The Plot

The Men In Black are a hush-hush organisation who monitor alien activity on Earth. If aliens land on our planet, Agent K (a craggy Tommy Lee Jones) and quip-happy MIB newboy Agent J (Will Smith), are on hand to make sure they go through passport control and that htey packed their luggage with their own tentacles. This secret system is running smoothly until the sharply-dressed MIB's uncover a plot by Vincent D'Onofrio's evil intergalactic terrorist, to murder two alien ambassadors. The race is on to seek out the deadly ET before a universe-wide war breaks out. A race that means the blatant inclusion of car chases, guns, spectacular computer-generated special effects, and wise-cracks by the tonne.


What Makes MIB The Coolest Sci-Fi Smash?

In the summer of 1992 husband and wife production team Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald optioned the rights to a little-known comic book series called "The Men In Black". An action packed tale of human agents protecting the Earth from the riff-raff of the universe, it had all the essential elements of a great movie script.

Five years later, the resulting project, Men In Black, became a blockbuster of the highest order, wiping the floor with its cinematic opposition and fuelling the almost insatiable public taste for all things sci-fi.

For director Barry Sonnenfeld, a man who knows a good thing or two about comedy after helming Get Shorty and the two Adams Family films, the movie presented an opportunity to create a feature unlike anything he'd done before.

"I love its sensibility because I've always believed deeply in my heart that we humans don't have a clue about what's going on," Sonnenfeld says. "I loved the fact that I could make a movie, play it for the reality of the situation, with aliens in it, and let the world know that perhaps we truly don't have a clue."

Setting the special effects packed movie in his home town, New York, was another device to help audiences suspend disbelief about the events unfolding on screen, since a city filled with so many different types of people could easily hide an alien presence.

"I felt that if there are aliens on this planet," Sonnenfeld explains, "where they would feel most comfortable is in New York City because they would blend in with all the other people who seem to be like aliens - who, in fact, probably are aliens!"

But the real trump card was in the casting of lead actors who had such charisma and natural presence together, that they too could be immediately accepted in their roles by viewers. The partnership of veteran actor Tommy Lee Jones and independance Day's Will Smith to play the chalk and cheese secret agents K and J respectively, was a carefully made decision to ensure that when the script was brought to life, the comedy was in the situations as they developed rather than in the goofy star performances.



Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Jones was one of the first to commit to the project, signing on before the script was even written after reading the comic books.

"I liked the story and the idea of doing a science fiction movie that had wonderful possibilities for a lot of fun and adventure," he says, explaining that his confidence and interest in the project was cemented by the addition of Steven Spielberg as executive producer.

Although it was the fun side of the movie that was one of the largest hooks for Jones, his actual portrayal of K is based on seriousness and a feeling of loneliness.

"The Men In Black are not supposed to have any conventional human contacts, no wives or family because they're supposed to be entirely anonymous," he says. "The idea is that we keep all this alien traffic through our little backwater border town of a planet secret from the indigenous people because they could'nt handle the truth.

It's a lonely life out there, in a melodramatic, comic book kind of way. But it's also a really cool life."

Jones' attitude towards his role was again perfect for Sonnenfeld's view on comedy. "Tommy Lee is a great anchor for the reality of the story," Sonnenfeld says. "He's also funny and brilliant in this movie by not trying to be funny at all."

In contrast, Jones' partner, Will Smith as J, is the complete opposite. "He's flashy and hates wearing the black suit," laughs Sonnenfeld. "He's always touching the wrong thing and saying too much. He just ruins it for K."


"J is the kind of character who enjoys life and experiencing new things," Smith continues. "He also thinks he's the smartest person in the world so becomming a MIB is the ultimate challenge. J looks at K as a kind of grump, it's like 'Dude, lighten up. I understand we have a job to do but can't we enjoy it just a little bit?'."

Initially, Smith was reluctant to take up another role as as alienbuster after Independance Day for fear of typecasting, but once again, the presence of Spielberg saved the day.

"He called me and told me I had to do it. It was his baby," Smith says. "So it was like, okay Steven Spielberg called you, it's difficult to tell him, 'nah, I guess not'."

With Jones and Smith such a dynamite team, coupled with Sonnenfeld's "wonderfull" direction, all that was needed to complete the Men In Black vision was state of the art SFX from the best in the business. Thanks to four times Acadamy Award winner Rick Baker and the magical touch of Star Wars effects creators Industrial Light & Magic, a host of eye-popping aliens add a final awesome touch that make the movie out of this world.


Yet although the aliens may be among us up there on the screen with the Men In Black, the question remains 'does extraterrestrial life really exist?'.

The truth may still be out there but as far as Tommy Lee Jones is concerned, the answer is simple. "The universe is a large and varied place," he concludes. "And we're not living at the centre of it."