THE PALMER TRANSFORMATION AND THE TWENTY FIVE MILLION DOLLAR FILM

                    I think it was Orson Welles who called a motion picture studio the worlds biggest erector set and John, in this environment for the first time, was determined to take advantage of  whatever Universal had to offer. From his office he could walk to one of the four sound stages housing the sets ( and not just ordinary sound stages but ones that were distinguished by their huge ducting and cooling units ), passing Albert Whitlocks studio along the way - walk to the projection room at lunchtime for dailies, perhaps stop by the editing suite before returning to rehearse or film. Rob's special effects facility, Heartland, was a ten minute drive away. The large scale tools were all there, but expensive to utilize...


                   The original idea in the Palmer transformation was for him to break free from the sofa and run full tilt while standing up the rec room wall to his left ( the far wall in the photo ), continue halfway across the ceiling and then drop down in front of Windows. A great unexpected idea, if it could be made to happen quickly...

                   Universal  happened to own a camera centrifuge, smaller than the one shown above, but operating in much the same way. It was large drum with the set built inside that could rotate 360 degrees with the camera platform locked down ( its use may be best seen in 2001 with the stewardess walking on the ceiling ). The original plan was to replicate the right half of the rec room set in the drum and have a stuntman in Palmer guise do a flat out run while rapidly moving the cylinder 180 degrees, leaving the camera crew upside down but the stuntman standing upright on the ceiling...


                    We loved this idea and were dedicated to its execution well after it became impractical ( it took a crew of  20 to operate and light the drum, plus the cost of the set, upside down hazard pay for the camera crew, ect. ), I think because it was a real movie moment, one you seldom get a chance to try...

                 With financial reality finally setting in, we met on the rec room set to map out a less expensive alternative, and what could be cheaper than a stuntman falling into frame and landing on a mattress covered with a thin layer of painted balsa wood? I proudly contributed the foot stomp that motivated Palmers leap to the ceiling, and a sequence was born...

                   We added  " the ceiling run " as we called it, to the long and growing list of ideas we would save for what we called  the Twenty Five Million Dollar version of  THE THING, a list that already included the first Bennings death on the ice and a complete incarnation of the Blair Monster...

"THE THING" PRODUCT REEL

                      In early 1982 we received word from Universal that there was mounting curiosity among film exhibitors about the mysterious goings on surrounding THE THING. There was a self-imposed embargo in place with photographs and information on the special effects, and very little else had leaked out. With no formidable star power to speak of, exhibitors were looking for some re-assurance that we were an "A" level production capable of attracting and keeping summer audiences in their seats. David Foster and I were asked to put together a show reel of film that would emphasize action, scale, and suspense.


                      The first time anyone outside of the production was to see any footage at all, this was to prove to be an expensive proposition. A separate editor ( Christopher Holmes ) was hired to work alongside the main unit using dupes and whatever else he could get his hands on. Of particular interest to fans and collectors is the use of a number of alternate takes, performance and otherwise, to put this together - there were also extended versions of some scenes that were currently being edited (  the opening gun play, for example ). True to our embargo very little special effects footage was used ( John, while not having an active hand in this process, still resisted the studios request to reveal more ), although we  did feature the Norris chest opening ( but not closing ) and the petri dish blood jumping. The reel, which ran around 20 minutes, ended with McReady's "Yeah, well fuck you too" and the dynamite throw, the screen exploding to reveal "THE THING" in white, with red background... this was professionally mixed, with music ( pre- Morricone ) tracked from Universals extensive library.

      The idea was for us to take this on the road, travelling salesman style - two composite 35mm prints were made, and in mid-march 1982  David headed to NewYork, Boston, Chicago and Atlanta, and I to Detroit, Philadelphia, Denver and Seattle. The setup was always the same - we would host a screening of the reel late morning at some local theatre, followed by catered lunch for everyone at the hotel. Surrounding us on easels were large color blowups of stills from the movie. Reaction by and large was favorable - not unsurprising since the reel leaned heavily on action,  flamethrowers, and fights, with many ( exclusively ) male, primarily middle-aged exhibitors going out of their way to praise the idea of an ( exclusively ) male, primarily middle - aged cast...


                  After my return I received a call from Robert Rehme, Universal's head of distribution. He told me the studio was really counting on THE THING to pull them through the summer. They had just had their first look at E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL and considered it, in his words "soft", a movie "aimed at children". They thought it would be up to us to appeal to the demographic they most coveted, teenagers on up. We took this pep talk in stride, having no idea what was in store for us the next few months...

  

ON THE JUNEAU ICEFIELD

From right to left : John, myself, Production Manager Robert Brown, Associate Producer Larry Franco
First location scout April, 1981

THE MUSIC

                   In a perfect world, given unlimited time and resources, I think John would have preferred to compose the music for THE THING himself. The realities of the work yet to be done, however, combined with the need for a more expansive and layered approach to the score led us to consider other options. We initially offered the film to Jerry Goldsmith who was unavailable, doing both POLTERGEIST and TWILIGHT ZONE for Spielberg. Availability on musician John Corigliano (ALTERED STATES) was checked. The legendary Alex North read the script, had ideas, and wanted to meet but at that point I felt the only composer John would possibly entrust his film to other than himself was Ennio Morricone.

