if we did anything in response to the events of 9-11. I don't know of anything significant that we did. The final scene was originally set on the roof of the World Trade Center. We felt it would be appropriate to change that. And we did. And that's about the only response we made.
Is it particularly tough to act opposite computer-generated aliens, given that they're added in post-production?
Jones: No, not at all. We're often called upon to use our imaginations as actors, and CGI doesn't make anything easier and it doesn't make anything more difficult. It certainly enhances the effect of a science fiction movie. And that's very much to our advantage in this case.
Chances are that if MiBII is a hit there will be a MiBIII. But how interested would you be in making a film with Will Smith outside of this particular franchise?
Jones: I don't know if anybody would let us do that. I would love to. I think it would be wonderful. But gee whiz, I mean, I'd do that in a minute. I'd start tomorrow. I don't know if anybody in California is brave enough to take that on. But I'm ready. I think we can do anything.
Lara Flynn Boyle, what was it like on set for you with all the gadgets, gizmos and green screen?
Boyle: It took a lot of imagination. It took a lot of blind faith, a lot of trust. You feel a little foolish some days and you run the risk of overacting. That was a big fear of mine. I wanted to copy Tommy Lee Jones and be cool like him.
Is that easy? To be cool on camera like Tommy?
Boyle: It's harder than it looks. I have more respect for [Tommy and Will] now, after being a part of the process. There's that little scene where Tommy goes and opens his locker and he's talking to the [alien] Lockerettes. There was nothing there. He was staring at a pen. I watched that scene and I thought, "My God, he embodies magic." To see those two guys do that and pull that off ... No matter how good your special effects are, no matter how great the aliens looks, it's the old-fashioned truth that if you can't cut away to an actor and he can't bring you realism, you're not going to buy any of it.
Can you talk about that first scene in which you eat a guy and get a bit ... bloated?
Boyle: It was actually great. I found it ironic that it was I doing that and I thought that was a good little poke. It was really fun. You know I'll do anything for attention and it was great walking around with that [gut] for a few days. I enjoyed it.
Barry Sonnenfeld, what were the biggest challenges in pulling off a sequel that builds on the first one but doesn't come across as a carbon copy?
Sonnenfeld: There are several big challenges. By definition a sequel can't be original. So you've got to figure out what worked the first time around. And that was mainly the relationship between Will and Tommy, between Agents J and K. We also had to retain the sense that no one really knows what's going on, that in New York City, in the world, there are aliens, there are these strange events. And we should all relax about life because you don't have a clue as to what's really going on. That's how I could get into the sequel, get Will and Tommy back and let them do what they do, and go back to the idea that we really don't know what the hell is going on around us.
Tell us about the scene with Michael Jackson.
Sonnenfeld: He's really funny. He comes in when you don't expect it. He worked one day. You could tell that everybody was a little freaked out and nervous because he's a really big star. We were already working with really big stars in Tommy and Will, but Michael is Michael. It felt scary because there was no auditioning, no rehearsing.
He plays a MiB agent. The thing that was funny was that when he came in we had him against a blue screen and told him that he'd be in Antarctica and surrounded by penguins and icebergs. He kept asking if he could see photos, which we couldn't find. You find those things a year later when you're actually adding in the effects shots. So that was funny, and the other thing was that when he first came in he came in in his pajamas. Other than that, he was great and professional and easy to work with. You did get a sense of, "Oh God, is this going to be good or horrible?" But it ended up being really good.
Will Smith, what can you tell us about working with Tommy Lee Jones?
Smith: Tommy and I just have a really brilliant relationship. I think everything that comes out of that man's mouth is hilarious. A lot of times the press doesn't get to experience that side of Tommy Lee Jones. But for me, spending three or four months with him, he's a machine. That dude is hilarious.
Can you give us an anecdote?
Smith: We were in Seoul, Korea, doing an interview together. We have an unspoken rule. When we interview together I take all the dumb questions. So an interviewer asked what it was like working with Frank the Pug, the little dog. I said, "Well, you know, Frank is a really wonderful actor. He has brilliant comedic timing. But you know, sometimes he can a bit of an asshole, you know? He won't come out of his trailer, and stuff like that." And then completely straight-faced, Tommy says, "Yeah, Frank's had a bit of an identity crisis ever since the castration." And I was screaming! But that's the [sort of] stuff that comes out of his mouth every single second of the day. And I love that dude with all my heart.
Your wife (Jada Pinkett) is one of the co-stars of The Matrix 2 and 3. You were visiting her in Australia, where they're shooting the films, right?
Smith: Yeah, I just got back. That movie is going to be insane. Insane! I've seen about 15 minutes and [the Wachowski brothers] are going to revolutionize action movies ... again.
You kind of own the Fourth of July weekend, don't you? That's when Independence Day opened, when Men in Black opened and when MiBII is scheduled to hit theaters.
Smith: You know, you light some firecrackers and you go see the new Will Smith movie. It's only American.
Also in this issue: Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
