CASTING GARRY AND COPPER

Lee Van Cleef

Jerry Ohrbach

Kevin Conway

Lee Van Cleef was an initial consideration, having just worked with John on ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. Jerry Ohrbach was thought highly of on the strength of his recent work in PRINCE OF THE CITY. Kevin Conway came in to meet and read the part beautifully... 

Richard Mulligan

Powers Boothe

Richard Mulligan was a surprise submission from his agency at the time. He had gotten hold of a script and thought the role would be a great change of pace from his current work on the T.V. series SOAP ( not unsurprisingly, we also gave some thought to the idea of his playing Palmer ). Powers Boothe was mentioned as we kicked around the idea of playing the role younger, in an age range more contemporaneous to Macs...

Michael Ploog's original storyboard for Garry's death...

...and a literal definition of " hands on ". That's Rob Bottin's hand in the shot...

William Daniels

Brian Dennehy

             From my woefully incomplete notes : veteran actor William Daniels was submitted for the role  but it was Brian Dennehy who came within a whisker of playing Dr. Copper - a last second, back and forth decision made by John in favor of Richard Dysart ( I am somewhat surprised in retrospect that Brian didn't end up somewhere in this movie - he was considered for a number of roles, and we both liked him a lot...)

NAULS IN BLACK AND WHITE

               Recently an eagle-eared listener at IMDB noted that John's line regarding T.K. Carter on the commentary track of the original DVD release of THE THING - "he was constantly worried that all of us were racists" - had been removed from the recent Blu-Ray release of the film. Although I was not aware of any friction between T.K. and the cast and crew while filming ( or, for that matter, with Keith ), it brings to mind the fact that the issue of race did come up while casting...


              When actor-comedian Franklin Ajaye ( CAR WASH, STIR CRAZY, as well as a recent appearance in BRIDESMAIDS ) came in to read for the role he offered instead a measured fifteen minute critique on the stereotypical nature of the character, citing both the use of the vernacular in dialogue - "What's it going to do, come chasing after us?", for example - as well as the fact that Nauls was a cook. He also took  strong exception to the labelling of Nauls as black in the character descriptions in the fronts piece of the screenplay. None of this sat particularly well with John, and the meeting broke up amidst frosty silence...


                I spoke to Bill Lancaster about the incident afterword. Concerned, Bill offered to meet with whoever was cast  and work out any problems ( Bill intended the dialogue to be a play on the vernacular spoken by a smart guy but would tone down the idea if it was considered offensive ) but John ultimately chose to leave the character and dialogue essentially unchanged...  

QUE VIVA WINDOWS

                  ... who in the early drafts of the script was named Sanchez. It is in memory ( which can be unreliable ) that Bill Lancaster was intially indicating his thought that the role be cast Hispanic, but that John didn't want to be necessarily bound by the idea and wanted to be able to cast the role as he saw fit. The name was then changed to Sanders...


                The name Windows came out of the initial costume fitting with Thomas Waites. After wandering up to the massive wardrobe department at Universal, John had Tom try on the pair of dark glasses above, and Voila! a moniker was born. John considered it a tribute to Howard Hawks, who always had characters with nicknames in his movies ( I'm surprised we didn't change Copper's name to Stumpy...) 

CASTING BLAIR

                From a storytelling standpoint it was our intent that Blair be infected very early on in the proceedings, and off - screen. Here we were attempting to faithfully follow the dramatic line of the Campbell novella. We all liked the idea that his crackup was a ruse, a clever feint to isolate him(it)self from the rest of the group. It was essential on some level that the audience forget about Blair until the appropriate time, requiring an actor whose everyman persona could fade into the woodwork.

               As some of you know, John was initially considering DONALD PLEASENCE for Blair, but my notes from the time reflect a concern that he may have been too identifiable, too dominating a presence - one you were likely to miss and wonder about if he were off screen for a considerable period of time. Far from occupying his now familiar role as every one's authentic grandfather and Quaker Oats spokesman, WILLFORD BRIMLEY at the time of casting THE THING was completely unknown, a fresh face. His first film, ABSENCE OF MALICE, had yet to be released. David Foster arranged for us to see the rough cut at Warner Bros, and  with a strong recommendation from director Sydney Pollack, the rest is history...

