Jun 03 2012
Man who grew up in Macon plays in “Men in Black 3”
Actor will Smith has seen his share of scary-looking aliens in the filming of his “Men in Black” movies.
But it was J.P. Haynie, who grew up in Macon, who startled him and Josh Brolin while making the third movie in the franchise. “Men in Black 3” was released in theaters Friday.
Haynie, 28, was in costume and already in place, pinned against a wall in a bowling alley scene, when Smith and Brolin entered the set.
Curious about the “Dead Dom” alien, the two stars approached to inspect what they thought was a prop.
“will Smith touched him, J.P. moved and he freaked out,” said Sylvia Haynie, J.P.’s mother who teaches drama at Stratford Academy.
Her son likely won’t forget that experience.
“both jumped and said, ‘Wow, there’s somebody in there,’” J.P. Haynie remembered.
He spent the whole day shooting with the two men who play lead characters, Agent J and young Agent K, in the story about a secret agency that polices alien activity on Earth.
Even before filming started, Haynie spent days with makeup artists designing creatures and layering on latex parts in the late summer of 2010.
Mike Smithson, the makeup artist who designed the aliens Haynie portrayed, used Haynie as a model as he created his version of “Dead Dom,” which was chosen by filmmakers for the role. Haynie was tapped to play dead inside the plastic mask molded from a cast of his head.
“It’s much more complex than wearing a Halloween costume,” Haynie said in a telephone interview from his New York home.
“If you have any claustrophobia, it is not for you.”
Wearing the costume wasn’t scary, but making the replica of his head was a little unnerving.
Haynie’s hair was covered in a bald cap, and plastic was taped to his torso before he was slathered with wet latex. Only tiny tubes allowed him to breathe.
He admitted to getting a little paranoid as he waited about 20 minutes for it to dry.
“I kept thinking if somebody wanted me dead, this would be a great opportunity,” Haynie said.
He did have a frightening experience that landed him in the hospital while filming with Smith and Brolin.
His arm was strapped to the wall over his head for so long that he pinched a nerve and nearly fainted.
Doctors, who were excited to have a “Men in Black” actor in the emergency room, checked to make sure there was no permanent damage before releasing him back to the set.
It took about six months to completely regain use of his arm.
The pay and the movie adventure were worth it, said Haynie, who plans to see the film Saturday with friends in New York where he and his younger brother, F. Michael Haynie, are pursuing their theater and film careers.
J.P. Haynie will have a stopwatch to mark times when his aliens appear, so he can tell friends and family where to look for him.
He knows some of his work could end up on the cutting room floor.
But Sylvia Haynie expects to jump up in the theater and shout “That’s my boy!” if she spots him — exactly like she did when he showed up in the trailer.
In some scenes, his face is masked in an orange fish costume, while his other alien creatures called for latex bulbous heads to be applied to his face.
During filming one day, Emma Thompson, who plays Agent O, took great interest in the intricate detail of tiny blood vessels painted on his brain-shaped cranium.
When she inquired about what happens to the fake head after filming, Haynie explained that it’s thrown away due to damage in the removal process.
“That’s a shame,” she said. “Can I have it?”
He sent her to ask his makeup artist, and she turned back toward Haynie with a thumbs up in reply.
He assumes his mask is now hanging out with the woman who had her own grueling makeup sessions filming “Nanny McPhee.”
Even if Haynie might not be recognizable on the big screen, he’s hoping he’ll land in the makeup bonus features on the DVD or that one of his characters will show up in a video game.
“It was glamorous to be a part of it, but I was kind of just set dressing,” Haynie said. “I may be all over the DVD and never make it in the movie.”
To contact writer Liz Fabian, call 744-4303.
