The Thing
Anytime. Anywhere. Anyone.
The Thing (1982)
Production
Budget
$15 000 000
Revenue
$20 374 918
Director
Scenario
John W. Campbell Jr.
Author
Composer
Producer
Actors
Kurt Russell
MacReady
Wilford Brimley
Blair
T.K. Carter
Nauls
David Clennon
Palmer
Keith David
Childs
Richard Dysart
Dr. Copper
Charles Hallahan
Norris
Peter Maloney
Bennings
Short description
A team of American researchers at an isolated Antarctic station encounters a hostile alien organism that has lain frozen in the ice for a very long time. The creature can copy the appearance of any living thing it absorbs, which makes it impossible for the men to tell who among them is still human. As the station's population is picked off one by one, the survivors turn on each other, and trust collapses under the weight of suspicion.
John Carpenter directed the film, the eighth of the twenty-two features he has made, following Escape from New York and preceding Christine. Bill Lancaster wrote the screenplay, and David Foster and Lawrence Turman produced. Kurt Russell leads the cast as MacReady, with Wilford Brimley, T.K. Carter, David Clennon, Keith David and Richard Dysart among the twenty-one credited cast members; the crew numbered 103.
Released in June 1982, the film had a budget of 15 million US dollars and took about 20 million worldwide, a modest return that did not reflect its later standing. Audiences rate it highly, with 8.2 out of 10 on IMDb from some 523,000 votes and 8.1 out of 10 on TMDB from far fewer. A critics' rating of 7.8 out of 10 from 92 reviews sits close to those audience scores, so all three measures agree on the film's reputation.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the scene where the film’s heroes fly to the Norwegian camp by helicopter, you can notice that at one point the helicopter begins to sway from side to side. At that moment, the pilot handed control to Kurt Russell.
- According to screenwriter Bill Lancaster, he didn't particularly like the story. He changed a lot in it: the number of characters, the plot's premise, and, of course, the ending, which became much darker compared to the literary source material.
- According to John Carpenter and Kurt Russell, they still don't know which characters and when were replaced by the alien.
- This film was the first in John Carpenter's career for which he did not write the music. Jerry Goldsmith was originally supposed to be the composer, but he dropped out of the project. Ennio Morricone replaced him and wrote music similar to Carpenter's work.
- Filming took over nine months; according to Carpenter, it was the most laborious project of his career.
- “The Thing” is the first film in John Carpenter’s so-called “Apocalypse Trilogy.” The other two films are “Prince of Darkness” (1987) and “In the Mouth of Madness” (1994).
- All episodes involving the actors' interactions with "the thing" were filmed on the studio soundstages. When the main unit finished filming in October 1981, work on the special effects continued for another six weeks in a specialized division of Universal-Hartland Studios. During this period, Rob Bottin led a team of 40 designers, artists, sculptors, and camera operators who "brought the thing to life."
- Although the planned special effects for "the thing" were quite ambitious for their time, the simplest technologies were used to create them. Clay sculptures were made for the creature models, molds were created from expanded latex, necessary details were attached, and animatronic mechanisms were installed. In his work on the film's special effects, Rob Bottin used all the technologies and materials available to him at the time: animatronics (hydraulics, pneumatics, radio control), reverse footage techniques, and more. He used materials such as gelatin, urethane, acrylic, rubber, foam latex, and KY Jelly lubricant (which was used to create the alien's saliva in the film of the same name). Bottin also used unconventional materials for special effects: heated and melted chewing gum, strawberry jam, mayonnaise, and food fillers.
- When “The Thing” was being made, makeup artist Rob Bottin was only 22 years old.
- Carpenter was a big fan of the original story, which he first read in school, and during filming he tried to adhere to the literary source, rather than the 1951 film, which leaned more towards an alien version of Frankenstein.
- Due to the obvious shortcomings of the stop-motion animation in terms of realism, a scene of the murder of Knowles by one of the forms of the “thing,” dubbed the “monster from the box” by the creators, was removed from the film. The appearance of the monster could have resembled a giant imp from a snuffbox, so it was decided to abandon filming such a scene. In the film, Knowles simply disappears as he walks down the hallway.
- When the characters in the film discuss what an alien spaceship might look like, one of them explains it with the words "Chariots of the Gods." This is a reference to the 1968 book by Swiss-German author Erich von Däniken, titled "Chariots of the Gods?", which proposed the hypothesis that many of the world's great historical monuments, such as the Egyptian pyramids, were built using technology obtained from extraterrestrial beings who were regarded as gods by ancient peoples.
