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Larry Franco, and writer Bill Lancaster , along with other members of the
crew, make a cameo appearance in a recovered photograph of the Norwegian team.
[13] Camera operator Ray Stella stood in for the shots where needles were used
to take blood, telling Carpenter that he could do it all day. Franco also
played the Norwegian wielding a rifle and hanging out of the helicopter during
the opening sequence. [14] [9] Stunt Coordinator Dick Warlock also made a
number of cameos in the film, most notably in an off-screen appearance as the
shadow on the wall during the scene where the Dog-Thing enters one of the
researcher's living quarters. [15] Clennon was originally intended to be in
the scene, but due to his shadow being easily identifiable Carpenter decided
to use Warlock instead. [16] Warlock also played Palmer-Thing and stood in for
Brimley in a few scenes that involved Blair. [17] Production [ edit ]
Development [ edit ] Director John Carpenter in 2010 Development of the film
began in the mid-1970s when David Foster and fellow producer Lawrence Turman
suggested to Universal Pictures an adaptation of the 1938 John W. Campbell
novella Who Goes There? . It had been loosely adapted once before in Howard
Hawks 's and Christian Nyby 's 1951 film The Thing from Another World , but
Foster and Turman wanted to develop a project that stuck more closely to the
source material. Screenwriters Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins held the rights
to make an adaptation, but passed on the opportunity to make a new film, so
Universal obtained the rights from them. [11] [18] In 1976, Wilbur Stark had
purchased the remake rights to 23 RKO Pictures films, including The Thing from
Another World , from three Wall Street financiers who did not know what to do
with them, in exchange for a return when the films were produced. [19]
Universal in turn acquired the rights to remake the film from Stark, resulting
in him being given an executive producer credit on all print advertisements,
posters, television commercials, and studio press material. [20] John
Carpenter was first approached about the project in 1976 by co-producer and
friend Stuart Cohen, [21] but Carpenter was mainly an independent film
director, so Universal chose The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) director Tobe
Hooper as they already had him under contract. The producers were ultimately
unhappy with Hooper and his writing partner Kim Henkel 's concept. After
several more failed pitches by different writers, and attempts to bring on
other directors, such as John Landis , the project was put on hold. Even so,
the success of Ridley Scott 's 1979 science fiction horror film Alien helped
revitalize the project, at which point Carpenter became loosely attached
following his success with his influential slasher film Halloween (1978). [11]
[22] Carpenter was reluctant to join the project, for he thought Hawks's
adaptation would be difficult to surpass, although he considered the film's
monster to be unnotable. Cohen suggested that he read the original novella.
Carpenter found the "creepiness" of the imitations conducted by the creature,
and the questions it raised, interesting. He drew parallels between the
novella and Agatha Christie 's mystery novel And Then There Were None (1939),
and noted that the story of Who Goes There? was "timely" for him, meaning he
could make it "true to [his] day" as Hawks had in his time. [23] Carpenter, a
fan of Hawks's adaptation, paid homage to it in Halloween , and he watched The
Thing from Another World several times for inspiration before filming began.
[24] [25] Carpenter and cinematographer Dean Cundey first worked together on
Halloween , and The Thing was their first big-budget project for a major film
studio . [25] After securing the writer and crew, the film was stalled again
when Carpenter nearly quit, believing that a passion project of his, El Diablo
(1990), was on the verge of being made by EMI Films . The producers discussed
various replacements including Walter Hill , Sam Peckinpah and Michael Ritchie
, but the development of El Diablo was not as imminent as Carpenter believed,
and he remained with The Thing . [11] Universal initially set a budget of $10
million, with $200,000 for "creature effects", which at the time was more than
the studio had ever allocated to a monster film. Filming was scheduled to be
completed within 98 days. Universal's production studios estimated that it
would require at least $17 million before marketing and other costs, as the
plan involved more set construction, including external sets and a large set
piece for the original scripted death of Bennings, which was estimated to cost
$1.5 million alone. As storyboarding and designs were finalized, the crew
estimated they would need at least $750,000 for creature effects, a figure
Universal executives agreed to after seeing the number of workers employed
under Rob Bottin , the special make-up effects designer. Larry Franco was
responsible for making the budget work for the film; he cut the filming
schedule by a third, eliminated the exterior sets for on-site shooting, and
removed Bennings's more extravagant death scene. Cohen suggested reusing the
destroyed American camp as the ruined Norwegian camp, saving a further
$250,000. When filming began in August, The Thing had a budget of $11.4
million, and indirect costs brought it to $14 million. [26] The effects budget
ran over, eventually totaling $1.5 million, forcing the elimination of some
scenes, including Nauls's confrontation of a creature dubbed the "box Thing".
[26] [12] By the end of production, Carpenter had to make a personal appeal to
executive Ned Tanen for $100,000 to complete a simplified version of the
Blair-Thing. [26] The final cost was $12.4 million, and overhead costs brought
it to $15 million. [26] [12] [b] Writing [ edit ] Writer Bill Lancaster in
1967 Several writers developed drafts for The Thing before Carpenter became
involved, including Logan's Run (1967) writer William F. Nolan , novelist
David Wiltse , and Hooper and Henkel, whose draft was set at least partially
underwater, and which Cohen described as a Moby-Dick -like story in which "The
Captain" did battle with a large, non-shapeshifting creature. [11] As
Carpenter said in a 2014 interview, "they were just trying to make it work".
[27] The writers left before Carpenter joined the project. [27] [28] [29] He
said the scripts were "awful", as they changed the story into something it was
not, and ignored the chameleon-like aspect of the Thing. [21] Carpenter did
not want to write the project himself, after recently completing work on
Escape from New York (1981), and having struggled to complete a screenplay for
The Philadelphia Experiment (1984). He was wary of taking on writing duties,
preferring to let someone else do it. [23] Once Carpenter was confirmed as the
director, several writers were asked to script The Thing , including Richard
Matheson , Nigel Kneale , and Deric Washburn . [11] Bill Lancaster initially
met with Turman, Foster and Cohen in 1977, but he was given the impression
that they wanted to closely replicate The Thing from Another World , and he
did not want to remake the film. [30] In August 1979, Lancaster was contacted
again. By this time he had read the original Who Goes There? novella, and
Carpenter had become involved in the project. [30] Lancaster was hired to
write the script after describing his vision for the film, and his intention
to stick closely to the original story, to Carpenter, who was a fan of
Lancaster's work on The Bad News Bears (1976). [23] [30] [29] Lancaster

