70 Fun Facts About Men in Black

Producers wanted Barry Sonnenfeld for Men in Black because he had directed which darkly funny hit?

The Addams Family made him their first choice. They waited while he shot Get Shorty, and both Quentin Tarantino and John Landis turned the job down in the meantime.

Which comics giant owned the Men in Black comic by the time the Will Smith film came out?

Marvel Comics got it by takeover: the comic began at a small independent press, and Marvel bought that press's parent company, Malibu, in 1994, three years before the film.

In Men in Black, what does the Bug demand from Edgar's wife once it is wearing the farmer's skin?

Sugar water is all it asks for, and it drains the glass in one go. The director's standing note to the actor was that the Bug is always frustrated and always in need of sugar.

Before joining the MIB, Agent J worked for which organization?

The NYPD officer chases an alien suspect on foot all the way up the Guggenheim Museum's ramp to its roof, and that refusal to give up is what makes K recruit him.

In Men in Black, which news source does K call the best investigative reporting on the planet?

Supermarket tabloids are K's 'hot sheets', and one headline, a farm wife saying an alien stole her husband's skin, puts him on the Bug's trail. The New York Times, he allows, gets lucky sometimes.

Which star did the studio want as Agent K, the part that went to Tommy Lee Jones?

Clint Eastwood was the name the studio wanted, the director recalls. Tommy Lee Jones made a better script his condition for signing.

Which star of the 1990s Batman films did the studio want as Agent J?

Chris O'Donnell passed. By the director's own account he wanted Will Smith, so he told O'Donnell the script might never be fixed and that he didn't know how to direct it.

Why was Will Smith cast as Agent J?

The director's wife loved The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and put his name forward, so her husband held out for Will Smith while the studio leaned toward another actor.

Who plays Edgar, the farmer whose skin the Bug wears in Men in Black?

Vincent D'Onofrio built Edgar's growl by blending two famous voices, George C. Scott's and John Huston's.

Which pawn-shop-owning alien in Men in Black keeps getting his head shot off?

Jack Jeebs just grows a new head each time. The agents need him in the sequel, where an illegal machine he built gives K his wiped memory back.

Who plays Chief Zed, head of the MIB, in the first two films?

Rip Torn's Zed doesn't want the cocky new recruit, grumbling that he has a real problem with authority. 'So do I,' says K, and hires him anyway.

In Men in Black, what is the name of the cat that wears the tiny galaxy on its collar?

Orion is the cat, so the dying alien's clue that the galaxy is 'on Orion's belt' sends the agents to their star charts before anyone thinks of a collar.

At the end of Men in Black, which NBA star does J say comes from another planet?

Dennis Rodman: when an alien dignitary wants courtside seats for Knicks against Bulls, J says to call him because it's his planet. 'Not much of a disguise,' his new partner replies.

In Men in Black, where are the flying saucers the Bug tries to escape Earth in?

The New York State Pavilion's towers are real relics of the 1964 World's Fair. In the film the fair was a cover-up, and the saucers on top are the ships the first aliens landed in.

Which real New York structure serves as the exterior of MIB headquarters?

A Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel vent building in Lower Manhattan plays the exterior. The director moved the whole story to New York, reasoning that aliens could pass unnoticed there.

Which effects artist behind An American Werewolf in London designed the aliens for the first Men in Black?

Rick Baker drew more sketches than for all his earlier films put together, because every alien had to please both the director and Steven Spielberg, who often disagreed.

Which Academy Award did the first Men in Black win?

Best Makeup was its one win, and one of the few Oscars that Titanic, nominated in the same category, failed to take home that night.

Which composer scored the first Men in Black and each of its three sequels?

Danny Elfman says the agents' black suits and skinny ties reminded him of Sean Connery's James Bond, so he gave the films a 1960s spy-movie sound on purpose.

Will Smith's theme song 'Men in Black' heavily samples which 1982 hit?

'Forget Me Nots' by Patrice Rushen nearly went unheard in 1982: her label gave it so little support that she and her collaborators paid for three weeks of radio promotion themselves.

Why did Will Smith's 'Men in Black' miss the Hot 100?

It was never sold as a US commercial single, and the Hot 100 only counted songs that were. It still topped Billboard's airplay chart for four weeks on radio play alone.

Which brand made the Predator sunglasses the agents wear in Men in Black?

Ray-Ban: the shades are more than a look. The agents put them on to shield their own eyes from the memory-wiping flash they use on witnesses.

Men in Black was Sony's highest-grossing film until which movie overtook it?

Spider-Man took the record in 2002. Men in Black had grossed about $589 million worldwide, yet its screenwriter says the studio's statements still show it has never turned a profit.

In Men in Black, whose version of 'Promised Land' is playing as K drives along the tunnel ceiling?

Elvis Presley, on K's eight-track. When J points out that Elvis is dead, K replies that he isn't: he 'just went home'.

Men in Black opened over which American holiday weekend?

Fourth of July belonged to Will Smith in those years: Independence Day had opened for the same holiday in 1996, and Men in Black II came back in 2002 to break the first film's holiday record.

