The Men in Black film franchise was based on the Malibu Comic by Lowell Cunningham.
The filmmakers wanted the actor playing Agent High T to be a formidable match for Chris Hemsworth, but also someone with a good feel for comedy. Producer Walter F. Parkes says, "Much like with Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K, we wanted to cast actors who could do comedy, as opposed to comic actors. Liam Neeson is a consummate actor with big comedy chops."
Prop modeller Pierre Bohana worked on this movie's design of the Men in Black's signature device, the Neuralyzer. "It's iconic, so we didn't change it too much", Bohanna explains. "We added a bit more animation to its mechanism - providing a little different feel with how it opens and moves - but its design remains unchanged from the version audiences loved from the first films."
Rip Torn, who played Zed in the first two movies, and an alien at his character's funeral in the third movie, died a month after the release of this movie.
Previously set for a May 17, 2019 release, this movie was released on June 14, 2019.
Agent J, Agent K, and Frank the Pug are the only characters to appear in some form in every Men in Black movie. Agents J and K were characters in the first three movies, and appear in a painting in this one Frank was in the first, second, and fourth movie, and appeared in a picture in J's living room in the third.
The sunglasses that the Agents wore in this movie were an exclusive design by Police, a lifestyle brand from the De Rigo Group.
The scene where Agent O (Dame Emma Thompson) meets Agents H (Chris Hemsworth) and M (Tessa Thompson) in Paris takes place at the Place du Trocadero. The two statues visible are known as La Femme (The Woman) and L'homme (The Man).
This is the second F. Gary Gray movie that is a sequel to a Barry Sonnenfeld movie. The first being Be Cool (2005), which was a sequel to Get Shorty (1995).
Kayvan Novak (Vungus) was originally only a stand-in, but the filmmakers were happy with his performance that Novak ended up with the role.
Production Designer Charles Wood designed this movie's vehicles. The Jaguar XJ6 is full of hidden weapons. For example, there are five handguns in a window, a gun in the gas cap, and a Gatling gun in the rear bumper.
All of the suits worn by the men and women of MiB were cut from Designer Sir Paul Smith's one hundred percent wool A Suit to Travel In cloth, which has a "natural crease recovery" so that everybody will always look sharp no matter where saving the universe may take them.
Visual Effects Supervisor Alessandro Ongaro talks about the most complicated visual effects sequence in this movie: meeting Vungus in the nightclub. "This is a pivotal point for the story and Vungus was fully digital from head to toe. He had to interact with H and M with full facial animation via keyframes", he said.
Stunt Coordinator Wade Eastwood knew Rebecca Ferguson from Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) and Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018), where she played Ilsa Faust. When Eastwood recommended Ferguson play the part of Riza, the three-armed alien arms dealer, she said, "Where and when do you want me?"
This is F. Gary Gray's second movie, since his directorial debut Friday (1995), shot in the taller 1.85:1 aspect ratio, although presented theatrically in the Univisium 2:1 aspect ratio. It is also the first Men in Black movie to be presented in the Univisium aspect ratio.
When H reaches for the hammer on the ground during his fight, you can subtly hear the Avengers Theme for a couple of seconds.
This is the first Men in Black movie filmed in the Univisium 2:1 aspect ratio, unlike the first three movies which were filmed in the taller 1.85:1 ratio, although trailers and television spots advertised this movie in 1.85:1.
When H (Chris Hemsworth) is fighting Luca Brasi (Spencer Wilding), there is a moment when he falls to the floor and the item closest to him is a hammer. H reaches for it, but it is initially just out of reach. For just a split second, fans of the Thor movies may expect the hammer to leap to his hand (as H is the same actor who played Thor). However, he just pushes forward enough to grab it. Once he has it, he throws it at Luca, but without success.
This is not the first Men in Black movie to refer to an Agent M. In Men in Black II (2002), Michael Jackson begs to join MiB, suggesting that he could be Agent M. This request was ignored.
In Men in Black (1997), Agents K and J were referred to be from "Division Six". According to their websites at the time of this movie's release, there are six branches of the F.B.I.: National Security Branch, Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, Intelligence Branch, Science and Technology Branch, Information and Technology Branch, and Human Resources Branch. The C.I.A. has five main directorates: Directorate of Analysis, Directorate of Operations, Directorate of Science and Technology, Directorate of Support, and Directorate of Digital Innovation.
Dame Emma Thompson and Liam Neeson appeared in Love Actually (2003).
Visual Effects Expert Rick Baker, who had worked on the Men in Black film franchise, and had retired in 2014, expressed interest in working on this movie.
Tim Blaney voiced Frank the Pug in the first two Men in Black movies, as well as this one. He also voiced one of the worms in Men in Black 3 (2012) and the robot Johnny 5 from the Short Circuit film franchise.
The music in this movie was by Danny Elfman and Chris Bacon. Danny Elfman also composed the signature theme for Men in Black (1997).