Larry Franco, and writer Bill Lancaster , along with other members of the

crew, make a cameo appearance in a recovered photograph of the Norwegian team.

[13] Camera operator Ray Stella stood in for the shots where needles were used

to take blood, telling Carpenter that he could do it all day. Franco also

played the Norwegian wielding a rifle and hanging out of the helicopter during

the opening sequence. [14] [9] Stunt Coordinator Dick Warlock also made a

number of cameos in the film, most notably in an off-screen appearance as the

shadow on the wall during the scene where the Dog-Thing enters one of the

researcher's living quarters. [15] Clennon was originally intended to be in

the scene, but due to his shadow being easily identifiable Carpenter decided

to use Warlock instead. [16] Warlock also played Palmer-Thing and stood in for

Brimley in a few scenes that involved Blair. [17] Production [ edit ]

Development [ edit ] Director John Carpenter in 2010 Development of the film

began in the mid-1970s when David Foster and fellow producer Lawrence Turman

suggested to Universal Pictures an adaptation of the 1938 John W. Campbell

novella Who Goes There? . It had been loosely adapted once before in Howard

Hawks 's and Christian Nyby 's 1951 film The Thing from Another World , but

Foster and Turman wanted to develop a project that stuck more closely to the

source material. Screenwriters Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins held the rights

to make an adaptation, but passed on the opportunity to make a new film, so

Universal obtained the rights from them. [11] [18] In 1976, Wilbur Stark had

purchased the remake rights to 23 RKO Pictures films, including The Thing from

Another World , from three Wall Street financiers who did not know what to do

with them, in exchange for a return when the films were produced. [19]

Universal in turn acquired the rights to remake the film from Stark, resulting

in him being given an executive producer credit on all print advertisements,

posters, television commercials, and studio press material. [20] John

Carpenter was first approached about the project in 1976 by co-producer and

friend Stuart Cohen, [21] but Carpenter was mainly an independent film

director, so Universal chose The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) director Tobe

Hooper as they already had him under contract. The producers were ultimately

unhappy with Hooper and his writing partner Kim Henkel 's concept. After

several more failed pitches by different writers, and attempts to bring on

other directors, such as John Landis , the project was put on hold. Even so,

the success of Ridley Scott 's 1979 science fiction horror film Alien helped

revitalize the project, at which point Carpenter became loosely attached

following his success with his influential slasher film Halloween (1978). [11]

[22] Carpenter was reluctant to join the project, for he thought Hawks's

adaptation would be difficult to surpass, although he considered the film's

monster to be unnotable. Cohen suggested that he read the original novella.