               
                     In the process of finishing the score to WHITE DOG for director Samuel Fuller, the composer had done very little work at the time in America and was not particularly happy about the experience. He initially turned us down, flattered, but claimed he had begun early work with Sergio Leone on ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA ( Morricone told me though translation that he planned to spend a full year with Leone in pre - production ). We arranged to have the script translated into Italian, and sent it along with a case of wine to his suite at The Chateau Marmont in Hollywood. This gesture, along with a kind word put in on our behalf by director Bernardo Bertolucci ( whom I knew through a previous association ) led him to request a screening and late one evening in early December 1981 Morricone, visibly tired, took a look at THE THING for the first time.


                    The film was far from complete or coherent - John was still filming in Stewart, so the film lacked most of the exterior scenes as well as amost all of the special effects, save the kennel . Morricone complained about the lack of continuity ( normally we wouldn't have run a film for any composer in this shape, and with the director not present ,but we did not have the luxury of time - we needed to secure his commitment, and were trying to wedge ourselves in to his schedule ) but agreed that if we were to come to him in Rome he would  "see what he could do".

                     This necessitated a two day trip to Italy in early January, 1982 to meet - conversation was done through translators which made things difficult. Matters improved slightly when John sat down at the piano and began tinkering, searching for a way of communicating the feeling of what he was after, with Morricone listening intently. This was the first time John had ceded control of the music to any of his films, and I believe the experience was extremely difficult. It was agreed that due to the shortness of time Morricone would provide the music in a series of thematic suites, with both electronic and orchestral elements present, that we would then later edit to fit - this would simplify things, save time and eliminate the need to conventionally "spot" the film. He would record the electronics in Rome, but come to Los Angeles to score the rest, as was mandated by union contracts at the time. His fee for this was to be Forty Thousand dollars.


                    On the return trip home John was uneasy and wondered whether he had communicated his thoughts successfully - after all, there had been only one meeting between the two men, and there would be no more face - to - face conversation until the session in Los Angeles. The language barrier was a big problem  - were there others, generational, cultural? Above all, would this work ?

                     Doubts were definitively dispelled two months later when Morricone opened up his tattered valise and removed a reel of two inch tape containing the now-emblematic "heartbeat " theme. As we heard this for the first time in the recording booth at Universal I looked over at John, whose expression was initially one of relief, followed by something close to wonder... it seemed that Morricone had understood John perfectly. At the orchestral recording session the next day, I remember John coming in late and shyly taking a seat in the back, an observer for the first time as Morricone recorded the rest of the music for his movie. Having been recorded in large brushstrokes of sound, there was still the need for more specific transition and suspense cues which John, along with his partner, Alan Howarth, then supplied.

                Morricone was not pleased with the music mix at Universal, by the way - we took the masters to our dubbing stage at Goldwyn sound and mixed them directly into the film. As was the custom at the time, the Universal mix was used for the lp and cassette release, so there are large differences in tone and balance between the three formats. SUPERSTITION was only purchased by Universal for the initial theatrical run of the film - early tape, laser disc, and cable versions feature ONE CHAIN DON'T MAKE NO PRISON, a track the studio already owned...


                 One last musical note - we returned from Rome in time to attend THE THING wrap party, held at the Roxy on Sunset Blvd. The band asked to play that night was the legendary Flamin' Groovies...

INTRODUCTION

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                                 Hi, all - I am the credited co-producer of JOHN CARPENTERS THE THING and was centrally involved in all aspects of its development, production, post-production, and release. I got the ball rolling by taking the idea of  making WHO GOES THERE, which I first read at age 12 and have loved ever since, to producer David Foster in 1976. Schoolmates at U.S.C. Cinema, it was always my goal to have John make this movie. In 1980, with events reaching critical mass, I finally got my wish - and judging from the result, you were granted yours... I am currently at work writing detailed essays on the re-structuring of the film as well as the ending(s) controversy and hostile reaction when THE THING, much like the creature it portrays, crash - landed in the frigid environment of 1982. I went down the rabbit hole with John during this time, and the experience was painful and long lasting...
   
   
                     I am stunned by the depth and extent of the turnaround in critical and popular opinion this film has achieved, and in the amount of thoughtful scholarship available online ( Outpost 31's deleted scenes section, for instance ). It's been a long time since John and I discussed making a " thinking man's " monster movie and THE THING's rise from the ashes and the quality of the debate it has inspired is extremely gratifying. I've mostly held my own counsel over these past years, not writing or talking much about my involvement in the film but I think the time has come to share what I know - there are stories to be told,  particularly in terms of the central drama always present during the films' production, and after - the conflict between ambiguity and clarity. How John came to terms with this dynamic, which played out again and again on multiple levels both on and off camera is the Rosetta Stone of  THE THINGS enduring power  and integrity, and will be the overall focus of this blog...
   
   
                   But for now, here is the first batch of shorter pieces, and some questions answered where I can ( in the case of THE THING, of course, there are larger questions that have no finite answers ). I 'll try to concentrate on information not generally known but I am still in the process of, um ,assimilating the vast amount of information out there, so forgive any repetition...   
   
   
   
   
   

   

   The first appearance of WHO GOES THERE? August 1938