- Some dialogues and individual scenes with the infected dog were cut from the film, but were eventually included in the television version.
- The female computer voice belongs to Adrienne Barbeau, John Carpenter's wife at the time of filming.
- While Carpenter was filming “Escape from New York,” screenwriter Bill Lancaster was hard at work on the script for “The Thing.”
- Two shocking episodes were filmed for the scene in the Norwegian camp. In the first, a corpse fell out of a closet, and in the second, the heroes stumble upon a body nailed to a door with a harpoon. Both episodes were ultimately cut.
- The film is based on the novella by John W. Campbell Jr. “Who Goes There?”. John Carpenter’s version is a much more faithful adaptation of the original work than “The Thing” (1951). For example, the 1951 version featured female characters that are not present in the book or Carpenter’s film. Also, the use of a hot needle to test the blood of the characters was taken from the original novella, which was not present in the 1951 film.
- In the original 1951 film, the action took place at the North Pole. In John Carpenter's film, the action takes place at the South Pole.
- In the scene where Norris’s (Charles Hallahan) head is separated from his body, Rob Bottin used flammable materials to construct the head and neck model. During filming, at the director’s insistence, more fire was added, which caused the entire room to catch fire. No one was injured, however, the complex model that Rob had spent several months building was completely destroyed.
- The design of the movie title in the opening credits was borrowed from the original film. The letters of the title were drawn on transparent animation film. Behind it was an aquarium filled with smoke. A frame with a stretched black plastic bag was placed between the lettering and the aquarium. A lamp was installed behind the entire structure as a light source, with rays passing through the letters. The plastic bag was set on fire, and this method was used to film the "burning out" letters of the movie title: "The Thing".
- Donald Pleasence was originally supposed to play Blair, but he was unable to participate in the filming due to commitments to other projects.
- The film's script did not include the appearance of Blair in human form. However, John Carpenter decided to show viewers that the monster was indeed Blair, so a short scene with him and Garry was included in the film. It was created using reverse footage: Blair’s fingers were extracted from a special prosthetic in the form of silicone skin on Donald Moffat’s face. To film the scene with the flying wooden flooring, a guiding trough was constructed under the floor of the soundstage, into which a heavy ball attached to a high-speed winch was placed. As the ball was pulled along the trough, it would kick up the floorboards. This scene was shot simultaneously with multiple cameras to show the action from different angles. A model of the “thing” was also created for the final scenes, which was later filmed using stop-motion animation. The necessary footage was shot, but it did not make it into the final version of the film because it was very noticeable that what was happening on screen was stop-motion animation. John Carpenter only left a short portion of this footage in the film.
- Many actors caught colds frequently during filming. This was due to the fact that the temperature in the pavilion where the filming took place was deliberately lowered so that real steam would come from the actors' mouths. The problem was that the pavilions were located in Los Angeles, where the temperature outside was at least forty degrees Celsius. As a result, the actors constantly felt the temperature difference.
- Work on the film's special effects began in April 1981, lasted 57 weeks, and was completed at the end of May 1982.
- According to the director's initial idea, MacReady was supposed to be a former military pilot who served in Vietnam.
- At the beginning of the film, a Norwegian with a rifle says: “Se til helvete og kom dere vekk. Det er ikke en bikkje, det er en slags ting! Det imiterer en bikkje, det er ikke virkelig! KOM DERE VEKK IDIOTER!!” which translates to: “Get the hell out of here. It’s not a dog, it’s some kind of thing! It’s just imitating a dog! Get out of here, you idiots!!”.
- For the scene involving the biting off of hands, Bottin’s team created a hydraulic rig with a copy of the actor’s body on top. In this scene, only the actor’s head, neck, and shoulders were real. A setup was located where the chest and abdomen would have been, which was designed to open, tearing the silicone skin, and “bite” off the other character’s hands. For this scene, a double was found to play Dr. Copper, who had lost both hands below the elbow in a work accident. A silicone mask of Richard A. Dysart, who played the doctor, was placed on the double’s face. The hands that the “thing’s” chest bit off were made of KY Jelly lubricant, the bones were made of paraffin wax, and the veins and arteries were made of silicone and rubber. The following scene in this episode was filmed after principal photography had wrapped: the “thing’s” neck began to slowly extend, separating the head from the body. Under the table were two assistants who controlled the head’s movements and pumped fluid into the rupturing vessels. Bottin encountered difficulties preparing for this scene – he didn’t have a material that could stretch so strongly. Therefore, his team had to experiment. They ultimately settled on a mixture of melted plastic with chewing gum. The next scene in the episode used reverse footage, where tentacles growing from the head’s mouth would latch onto the furniture. In reality, the moment of detaching and retracting the tentacles into the mouth was filmed, and then the footage was played in reverse during editing. Having grown spider legs (at this point, puppeteers were operating a puppet head under a false floor), the head gradually moved towards the exit. Bottin used a radio-controlled model here.
