THE THING

THE THING
From right to left : John, Myself, Production Manager Robert Brown, Associate Producer Larry Franco. The Juneau Ice Field. Location Scout April, 1981

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

THE BUDGET









                     
              It was Universal Studios' fond hope at the time of approval in the late Fall of 1980 that they could make THE THING on the cheap - they were thinking of a budget of Eight Million Dollars Direct ( the actual cost of the film ) which with Indirect studio overhead costs of Twenty Five per cent ( a mysterious calculation we tried to unravel with partial success ) would allow them to reach their target of  Ten Million Dollars  ( $ 10.000.000. )  Combined. Surely John Carpenter, coming from the thrifty world of Independents, could find a way ? Well no, John Carpenter couldn't and neither could anybody else so we set about trying to come up with a realistic figure that wouldn't give Universal pause...



 Night Exterior filmed on stage : THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD
         
       
                 ...The situation wasn't helped when the studios' production department presented their best guess at cost and came up with a preliminary estimate of Seventeen Million Dollars ( $ 17.000.000 ) without overhead, a figure that scared the Executive Flank. Their original plan called for significantly more set construction on stage, including a duplicate Outpost 31 Exterior that was to have functioned for night work only ( the initial thinking was that it would be close to impossible to film on a snowbound location at night ). There was also the large set piece to be built for Bill Lancasters' original Bennings' death on ice sequence, as well as a separate set budgeted for the Norwegian Camp Exterior...





             In addition the Studio concluded ( wrongly, as it turned out ) that it would be astronomically expensive to refrigerate  their own sound stages, and therefore budgeted a great deal of money to rent a series of  Ice Houses ( or large Cold Storage Lockers ) in the Los Angeles Area to accommodate the production. As romantic as the notion was in following in the footsteps of Orson Welles, who used them to great effect on THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, the idea amounted to putting cast and crew in a giant freezer for months along with assorted explosives, goo, and flamethrowers. I remember surveying some of these early on with John Lloyd, but with their low ceilings and cramped conditions we could see the idea was ridiculous...                   
        
            The studio's original schedule called for a whopping 70 filming days inside somewhere, with an additional 28 days of location shooting figured in. No provision was made for any second unit special effects filming of any sort...

              ... and, more significantly, Universal had budgeted a paltry Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ( $ 200.000 ) for what they termed "Creature Effects", scattered around the mechanical special effects and make-up departments as well as the optical department in post production.When we told them this wasn't going to be adequate they were genuinely surprised, stating this was more than they had ever budgeted for a monster movie - after all, didn't Universal have some experience in making monster movies ? And, by the way, what was our best guess at the cost of the creature ?




John, myself, Rob

      
                We had absolutely no clue, none. We were in the process of evolving from original designer Dale Kuipers' one piece conception of The Thing ( which used Bill Lancasters' early draft screenplay descriptions of the monster in the final confrontation with MacCready as a springboard ) to Rob and Johns' more deconstructivist model. This was all new - new approach, new techniques, new materials -  and there was simply no template, creative or financial, from which to draw. We spent a lot of time explaining ourselves to the various craft unions - the notion that the work would require an overlap, a blending of responsibilities was confusing, and even threatening, to some. Rob, at the tender age of 22, was required to be a politician ( and was pretty good at it ) in addition to all his other responsibilities...

              Above all, it required people get used to the idea that, for this movie, the creature would come out of the shadows and be seen. And, at John Carpenters' insistence, everything was to happen "Live, in front of the camera, like a magic show" as he was fond of putting it... 

                     As the bulk of the design and storyboard work was being finalized  everyones' combined brainpower came up with a figure of Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ( $ 750.000 ). We were never really comfortable with this - the best spin we could put on it was to call it an "educated guess ". The Studio, wide - eyed at the number of crafts people that were beginning to show up at Universal Heartland, Robs' special effects facility, reluctantly acceded...



Dale Kuipers'  "original form " concept, suggested by Bill Lancasters' early drafts



                          The original budget for cast reflected our thinking of THE THING as a genuine ensemble piece. All Twelve roles were pencilled in at the same figure, which I believe was Fifty Thousand Dollars ( $50.000 ). As we began to lean in the direction of a more established name for MacCready, this figure had to be adjusted. I remember Kurt Russell, commensurate with his status as a rising star, being paid a salary of  Four Hundred Thousand Dollars            ( $400.000 ).   




The Outpost 31 Proletariat : all cast members were going to be paid the same


                    Production genius and John Carpenters' Better Half  Larry Franco took charge of the major trimming. The schedule was slashed by a third - John would just have to shoot a little faster. The duplicate Outpost 31 Exterior was an easy elimination - the company was going to have to tough it out at night on location. Dropping Bennings' original death scene proved to be more difficult. A favorite of everyones', including the Studios', it proved to be one large set piece too many and, at a projected cost of One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ( $1.500.000 ) was reluctantly cut...



Larry Franco on set

              My contribution to the proceedings was the suggestion that we eliminate the separate Norwegian Camp Exterior in favor of filming the back of the Outpost 31 set after we blew it up. I remember asking John if he thought he could shoot it without compromise. He thought only for a second and answered " Yes, yes, I most certainly can..."

               The Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ( $ 250.000 ) savings that resulted was one of the last pieces of the budget cutting pie...  

         
Filming the back of Outpost 31 as the Norwegian Camp a day after "the Big Blow"    



               When all was said and done, we were approved and began production in August of 1981 at a figure of  Eleven Million Four Hundred Thousand Dollars ($11.400.000) Direct. With Indirect overhead costs just under Fourteen Million Dollars ($14.000.000).

