The Thing

it's true:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jed_(wolfdog)

wow he lived to a good old age

Watched this properly for the first time a couple of days ago.

good thread

The part that is fx is astonishing. Also the part that is acting is astonishing. The dog's acting is astonishing.

It's so grim.

The flying saucer was buried in the Antarctic for thousands of years.

I love how it just freestyles with body.

Not enough repping for the commentary track itt, which is one of the all-time best.

commentary is so enjoyable & great

next to Frankenheimer’s film-school-esque commentary for Ronin, the Thing commentary is an all time favorite

the casting wiki on this is fascinating:

Kurt Russell was involved in the production before being cast, helping Carpenter develop his ideas.[20] Russell was the last actor to be cast, in June 1981, by which point second unit filming was starting in Juneau, Alaska.[20][21] Carpenter had worked with Russell twice before, but wanted to keep his options open. Discussions with the studio involved using actors Christopher Walken, Jeff Bridges, or Nick Nolte, who were either unavailable or declined, and Sam Shepard, who showed interest but was never pursued. Tom Atkins and Jack Thompson were strong early and late contenders for the role of MacReady, but the decision was made to go with Russell.[21] In part, Carpenter cited the practicality of choosing someone he had found reliable before, and who would not balk at the difficult filming conditions.[22] It took Russell about a year to grow his hair and beard out for the role.[23] At various points, the producers met with Brian Dennehy, Kris Kristofferson, John Heard, Ed Harris, Tom Berenger, Jack Thompson, Scott Glenn, Fred Ward, Peter Coyote, Tom Atkins, and Tim McIntyre. Some passed on the idea of starring in a monster film, while Dennehy became the choice to play Copper.[21] Each actor was to be paid $50,000, but after the more-established Russell was cast, his salary increased to $400,000.[11]

Geoffrey Holder, Carl Weathers, and Bernie Casey were considered for the role of Childs, and Carpenter also looked at Isaac Hayes, having worked with him on Escape from New York. Ernie Hudson was the front-runner and was almost cast until they met with Keith David.[24] The Thing was David's first film, and coming from a theater background, he had to learn on set how to hold himself back and not show every emotion his character was feeling, with guidance from Richard Masur and Donald Moffat in particular. Masur and David discussed their characters in rehearsals and decided that they would not like each other.[25] For Blair, the team chose the then-unknown Wilford Brimley, as they wanted an everyman whose absence would not be questioned by the audience until the appropriate time. The intent with the character was to have him become infected early on off-screen, so that his status would be unknown to the audience, concealing his intentions. Carpenter wanted to cast Donald Pleasence, but it was decided that he was too recognizable to accommodate the role.[26] T. K. Carter was cast as Nauls, but comedian Franklyn Ajaye also came in to read for the role. Instead, he delivered a lengthy speech about the character being a stereotype, after which the meeting ended.[27]

Bottin lobbied hard to play Palmer, but it was deemed impossible for him to do so alongside his existing duties. As the character has some comedic moments, Universal brought in comedians Jay Leno, Garry Shandling, and Charles Fleischer, among others, but opted to go with actor David Clennon, who was better suited to play the dramatic elements.[28] Clennon had read for the Bennings character, but he preferred the option of playing Palmer's "blue-collar stoner" to a "white collar science man".[25] Powers Boothe,[2] Lee Van Cleef, Jerry Orbach, and Kevin Conway were considered for the role of Garry, and Richard Mulligan was also considered when the production experimented with the idea of making the character closer to MacReady in age.[29] Masur also read for Garry, but he asked to play Clark instead, as he liked the character's dialogue and was also a fan of dogs. Masur worked daily with the wolfdog Jed and his handler, Clint Rowe, during rehearsals, as Rowe was familiarizing Jed with the sounds and smells of people. This helped Masur's and Jed's performance on-screen, as the dog would stand next to him without looking for its handler. Masur described his character as one uninterested in people, but who loves working with dogs. He went to a survivalist store and bought a flip knife for his character, and used it in a confrontation with David's character.[25] Masur turned down a role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to play Clark.[30] William Daniels and Dennehy were both interested in playing Dr. Copper, and it was a last-second decision by Carpenter to go with Richard Dysart.[29]

Omg @ Shandling

Yeah the potential casting of Leno/Shandling is making my brain reimagine that would’ve gone.

Also, thanks for posting that blog up thread. Great, informative read!

R.I.P. to Donald Moffat, aka Garry

"Was wondering when El Capitan was gonna get a chance to use his pop gun."

RIP, will rescreen this weekend.