- Almost all location shooting took place in British Columbia (Canada), where special sets were built.
- Kurt Russell nearly got seriously hurt in the scene where his character throws a hatchet with dynamite. He didn't know how powerful the explosion would be, so his reaction to the blast is genuine.
- The sound of the Antarctic wind was recorded in the desert near Palm Springs.
- For the film, Albert Whitlock, a renowned matte painter who worked with Alfred Hitchcock, created several painted images to create the illusion of the environment in the shot. These were images of a flying saucer in an icy crater, which were then placed in the foreground or background. Actors for these scenes were filmed against a blue screen.
- The film had three alternative endings shot. The first was the ending shown in the theatrical release – Childs and MacReady await the outcome near the burning base. The second ending was filmed in case the ending from the release version was negatively received during test screenings – MacReady successfully passes a blood test showing he was not infected, however, this ending did not reveal whether Childs was infected (this version was never shown in any supplemental materials). The third ending was an addition to the release version ending – the viewer is shown the morning after: an obviously infected Alaskan Malamute runs through the snow away from the burned base (the base itself is not shown, only three thick plumes of smoke above the horizon). The dog stops momentarily, turns around, then continues running (this version hinted that Childs and MacReady were not infected and most likely perished).
- Initially, $750,000 was allocated for special effects from the film's total budget, but the amount ultimately had to be increased to $1.5 million.
- The first part of the scene with the dog-“thing” was made by Rob Bottin himself. In this scene, he used reverse photography, which was used to create the tentacles wrapping around the dead dog – the tentacles were retracted inward, releasing the dog dummy. The second part of the scene was created with the support of Stan Winston's team. The puppet had radio-controlled eyes, and cables allowed control of the movements of the legs and nose, creating the appearance of a snarling dog. Winston refused to have his name mentioned in the film's credits, noting that all the credit for creating the special effects belonged to Rob Bottin. However, Winston was still thanked, with a mention in the final credits of the film.
- In Soviet pirate video salons, the film was shown under the title "Creature."
- When reworking the concept of the alien, Carpenter opted for a creature that resembled nothing human. To solve this problem, the producers hired legendary illustrator Dale Kupers. He created models and sketches of “The Thing,” but soon became seriously ill, forcing the filmmakers to find a replacement. Rob Bottin was eventually chosen, and he altered the initial concepts, ultimately creating one of the most unusual and terrifying monsters in cinema history.
- The flower made of flesh that attacks Childs has 12 petals shaped like dog tongues, complemented by rows of dog teeth. Special effects creator Rob Bottin nicknamed it the "rabid cabbage".
- Most of the special effects work in the scene inside the dog kennel was done by Stan Winston and his team, as Rob Bottin was hospitalized due to exhaustion.
- The film has no female characters. Female presence in the film is limited to the voice of the MacReady computer and a video recording of a television program watched by Palmer. According to John Carpenter, there was only one woman on the film crew. Shortly before filming began, she became pregnant and soon left the project. She was replaced by a man.
- Initially, the film was banned from screening in Finnish cinemas.
- The Norwegian camp’s set decorations were provided by the American camp’s set decorations: it was much cheaper to rework the burnt and destroyed decorations from the end of the film than to build new ones.
- The first draft of the screenplay was completed in the second half of 1980. The script subsequently underwent a number of minor changes: the character Sanchez's name was changed to Simmons, and then to Windows – in the final version. The characters' ages were also changed: MacReady from 32 to 35, and Palmer from 27 to 35. Ultimately, the final version of the script, dated July 28, 1981, was approved for production.
- The film's premiere almost coincided with the release of Steven Spielberg's "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial." Audiences preferred to see the alien as a friend rather than a deadly enemy, and as a result, "The Thing's" box office receipts were disappointing.
- The opening credits exactly replicate the original credits of Howard Hawks' film.
- Although television producer Stuart Cohen, who bought the rights to adapt the story, tried to convince the bosses at Universal to hire Carpenter as director, Tobe Hooper was originally planned to helm the film. However, Cohen disliked his script options. The project languished within Universal from 1975 to 1979 until “Alien” was released and became a hit. It became clear that audiences were interested in similar stories, and “The Thing” finally received the “green light.”
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