Although it was blown out of the box office water by E.T., John Carpenter’s The Thing remains a classic of the sci-fi horror subgenre. The story of a team of scientists being terrorized by a shapeshifting alien at an icy outpost has both the thought-provoking themes of science fiction and the unbridled terror of horror cinema.
Adapted from a previous movie called The Thing from Another World, Carpenter’s 1982 remake has plenty of memorable set pieces and stars Kurt Russell in one of his most iconic roles. So, here are 10 fascinating details from the making of John Carpenter’s The Thing.
10 It Took Kurt Russell A Year To Grow His Beard For The Thing
Kurt Russell sports an impressive beard, as well as a long haircut, in The Thing. This hair and beard took the actor a full year to grow out before filming began.
Russell formulated a whole backstory for his character MacReady with John Carpenter. The idea was that MacReady had been a chopper pilot in Vietnam, and after he returned from the war, he felt out of place in society and took a job in Antarctica to get away. However, this backstory wasn’t explored or even mentioned in the final film.
9 The Creator Of The Special Makeup Effects Was Just 22 Years Old
The special makeup effects in The Thing are considered to be among the most groundbreaking in the history of cinema. The use of practical techniques to bring the titular monster’s horrifying transformations to life was spectacular.
Rob Bottin, who created the effects for the movie, was just 22 years old when John Carpenter first recruited him to work on the film. When Clark sees tentacles in the dog cage, these are whips being operated by Bottin himself off-screen. Outside of his collaborations with Carpenter, Bottin has gone on to work with David Fincher and Paul Verhoeven.
8 Keith David’s Character Wears Gloves To Cover Up A Cast
Right before shooting The Thing, Keith David got into a car accident that left his hand in a cast. As a result, his character wears gloves in most of his scenes to cover it up.
David later reteamed with director John Carpenter for the satirical sci-fi actioner They Live, after Carpenter was impressed with the actor’s performance in The Thing.
7 The Universal Pictures Logo Was Removed To Avoid Confusion
The logo for Universal Pictures features a spinning Earth with the studio’s name written across it in outer space. Since The Thing begins with a flying saucer crashing to the Earth, the producers feared that cutting from the Universal logo to the saucer crash would confuse moviegoers.
They briefly considered zooming in on the logo to show the saucer crash behind the word “Universal,” but they eventually decided to just cut the logo entirely and just give the name of the studio in white text over a black background.
6 Ennio Morricone Recycled Some Of His Score From The Thing For The Hateful Eight
Although it is now regarded as a classic horror score, Ennio Morricone’s musical score for The Thing was slated by critics when the movie was initially released. Since John Carpenter took over the scoring of The Thing, a lot of Morricone’s compositions for the film went unused.
So, when Quentin Tarantino recruited Morricone to score his revisionist western whodunit The Hateful Eight, he simply recycled some of his old compositions from The Thing. Ironically, while Morricone’s score for The Thing was nominated for a Razzie, his score for The Hateful Eight earned him an Academy Award.
5 The Sets Were Refrigerated
Although The Thing is set in Antarctica, it was shot on sound stages in Los Angeles. In order to create the illusion that the characters of The Thing were living in a remote Antarctic outpost, the sets were refrigerated down to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
The temperature outside was way over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Keeping it so cold inside meant that the actors’ breath would show up on camera.
4 Some Versions Of The Movie Don’t Include Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”
Around 10-20 minutes into The Thing, the cook can be heard listening to a song. In most versions of the movie, that song is “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder. However, Universal failed to secure the rights to use the song, and it had to be removed from the film’s initial home media release.
In the years since, Universal executives have renegotiated the licensing rights and subsequent home releases of the film have included “Superstition,” as was originally intended.
3 Wilford Brimley Was The Only Actor Who Didn’t Get Queasy During The Autopsy Scene
The gruesome autopsy scene in The Thing made use of real animal organs, so it’s a pretty graphic sequence. It was even worse to actually be on the set, with the smell of the organs.
According to John Carpenter, Wilford Brimley was the only actor in the film’s cast who didn’t get queasy while they were shooting the autopsy scene.
2 The Thing Has A Strange Relationship With Blade Runner
While The Thing doesn’t share any major cast or crew members with Blade Runner, the two films are inextricably tied to one another. They were both released on the same day, and both got buried by the runaway success of Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
And while they weren’t appreciated in their time, both bombing at the box office and dividing critics, The Thing and Blade Runner have both gone on to become regarded as classics of sci-fi cinema.
1 Nick Nolte And Jeff Bridges Turned Down The Role Of MacReady
When Bill Lancaster was writing the screenplay for The Thing, he had a grizzled veteran actor like Harrison Ford or Clint Eastwood in mind for the role of MacReady. Both actors were under consideration when the film went into pre-production, but it’s unclear if offers were ever extended.
The role was offered to Nick Nolte and Jeff Bridges, but they both turned it down. Relative unknown Fred Ward lobbied for the part, but ultimately, Kurt Russell ended up being cast.
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