Universal finds a director for remake of ‘The Thing’

It’s been rumored and talked about for a while now, but Universal is apparently committed to reviving ‘The Thing’ with a new remake. This will become the third version of the movie with the last remake being John Carpenter’s 1982 version that scarred the Hell out of audiences with it’s ground-breaking special effects. The original version of the movie was made in 1951 by Howard Hawks and was titled ‘The Thing From Another World’.

Ron Moore (Exec Producer of ‘Battlestar Galactica’) will write the screenplay and Universal has now tapped Matthijs Van Heijninge to direct. He’s a producer and director of TV commercials, but this will be his first effort at directing a feature-film. Just as Carpenter’s version was based on John W. Campbell, Jr’s short story “Who Goes There,” this new remake will also apparently rely strongly on this same source material.

Van Heijningen has shot blurbs for brands including Toyota, Pepsi, Heineken, Bud Light and Visa. He is also developing “Army of the Dead” at Warner Bros. with producer Zack Snyder, who also crossed from commercials to features by directing the Strike-produced “Dawn of the Dead” remake.

[source: Variety]