Prequel to 'The Thing'

[SWAT]

Dennis Storhøi has left the movie and is replaced by a Dane... Goddamnit.

 

[matrix_ghost]

So it's "meh"? :/

Not really. At least that's not how i see it.
It doesn't offer anything new but it sure as hell isn't ****ing and raping Carpenter's Thing either. I think we can live that.
The script is solid in that it offers Universal 2 options
1) if 'the movie flops it won't be bad for Uni. ( which given their movies is definately something they need)
2) if the movie is a hit , the sequel definately can move in new direction.

But as it's the case , if the director can deliver then the movie will succeed. The script is good.

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

Dennis Storhøi has left the movie and is replaced by a Dane... Goddamnit.

Ulrich Thomsen's the name.

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

AICN did an interview with Edgerton about his new movie The Square but managed to ask him questions about The Thing prequel. Here's what he said:

I’m a massive fan of the original movie. I’m doing this interview with you in a room that has a framed original THE THING one sheet on the wall, so I have to bring it up. From my understanding you are playing kind of a heroic character in this one, right? So it’s a little bit of a change of pace from the recent run of THE SQUARE and ANIMAL KINGDOM and all of this stuff.

Joel Edgerton: Yeah. Well basically what I like to do is mix it up. God, I feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the world to be starring in a remake of THE THING and I’ve got just as much kind of nerves for approaching the part as you guys could imagine and you guys would, because I’m such a huge fan of the original movie, or Carpenter’s film. I haven’t seen the other film.

I think what’s going on here is a really cool take and I think what Matthijs [Van Heijningen Jr.] and the guys who scripted it and Universal has done is a really cool idea; rather than doing a remake to do a prequel of sorts that is going to tell the story of what happened to the Norwegian base. The story is pretty original and I think what I can tell you that the design is really kind of true to the original.

In the production offices here at Toronto they brought some on set photos, behind the scenes photos from the Carpenter film because… I don’t know if you know that when they shot the original, they had the American base built and then they built off the back of it the Norwegian base.

Quint: Oh yeah?

Joel Edgerton: You never saw the back of the American base in the film. So they actually built the two sets back to back. I think what’s going to be cool for the fans of the original film is that you are going to see the pieces of the puzzle come together that simply created the mystery in Carpenter’s film, you know, like the action and gore and the guy who slit his own throat with the cutthroat razor and all of that stuff. This film will stand-alone as it’s own entity, but it will also be a cool thing for anyone who loved the Carpenter film. “Oh, that’s how that happened!” and “That’s how that happened!”

Quint: Yeah, I love the idea of being able to pepper that stuff in and as long as it’s not too winky at the camera. If you look at INDIANA JONES 4, which I just recently re-watched to see if it got any better and it hasn’t, but I love the idea of being able to actually see an action set piece in the warehouse from RAIDERS and all of that stuff, but it went too far, maybe, lingering on the Ark. What’s really important to us and I’m speaking for me obviously, but also as a fan of Carpenter’s film is that it’s just a movie that feels in the same universe. It just has to feel authentic and if they are reverential of the original, but still wanting to tell their own story, I think that’s probably the best of both worlds.

Joel Edgerton: Yeah, and I think that’s what these guys are aiming for. They are certainly not treating it lightly, but at the same time they are moving forward with their own vision and their own take on it and I think what hopefully will be the result is the best of both worlds. I don’t know, just a tribute to what’s gone and a real excellent incorporation of where movies has come to in terms of technology.

Quint: Is there still a lot of practical effects work or is it going to be mostly CG?

Joel Edgerton: It’s going to be a combination of the two, but as for the balance I’m not really sure.

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

Edit: Double

 

[ImWithTeamConan]

Sounds like a good guy. Know most of you are wary of prequel/remakes but I'm approaching this with cautious optimism.

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

Some pics of Mary on set from last month. There was a few more candids, but they're all kinda the same so whatever. Goin in spoilers since they're big:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[Thundarr]

Sounds like a good guy. Know most of you are wary of prequel/remakes but I'm approaching this with cautious optimism.

I concur. This sounds, at least so far, like it might be okay. Of course, remakes usually suck. And sequels/prequels often aren't much better. But with a movie like The Thing, if you're not going to do a straight up remake, then your next best option would be to do a prequel.

Only way to do a sequel would be to have a rescue team find Childs' and MacGreedy's bodies at the burned out camp and take them back to civilization, only to find out one of them is The Thing. By making it a prequel, then at least we know that The Thing can be beaten.

Anyway, I'll keep my fingers crossed. It is Hollywood we're talking about, so odds are they'll screw things up. But sometimes they get lucky and actually put together a team of writers, directors, producers, and a cast that know what the hell they're doing and actually give two s#!ts about the material. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Not to sound pessimistic, but I can't really take anyone's word for it these days in Hollywood.

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

I thought this was already known...

Anyway, for those that don't....

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, best known to me as the badass Simon Adebisi in HBO's "OZ" and Mr. Eko in "Lost", has landed the role of "Derek Jameson" in Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment's The Thing prequel that's now underway in Toronto, Canada.

http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=15294

 

[co2]

Sounds like a good guy. Know most of you are wary of prequel/remakes but I'm approaching this with cautious optimism.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one. I'm looking forward to how this develops.