             Addendum, April 7, 2012. Although I can speak authoritatively as to our intent with the Blair character, what I think is open to question is how successful we were in realizing that intent. This is one element of the film we did not plan to be  ambiguous about. Concerned, John added several lines of dialogue in post production to make things clearer. Naul's dialogue "Hey Blair - you down there ? We got something for you" and particularly Mac's "Blair's been busy down here all by himself " ( italics mine ) were added to underline to the audience the idea that Blair was a Thing when he was locked up, and to make the direct connection between the saucer they were seeing and the creature that had built it...

THE NOVELISATION

               The novelisation of THE THING was considered a publicity tool - Alan Dean Foster was hired by Universal's publicity department, as was the custom at that time, early in pre -production and it was they he reported to. He was given the latest copy of the script and sent off on his own. It was finished months before the film was, and therefore does not, understandably, reflect many of the changes that were made.

                    We played no role in its production, nor did we expect to. I don't believe any of us ever met or had any contact with Mr. Foster. None of us were aware of the finished product until it was published ( in time for copies to be sent to exhibitors in early April ). I don't mean to cast any aspersions on the quality of the writing, but to point out how things were done then - we were simply out of the loop. Any embellishments in the novel that are not directly taken from an early script are Mr. Foster's, and Mr. Foster's alone...

THE COMPUTERS

                 THE THING, having been produced on the cusp of a digital universe, is a resolutely all-analog film, without a frame electronically processed. It is somehow fitting that the computers appearing in the movie are both mock ups, non-functioning props made out of bits and pieces, with the video display portion in both cases shot well after principal photography.

              Originally a much shorter moment containing less specific information, with Blair at the computer John essentially created a new scene in post-production built out of inserts. The only two pieces done during filming were those of Blair intently watching. John saw this as an opportunity to hammer home to the audience, in the simplest possible way, the idea of assimilation and it's consequences ( this became a primary concern as editing on the film advanced ).

               

                      An analog endeavour, the program simulation was written by John and animated on film by fellow USC alumnus John Wash.    None of us had any idea what this ought to  look like, so JC instructed John to make it as simple and familiar as possible by using video game graphics... 

                    It was then transferred ( at a special 24 frame rate in order to avoid scanning lines) to U Matic 3/4 inch tape, fed back to a monitor, and photographed.

                 This information, written by John, was designed to lay out the stakes for the men ( and the audience) in sledgehammer fashion. There is nothing coy or shaded about the message here... 

                      Also added by John, Blair's reach for the gun was shot on the insert stage later ( with someone else's hands ) to complete the scene...

                McCready's chess game was an actual program, something designed for an Apple II computer ( the only one I knew of  was owned and offered up by our Production Manager Robert Brown). On set we tried to photograph it operating in the same frame with Kurt, but the results were a mess. For photographic purposes it too was converted to 24 frame analog video, recorded onto 3/4 inch tape and played back later, which resulted in an acceptable image...

SAM PECKINPAH'S THE THING ?

                     The day finally came when we to receive Universal's official "green light" to schedule THE THING for production. As the meeting began in Production President Ned Tannen's office John revealed that he had a script of his own with another company (EMI ) also targeted for production, a special effects western that had been budgeted at Twenty Five Million Dollars ( I believe this was the first incarnation of EL DIABLO ). Much as he wanted to direct THE THING, he said this film was set up first and took precedence - he would feel honor bound to make it next if it were to be green lit, which he felt was just around the corner.


               This was news to us. The meeting turned from a celebration into something close to a wake. As eager as the studio was to make the film with John the screenplay had achieved its own level of stardom and they were not prepared to wait any longer. While agents and lawyers scrambled to figure something out, we were instructed to look into other directors.

                   I was stunned. I could not believe after all this time and being this close to having John make this movie things were about to fall apart. I was so used to the idea of John and this material as an ideal match that I couldn't even think of anyone else to direct. When David Foster asked me if I had any initial thoughts, in jest and exasperation I said "What about Sam Peckinpah?". David, who had successfully worked with Peckinpah on THE GETAWAY, paused for a second and said "Well, You Know"...
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             It took a week or so for the natural order of things to be restored. In that week I can't be certain whether David made a call to Peckinpah or not. I do know he made an exploratory call to Walter Hill, who wasn't interested ( Bill Lancaster, also at a loss, suggested his BAD NEWS BEARS director Michael Ritchie ). Fortunately for you and for me EL DIABLO wasn't as far along as was previously thought, and John was finally clear to begin preparation...

Walter Hill on the set of SOUTHERN COMFORT