Where to watch The Thing (1982)

Trivia & production notes

• John Carpenter was initially reluctant to direct The Thing because he thought Hawks' 1951 adaptation would be impossible to surpass, but changed his mind after reading the original novella and discovering the creature's imitation abilities.
• The studio initially budgeted only $200,000 for creature effects, but special effects designer Rob Bottin's crew size convinced executives to increase it to $750,000.
• Tobe Hooper was Universal's first choice to direct after Carpenter declined, but the studio became unhappy with Hooper and his writing partner Kim Henkel's concept.
• Production designer Larry Franco cut the filming schedule by a third and eliminated expensive exterior sets, saving the production over $250,000 by reusing the destroyed American camp as the ruined Norwegian camp.
• Bill Lancaster reduced the original novella's 37 characters down to 12, deciding that 37 would be too many for audiences to follow and would limit character development.
• Lancaster's original ending had both MacReady and Childs transforming into the Thing and being rescued by helicopter, but Carpenter rejected it as too shallow.
• Kurt Russell was the last actor cast in June 1981, just as second unit filming was beginning in Alaska, and he spent about a year growing his hair and beard for the role.
• Carpenter considered Christopher Walken, Jeff Bridges, and Nick Nolte for the lead role, but they were unavailable or declined.
• Keith David's role as Childs was his first significant film role, and coming from theater, he had to learn on set to restrain his emotional expressions with guidance from Richard Masur and Donald Moffat.
• Carpenter personally appealed to Universal executive Ned Tanen for an additional $100,000 to complete a simplified version of the Blair-Thing transformation scene.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article The Thing (1982 film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.