(also, realizing Childs was Cameron Diaz' stepfather in There's Something About Mary is kinda jarring in retrospect.)

okay rescreened last night... Garry delivers one of the best lines in the film:

"I know you gentlemen have been through a lot, but when you find the time, I'd rather not spend the rest of this winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!"

Still so classic. Kinda forget how great the exterior shots are on this. Also, need to track down the Director's Commentary again.

To me, great as it is, that's not even Moffat's best line in the movie. I love the way he says, "I know Bennings. I've known him for ten years. He's my friend."

I recently read that he came up with that line as an ad-lib, he wanted to add more to make the scene and the incident more personal.

Moffat was great in everything, I wish I'd seen him on stage since apparently he was really something as a theater actor. And he made for a fine, absurd, satirical version of LBJ in The Right Stuff (hardly historically accurate but funny) and a perfectly smarmy and duplicitous president in Clear and Present Danger.

Whoa - didn’t know that was him as LBJ.

Omar, thanks for that background on the movie!

you're welcome and hey, merry christmas

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CVKJp56WIAA68Au.jpg

haha.

Okay, I made the mistake of re-screening the prequel/reboot which starts off nice enough, subtly controlled pacing and enough nods and believable plot mechanics until the 3rd act which is complete garbage. The final boss is such a CGI embarrassment I can't even believe this was made by a major studio, basically lacking in everything that makes the original film a classic. Woof!

Took a chance on a cheap 2016 DVD of Carpenter's but it's the same as the ropey 1999 one I already had. Not even full screen without stretching the aspect ratio. Does one have to go Blu-Ray for a more up to date transfer?

I watched this with my daughter the other week. She liked it, but probably because she is so used to gross effects and body horror in things like Stranger Things the gore stuff didn't do much for her. Though like everybody else she found the thumb slicing scene most disturbing out of everything, and the blood test scene got a jump out of her.

how old is she?

14.

there's nothing remotely as disturbing as the thing in stranger things but ymmv as i am a 35 year old man who is still mortified by some of the scenes in the thing and find it legitimately hard to watch

Kids today will have inevitably seen worse on network tv and YouTube.

there's worse in the white house

i suppose i just find the stuff in the thing very unheimlich which to me is worse than "gory" or violent or whatever. like i'll watch the red wedding on repeat for an hour before i'd watch one creepy scene from this movie

i'll watch the red wedding on repeat for an hour

That's pretty creepy.

banging tune tho

Had a "The Thing v Stranger Things" discussion with my GF the other day, trying to figure out if she would find The Thing too gross or scary. She is intrigued by The Thing based on my assertion that its the movie that scares me the most, but is worried it will be too gory or gross for her.
She is squeamish abt horror movies bc of gore, but also watches the shit out of stuff like Stranger Things, Game of Thrones, and Handmaids Tale, all of which feature what seem to me like extremely gory violence & gross monsters, disturbing deaths, etc. But there seems to be something abt the way that stuff reads as 'TV' to her that makes it not register in the same way as it does when she's watching something that she understands to be A Horror Movie.

Weirdly, I've never thought of The Thing as particularly gory, aside from maybe the defibrillator scene. At this point, anyone familiar with the extremes of cable entertainment should be able to handle it on that level. The general body horror might be another story. I could see the kennel scene in particular being a bit too much for the uninitiated.

the worst moment in the film is when mac is putting a current thru the blood and the wire scrapes and squeaks on the glass

to me The Thing is so over the top with the gore that the first time i saw it i was just amazed by creature and its various guises and attacks that i couldn't even be disgusted. i've never found it especially frightening either for whatever reason, though objectively i recognize why it's completely terrifying and grisly.

It's definitely one of the few movies with multiple characters scooping out innards from a carcass all while gagging and groaning and going yuck and covering their nose.

i'm the one who strips the turkey on thanksgiving and i feel like i'm always channeling Blair when i do it.

"This for instance, that's not dog."

lol

the shout factory bluray btw is extremely good, worth the extra cost imo.

I just bought the Arrow (UK) blu and the transfer is excellent (as are the extras):
https://images.arrowfilms.com/Images/cfdd61b4-051d-41ab-b5d8-42ac0e5664e1.png

mark s hugely OTM

John Carpenter’s The Thing, as performed by the claymated, Antarctic cast of the hit children’s animation Pingu. pic.twitter.com/NPkvvCKQuY

— Ally 👽 (@A_llyssa) July 8, 2019

This is genuinely amazing.

Isnt that from several years ago

yes, it says as much in the opening frame

Indeed, i just had never seen it before

nor I, and it was great

Amazing

Am afraid to watch.

The Thingu.