           The  schedule called for a total of Fifty Seven ( 57 ) First Unit filming days - Forty (40 ) on stage and Seventeen ( 17 ) on location, with some additional second unit days figured in. Larry Franco described it as a compromise - more time than John Carpenter usually got and less than he would probably need...



First Day of Production, First Shot


                ...but primarily thanks to Larry ( who is the single biggest reason John was able to get what he got on this movie ) we came damn close to holding to this. Despite almost daily hardships and setbacks I remember slipping only a day or so at most while filming on stage and staying very close to schedule while on location in Stewart...





              The major overage came, no surprise here, from Robs' Special effects unit. We had effectively burned through the budget by the end of December, with what was turning out to be months of work ahead. John kept backpedalling and simplified requirements where he could - eliminating entirely Nauls' confrontation with a version of The Thing we called the Box Monster after the first try was unsatisfactory, rather than apportioning additional weeks of time to try to get it right, for example - but by then Robs' unit was functioning like a steamroller heading straight downhill, flattening conventional considerations of time and money in it's path. When the final figures were in we doubled the original budget, an overage of  Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ( $750.000 ). Things got so tight at the end John was obligated to make a personal appeal for the last One Hundred Thousand Dollars - a luncheon was arranged with Production President Ned Tannen for this purpose, with the money going to finish off a greatly simplified version of the Blair monster...




...for want of another Six months and Five Hundred Thousand Dollars...


             Final cost with overages included : Twelve Million Four Hundred Thousand Dollars ( $12.400.000 ). With overhead a shade under Fifteen Million Dollars ( $15.000.000 ).

             And cheap at twice the price...



11 comments:

  1. Mr. Cohen, this is a fabulous and interesting blog! Thank you so much for posting it, and all the great pics. I'm one of the few I guess who saw it in the theater in 1982 and loved it. Not one of those who saw it years later and contributed to its after life admiration.
    A friend and I have some screen used props, the hands from the dog kennel that reach up to the ceiling. I'd be glad to show them to you.

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    1. wow!
      really you have original parts of movie? How did you do?
      My dreams is fly to visit the orignal locations of movie.
      Do you know perhaps the site or coordinates of set of Juneau of the beginning of movie?

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  2. Really an awesome share will visit here again for the updates..Thanks for the great information.
    new york video production company

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  3. It's really good info. Thanks for sharing...

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  4. loved it in 1982, and 30 times later in 2018. Truly a pre cgi masterpiece. My cousin, brother and i watched horror/sci fi from 1967 to today, and all agree The Thing is the most important film of all.Thanks for the info!

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  5. ell Well Well,Its 2019 and we still want to know Who is The Thing?
    Why? The Ending is The Ending!!!

    What about Nauls?

    Did he too make it out alive since we see in the ending scene of Him walking to the back of The Outpost and the rest was cut from the film to save money (So I am told) In the movie and no one can say he died? Sure Mike Ploog has him left for dead and the book too he is dead However The Movie is not the book or the art of Ploog ,The Movie is different from them that keeps us still talking about this film to this day?,
    Just like The Way Bennings Died that was not used in The Film (Mike Ploog's art) so who's to say what ever Happened to TK Carter aka Nauls in The Thing?
    The Movie was Very different from Mike Ploog"s art Work.......

    This is The Greatest Movie of All Time hands down . That being said, Yes The Ending is a HUGE part to this being One of the Most Talked about Films Year to date....

    Please give it up to This cast and crew of visionary men The Likes of Stu, Dean ,Rob,Stan,Randy, Bill & John and many others that Gave us a Movie that will never Ever go way, Long after its Ending? ......

    The Thing 1982 is and Always will be a Classic and continues to be Talked about as a Perfect Motion Picture ....
    Yes The End keeps its alive and well, Since so many people try to give there take on it ......

    The Way I see it The Ending is The Ending unless you saw the other cut before it was released to the pubic Back in June 11th 1982 (Before June 25th 1982) special screening for cast and crew .The Thing has been put on 2K and 4K Blu-rays all over the world now and keeps getting reissued even in 2019?
    There is Even a Guy with Massive Collection of screen used props,and Other "Thing Memorabilia" called "Thing Fest" with Cast and crew from The Film at Comic con's and Other Horror Conventions Reunions for Thing Fans

    Many Websites on Facebook that dedicate There Love for this Brilliant Film The List goes on and on ...
    It gives us a perfect feeling that kind of gets us addictive ,We Just want To Know More (Like What was The Thing doing before it Crashed Landed on Earth)
    "This is Awesome"......
    Why is this ,I think people cant get enough of this film all due to this Outstanding Ending they gave us......

    In The End Stu and John will always be Living Legends to this film and who will ever know Just what happened to the other ending that are still missing to this day ? Maybe John and Stu can revisit them at a Q&A for the Fans with it playing overhead.....
    Thank you Stu for keeping this movie alive you are The Greatest Fan ever "Champion of The Thing"...............

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  6. Best forewer and super music composer the thing

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  7. Nice post. It is really interesting. Thanks for sharing the post!Handyman in Upper Marlboro

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  8. Really an awesome share will visit here again for the updates Painter in Upper Marlboro

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  9. This is fascinating stuff. When I win the lottery, we're going back in to shoot the Blair Box Monster, I'm telling ye..

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  10. wow - now this is a real find. The THING has been an obsession of mine for 40 yrs - and this is just a great collection of behind the scenes info. Thanks so much for sharing

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