Carpenter found the "creepiness" of the imitations conducted by the creature,

and the questions it raised, interesting. He drew parallels between the

novella and Agatha Christie 's mystery novel And Then There Were None (1939),

and noted that the story of Who Goes There? was "timely" for him, meaning he

could make it "true to [his] day" as Hawks had in his time. [23] Carpenter, a

fan of Hawks's adaptation, paid homage to it in Halloween , and he watched The

Thing from Another World several times for inspiration before filming began.

[24] [25] Carpenter and cinematographer Dean Cundey first worked together on

Halloween , and The Thing was their first big-budget project for a major film

studio . [25] After securing the writer and crew, the film was stalled again

when Carpenter nearly quit, believing that a passion project of his, El Diablo

(1990), was on the verge of being made by EMI Films . The producers discussed

various replacements including Walter Hill , Sam Peckinpah and Michael Ritchie

, but the development of El Diablo was not as imminent as Carpenter believed,

and he remained with The Thing . [11] Universal initially set a budget of $10

million, with $200,000 for "creature effects", which at the time was more than

the studio had ever allocated to a monster film. Filming was scheduled to be

completed within 98 days. Universal's production studios estimated that it

would require at least $17 million before marketing and other costs, as the

plan involved more set construction, including external sets and a large set

piece for the original scripted death of Bennings, which was estimated to cost

$1.5 million alone. As storyboarding and designs were finalized, the crew

estimated they would need at least $750,000 for creature effects, a figure

Universal executives agreed to after seeing the number of workers employed

under Rob Bottin , the special make-up effects designer. Larry Franco was

responsible for making the budget work for the film; he cut the filming

schedule by a third, eliminated the exterior sets for on-site shooting, and

removed Bennings's more extravagant death scene. Cohen suggested reusing the

destroyed American camp as the ruined Norwegian camp, saving a further

$250,000. When filming began in August, The Thing had a budget of $11.4

million, and indirect costs brought it to $14 million. [26] The effects budget

ran over, eventually totaling $1.5 million, forcing the elimination of some

scenes, including Nauls's confrontation of a creature dubbed the "box Thing".

[26] [12] By the end of production, Carpenter had to make a personal appeal to

executive Ned Tanen for $100,000 to complete a simplified version of the

Blair-Thing. [26] The final cost was $12.4 million, and overhead costs brought

it to $15 million. [26] [12] [b] Writing [ edit ] Writer Bill Lancaster in

1967 Several writers developed drafts for The Thing before Carpenter became

involved, including Logan's Run (1967) writer William F. Nolan , novelist

David Wiltse , and Hooper and Henkel, whose draft was set at least partially

underwater, and which Cohen described as a Moby-Dick -like story in which "The

Captain" did battle with a large, non-shapeshifting creature. [11] As

Carpenter said in a 2014 interview, "they were just trying to make it work".

[27] The writers left before Carpenter joined the project. [27] [28] [29] He

said the scripts were "awful", as they changed the story into something it was

not, and ignored the chameleon-like aspect of the Thing. [21] Carpenter did

not want to write the project himself, after recently completing work on

Escape from New York (1981), and having struggled to complete a screenplay for

The Philadelphia Experiment (1984). He was wary of taking on writing duties,

preferring to let someone else do it. [23] Once Carpenter was confirmed as the

director, several writers were asked to script The Thing , including Richard

Matheson , Nigel Kneale , and Deric Washburn . [11] Bill Lancaster initially

met with Turman, Foster and Cohen in 1977, but he was given the impression

that they wanted to closely replicate The Thing from Another World , and he

did not want to remake the film. [30] In August 1979, Lancaster was contacted

again. By this time he had read the original Who Goes There? novella, and

Carpenter had become involved in the project. [30] Lancaster was hired to

write the script after describing his vision for the film, and his intention

to stick closely to the original story, to Carpenter, who was a fan of

Lancaster's work on The Bad News Bears (1976). [23] [30] [29] Lancaster