Where is the retired K working when J finds him in Men in Black II?

A post office on Cape Cod: K is the postmaster of Truro, Massachusetts, wears a name tag reading Kevin and orders his old partner off the premises.

Who plays the villain Serleena in Men in Black II?

Lara Flynn Boyle was a late replacement: Famke Janssen had been cast as Serleena and had begun filming, but left the production over a family emergency.

Which pop star cameos in Men in Black II, pleading to be made an agent?

Michael Jackson asked to be in the sequel himself. The director says he planned to make him an alien, but Jackson's condition was that he got to wear the black suit.

Which Jackass star plays the two-headed alien Scrad and Charlie in Men in Black II?

Johnny Knoxville plays both heads: Scrad, and the small, mouthy Charlie who pops out of his backpack. The pair tip off the villain that what she is hunting never left Earth.

Men in Black II's finale was set at which New York landmark until late changes forced a move?

The World Trade Center was written out after the September 11 attacks. A different landmark gets the big moment in the finished film: the Statue of Liberty's torch turns out to hide a giant neuralyzer.

What is the villain Serleena hunting for on Earth in Men in Black II?

The Light of Zartha turns out to be a person, not a thing: a young pizzeria worker K secretly left on Earth years earlier, who has no idea what she is.

In Men in Black II, where does the giant worm Jeff live?

The subway, where Jeff eats most of a train early in the film. J knows him well enough to scold him by name, and later tricks the villain into becoming the worm's next meal.

Who plays Agent J's short-lived partner Agent T in Men in Black II?

Patrick Warburton's T is gone within minutes: after he blunders in front of a giant alien worm, J wipes his memory and sends him back to civilian life, the latest partner to go that way.

In Men in Black II, which disco anthem does the agency's talking pug belt out from J's passenger window?

I Will Survive: the song has a line about someone coming back from outer space, and the pug howls it out of the window until J threatens to roll the glass up on his head.

Who plays the young Agent K in the 1969 scenes of Men in Black 3?

Josh Brolin sounds so much like Tommy Lee Jones that Roger Ebert sat through the film convinced Jones had dubbed the younger K's voice himself.

Who plays the villain Boris the Animal in Men in Black 3?

Jemaine Clement, the deadpan half of Flight of the Conchords, plays the villain, who loathes his own nickname and corrects everyone who uses it: 'It's just Boris.'

In Men in Black 3, the agents must fix the ArcNet shield to which spacecraft before it lifts off?

Apollo 11: J jumps back to 15 July 1969, the day before its launch, because only a rocket leaving Earth can carry the shield into orbit.

Which famous artist turns out to be an undercover MIB agent in Men in Black 3?

Andy Warhol is really Agent W, and he is sick of his cover: he is so out of ideas, he complains, that he has been reduced to painting soup cans and bananas.

Who plays Agent O, the new head of the MIB, in Men in Black 3?

Emma Thompson appears only in the first act, and the director said the best reason to make another sequel would be to use her more. She did come back as O in International.

Where does Boris the Animal escape from at the start of Men in Black 3?

A prison on the Moon has held Boris since 1969, when K shot off his arm and arrested him. He breaks out with the help of a creature smuggled in inside a visitor's cake.

In Men in Black 3, what does J learn about the colonel who helps him at Cape Canaveral?

He is J's father, and he dies moments later saving K from Boris. K then neuralyzes the colonel's small son, which is why J grew up never knowing how his father died.

Which alien in Men in Black 3 can see every possible future at once?

Griffin, played by Michael Stuhlbarg, sees every possible timeline at once, which leaves him forever fretting aloud about which one he has landed in: 'Uh oh, this is the one where...'

While Men in Black 3 filmed in SoHo, residents complained about the size of Will Smith's what?

Trailer: a 53-foot double-decker that the city made him move off the street. His director called the fuss a non-story, saying Smith had used the same camper on New York shoots for a decade.

Unadjusted for inflation, which of the first four Men in Black films grossed the most worldwide?

The 2012 threequel took $654 million worldwide, yet in North America it earned less than either earlier film: nearly three-quarters of its money came from abroad.

In Men in Black 3, J travels back to 1969 by jumping off which New York skyscraper?

The Chrysler Building: the time-jump device only works at the speed of a long fall, so J has to step off one of its eagle gargoyles and drop towards the street before it fires.

Which Fast & Furious director took charge of Men in Black: International?

F. Gary Gray, fresh from The Fate of the Furious, reportedly clashed with the film's veteran producer, who held final cut, and tried to quit several times before the studio talked him round.

Who plays Agent M, the rookie partnered with Chris Hemsworth's Agent H in Men in Black: International?

Tessa Thompson, two years after sparring with Hemsworth in Thor: Ragnarok. The film makes a running joke of the agency's name, which H finally amends to 'the Men and Women in Black'.

Who plays High T, head of the MIB's London branch, in Men in Black: International?

