Posted by Kirk in Actors, Casting, General News, Movies, Remakes, Science Fiction, Thriller | 3 comments
First Cast Members Confirmed for THE THING
A month or so ago (not entirely sure, because we didn’t run a story on it), a character list was released for the new sequel/prequel/remake of THE THING. One of the main reasons I, personally, didn’t scope it out was that I heard it revealed some pretty deep spoilers on the project. Now, according to Heat Vision Blog, some casting has been done on those characters.
They are reporting Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton have signed on as Ph.D. candidate and a blue collar helicopter pilot, respectively, who are thrust into terror when the Norwegian expedition team they are with in the Antarctic uncovers a UFO buried in the ice.
Blue collar helicopter pilot? Really? They couldn’t come up with anything besides that? Again?
As indicated in the report, the film is tentatively titled THE THING, so the questions on how this is connected to John Carpenter’s 1982 version remain. Shooting is set to begin on March 15th in Toronto. Matthijs Van Heijningen is taking on directing duties.
Okay, if this movie involves a Norweigian expedition uncovering the dangerous alien, then it's obviously a prequel. According to Wikipedia, that's been proposed before and suspended, so now it's on. I consider the 80's movie worth seeing for the sheer technical brilliance of its pre-computer-animated special effects, despite their disgusting nature… "gross" seems somehow a rightful contrast to the genteel, polite body-snatchers of older movies. There was a dimension of scientific palpability in a panspermian nightmare organism, being discovered in the course of the first ice-penetrating radar surveys. This is the only horror movie that I can legitimately say gave me occassional nightmares for 20 years.
Carpenter's "The Thing" was squashed by Spielberg's "ET" at the box office. That doesn't seem right for the masterpiece of the bodysnatcher sub-genre. But, here's where the movie lost some credibility:
1) Copying other organisms apparently involved the instant formation of bone.
2) Guys as familiar with one another as researchers cooped in an Antarctic ice station would know when something's up with one of their dogs or one another.
3) The organism could supposedly infect with the tiniest grains of itself, so why didn't it just sneeze on everyone?
If this movie refrains from substituting attention to detail with sheer computerization, and if the story is anything more than the typical horror overstatement of the Power of Evil, there's a chance I'll go to see it. Said my piece.
Never mind John Carpenter, they won't be able to outdo the scene from the 1956 Howard Hawks original, involving James Arness (as The Thing), a bucket of kerosene and a flare gun, because that was real kerosene and real fire! Awesome f**king filmmaking from the "Let's hope nobody gets killed doing this, one take only, get it right the first time, three cameras rolling" days.