Collider recently had the pleasure of interviewing the director of
Men in Black 3, Barry Sonnenfeld. One of the topics that came up in the discussion was which celebrities will pop up on the alien surveillance screen. In the previous two films this gimmick has produced some hearty laughs, and Barry hopes to strike comedy gold once again.
Sonnenfeld: Well, we’ve always had in Men in Black headquarters, alien surveillance, so one of the joys is deciding who you would put up on the board, who you would tell the world are aliens. And A) the challenge is you have to get permission from these celebrities and B) you don’t want to go with people that are either a flash in the pan, or political, or people that then in 10 years no one will know who you’re talking about. In fact, in Addams Family Values, which I directed, there is a joke about Amy Fisher, and if you watch it today you’ll go, “I don’t know why that’s funny.” But when we shot the movie, she was the girlfriend of [Joey] Buttafuoco and shot his wife and it was a big moment in the news back then that no longer seems particularly funny or relevant. So the challenge is getting celebrities that are famous, will give you permission and won’t be like, “Who’s that guy?” in ten years. So that’s one thing, the alien surveillance board that we’ve had in all three movies. The first movie I know we had [Steven] Spielberg, Danny DeVito, George Lucas, [Sylvester] Stallone, Isaac Mizrahi, my baby daughter. I can’t remember who we had in the second one, but in this one there are a few people that you’ll see up on the surveillance board including Lady Gaga, Tim Burton, who probably knows more about aliens then I do, and let’s see who else . . . Justin Bieber . . . oh, I think in the second one we had Martha Stewart and Michael Jackson. (Barry later clarifies - "Michael Jackson was actually an agent, not an alien.")
When asked if it helps to be able to drop Will Smith's name as a way to secure a celebrity cameo, Barry responded:
Sonnenfeld: You know we don’t like to use that weapon too often. The hard part is really figuring out the combination of who won’t be “who’s that person” in 10 years. But so far we’ve been pretty lucky and people have been kind and interested. I am surprised that Lady Gaga said yes.
Collider: Yeah, I think she’ll get a good laugh in the theater.
Sonnenfeld: Yes, and by the way, probably could be an alien.
Men in Black 3 is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, based on the Malibu Comic written by Lowell Cunningham. The movie stars: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement, Alice Eve, Emma Thompson, Bill Hader, Nicole Scherzinger and Michael Stuhlbarg. MIB3 will be released in theaters on May 25, 2012.