Liam Neeson's High T is the mole the agents have been hunting. The Hive he claimed to have beaten years earlier had in fact made him one of their own.

Which comedian voices Pawny, the tiny alien warrior in Men in Black: International?

Kumail Nanjiani voices Pawny, a living chess piece and the last survivor of his tiny society. Having failed to save his queen, he swears eternal loyalty to Agent M instead.

In which city does the finale of Men in Black: International take place?

Paris: the film makes the Eiffel Tower a secret gateway, a wormhole the first alien migrants used to reach Earth, and the villain tries to reopen it for an invasion.

On which programming block did the Men in Black animated series air from 1997 to 2001?

Kids' WB ran it for four seasons. The cartoon quietly undid the film's ending: K, retired with his memory wiped in the final scene, is back at work as J's partner.

In Men in Black, which alien informant lives in New York disguised as a pug?

Frank gets shaken like a toy by K in the street, to the horror of passers-by who see a man mistreating a small dog. The sequel promoted him to J's partner.

Who created the original Men in Black comic book?

Lowell Cunningham says he first heard of the legend when a friend watched a huge black car go by and remarked that it looked like the kind the Men in Black would drive.

Which theme park opened the ride Men in Black: Alien Attack in 2000?

Universal Studios Florida built it as a shooting ride: guests are trainee agents zapping aliens for points, and Will Smith turns up on screen as J to urge them on.

Which 1956 book popularised the 'men in black' said to silence UFO witnesses?

They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers, by Gray Barker, told of a UFO researcher who said three men in dark suits had frightened him into silence. The films turned those sinister visitors into the heroes.

In Men in Black, which alien race threatens to destroy Earth unless the stolen galaxy is returned?

The Arquillians own the galaxy, yet they would sooner destroy Earth than let the Bugs keep it. The director only settled on that plot two weeks before the picture was locked, by rewriting alien subtitles.

Boris the Animal is the last of which alien race, kept off Earth by the ArcNet in Men in Black 3?

The Boglodites are extinct by 2012, and that is Boris's whole motive: if he kills K back in 1969, the shield never goes up, the invasion succeeds and his people live on.

Before reshoots added a fight, what did Men in Black's original ending have J and the Bug doing?

Debating the meaning of existence: five months into the shoot the director decided a comic argument was no way to end an action film, and the digital Bug fight that replaced it cost $4.5 million.

Who wrote the screenplay for the first Men in Black film?

Koepp would later be hired for the sequels, though he left the second film to work on Spider-Man.

In Men in Black, which actress plays Dr. Laurel Weaver, the deputy medical examiner who becomes Agent L?

Linda Fiorentino ends the film as J's new partner, Agent L, but the sequel dropped her with a single line explaining that she had gone back to the morgue.

Men in Black's final shot pulls back to show that our whole universe sits inside what?

A marble: the camera flies out past the planets and the stars until everything fits inside one tiny ball, which an alien hand flicks into a dozen others like it.

In Men in Black 3, what does young Agent K insist on stopping for when the hunt for Boris stalls?

A slice of pie. K's granddaddy always said that when you can't solve a problem it helps to get out of your head, so the two agents break off the manhunt for a diner.

In Men in Black 3, a clairvoyant alien shows J and K which baseball team's 1969 World Series win?

New York Mets. The alien calls the final out his favourite moment in human history, a miracle that needed countless tiny accidents to fall just right.

Who plays Laura Vasquez, the pizzeria worker Agent J falls for, in Men in Black II?

Rosario Dawson. J develops such a crush on Laura, a witness to a murder at her pizzeria, that he breaks MIB protocol and leaves her memory intact.

Which Pitbull single was recorded as the theme song for Men in Black 3?

Back in Time. Will Smith had rapped the theme songs of the first two films himself, but for the third he left the job to the Miami rapper.

In Men in Black 3, a sudden craving for which drink tells Agent O that J has lived through a time fracture?

Chocolate milk. It relieves the headaches of a temporal fracture, which is how O works out that history has changed and only J still remembers his partner.

Who is the only credited screenwriter of Men in Black 3?

Etan Cohen. The Tropic Thunder co-writer kept the sole credit, even though at least two other writers reworked his draft without getting their names on screen.

Which veteran TV star hosts 'Mysteries in History', the low-budget show that re-enacts an old MIB case in Men in Black II?

Peter Graves. The Mission: Impossible star plays himself, and his cheesy re-enactment of the case is what brings K's wiped memory of it back.

Who plays Agent C, H's rival at the London branch, in Men in Black: International?

Rafe Spall. His priggish Agent C meddles in H and M's investigation, directing the MIB agents who trap them in Marrakesh.

In Men in Black: International, the alien arms dealer Riza turns out to be what to Agent H?

His ex-girlfriend. H pleads that he had no idea Riza, played by Rebecca Ferguson, was an arms dealer when they met, which does not impress his partner M.

Which carmaker supplied the agents' official vehicles for Men in Black: International?

Lexus. The deal went well beyond lending cars: the company also sponsored the film's premiere and ran its own Men in Black television campaign.