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

The Thing (2011) will strike theaters on April 29, 2011, distributor Universal Pictures announced today. The science-fiction horror thriller is currently the only nationwide release scheduled for that weekend, and it slots into the same timeframe that the Nightmare on Elm Street remake haunted earlier this year.

Described by Universal as a "prelude" to John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), the new Thing involves the discovery of an extraterrestrial organism and ship buried in Antarctica. The main character is a paleontologist played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Final Destination 3), who along with a scientific crew, must fight for survival when the organism is unleashed. The creature will be a shape-shifter that can replicate the humans, stirring paranoia as the characters get infected one-by-one.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2820

 

[Figs]

So they are changing it from Norwegians to Americans or are they going to attempt accents?

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

So they are changing it from Norwegians to Americans or are they going to attempt accents?

There's Norwegian actors involved & they'll be talking in their own language and subtitles will be used from what I've read here & there.

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

New set photo I found:

 

[Carnotaur3]

New set photo I found:

That's very Thingish alright!

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

I'd like to point out that the person who originally posted that, took it down....just not in time.

 

[Man in the Suit]

I have hope for this since Strike Entertainment is involved. They've been involved with Dawn of the Dead and Slither. I really like those movies.

And MEW is in it.......

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

Winstead talked to Collider.com a little bit about The Thing prequel recently while being interviewed about Scott Pilgrim:

She wrapped filming about 2-3 weeks ago in Toronto and had a great experience. “I’m really excited for people to see it,” she said. “I think fans of the John Carpenter version are going to be pleasantly surprised. We worked really hard on making as great of a movie as we could possibly make on every level.”

According to Winstead, the film is a “true prequel.” “It takes place at the Norwegian base where in the John Carpenter version, the characters find The Thing and bring it back to their base. So it’s the story of what happened there. So it’s a completely different set of characters but in that same universe. The end kind of matches up perfectly with the John Carpenter version so you can watch them both back to back and it’ll be cool.”

And on another site she said this about the film:

It was really focused on performance and the intensity and the paranoia and suspense and also really awesome animatronic and puppeteering work and special effects in it.

TeenHollywood: Who do you play?

Mary: I play a scientist.

TeenHollywood: I don't think there was a woman [in the Carpenter version] There was one who was more just eye candy in the original [1950's version].

Mary: Yeah, they're bringing a female into the mix and it's interesting because it shakes up the dynamic a little bit. I think it's a good way of separating it because it's not a re-make, it's a prequel so it's a completely different group of people. You're not trying to recreate the same characters that were in the John Carpenter version. We're trying to bring in new ones. Having a female there makes it its own story. The way they interact is completely different having a girl in the middle of all of that.

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

Winstead talked to Collider.com a little bit about The Thing prequel recently while being interviewed about Scott Pilgrim:

She wrapped filming about 2-3 weeks ago in Toronto and had a great experience. “I’m really excited for people to see it,” she said. “I think fans of the John Carpenter version are going to be pleasantly surprised. We worked really hard on making as great of a movie as we could possibly make on every level.”

According to Winstead, the film is a “true prequel.” “It takes place at the Norwegian base where in the John Carpenter version, the characters find The Thing and bring it back to their base. So it’s the story of what happened there. So it’s a completely different set of characters but in that same universe. The end kind of matches up perfectly with the John Carpenter version so you can watch them both back to back and it’ll be cool.”

And on another site she said this about the film:

It was really focused on performance and the intensity and the paranoia and suspense and also really awesome animatronic and puppeteering work and special effects in it.

TeenHollywood: Who do you play?

Mary: I play a scientist.

TeenHollywood: I don't think there was a woman [in the Carpenter version] There was one who was more just eye candy in the original [1950's version].

Mary: Yeah, they're bringing a female into the mix and it's interesting because it shakes up the dynamic a little bit. I think it's a good way of separating it because it's not a re-make, it's a prequel so it's a completely different group of people. You're not trying to recreate the same characters that were in the John Carpenter version. We're trying to bring in new ones. Having a female there makes it its own story. The way they interact is completely different having a girl in the middle of all of that.

 

[Doc Ock]

I sure hope it is good, I absolute loved The Thing.... the 80s had a lot of great movies.

 

[matrix_ghost]

I sure hope it is good, I absolute loved The Thing.... the 80s had a lot of great movies.

For me The Thing is one of thos rare classic movies that ages well. Of course they have some 80's stuff like casette records etc but aside from that the movie could've basically taken place in any time.

 

[HighFivingMF]

Ah, she got it wrong! They didn't find the Thing at the base, the Thing was in the dog that ran to their base from the Norwegian base, which they checked out after they found the dog. Still. I heart her.

 

[Jochimus]

Ah, she got it wrong! They didn't find the Thing at the base, the Thing was in the dog that ran to their base from the Norwegian base, which they checked out after they found the dog. Still. I heart her.

Well, technically, they were BOTH Things...just one was burned to a crisp (though still not dead).

 

[Spider-Man Luvr28]

Mary talked more about the movie when she was interviewed by Quint from AICN.

Quint: I saw you dive head first into that flame thrower. Everybody kinda sucked in their breaths.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead: It was painful. Yeah, I was like what I would imagine it would feel like to get punched really hard, but yeah thank you.

It turned out to be fine. The medic was all like “You are going to have a black eye” and they were all trying to figure out how to do the make-up and stuff, but then I iced it and the next day it was like healed. Yeah, it was good.

She talks more about the film and her character towards the end of the interview:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/46078?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter