TALES FROM UNIVERSAL'S CRYPT ( PART ONE )

                   At one point during production on THE THING John Carpenter was approached by legendary Universal Studio Producer, Executive, and Impresario Jennings Lang to see if he could come up with an idea for a movie to go along with a new "gimmick" Lang  was very excited about.

              Lang had recently been involved with the introduction of SENSURROUND, which created a massive low end bass rumble to go along with its debut motion picture EARTHQUAKE. I remember, as this film was initially mixed at the sound department and the bugs worked out, the premises regularly being evacuated by scared looking employees - the building literally felt as if shook itself apart right down to the foundation, an uncomfortable feeling for those living in Southern California who had experienced the real thing. Things usually abruptly subsided as one or more of the massive woofers were blown halfway across the mixing stage floor... 

Director Mark Robson and Jennings Lang on the set of EARTHQUAKE

               The new companion process Lang was developing was called LIGHTSURROUND, and was being designed to simulate the visual effects of a full scale thunderstorm including lightning. With the film ideally in 3D, he explained, the physical apparatus in the theatre would consist of two elements : (1)  a large, silver metallic ball suspended from the roof at the center that would rotate on cue, splaying bright light around the theatre and, most importantly, (2 ) a machine positioned in the projection booth that on cue would shoot a real bolt of lightning directly over the audience's head and onto a graphite "dot" located in the center of the screen. Exciting stuff this, he said, but he didn't have a story to go along with any of it - he wanted to get something underway quickly, wasn't interested in science fiction, or anything too horrific - did John have any ideas?

           Asked by John afterward for my thoughts, all I could come up with was some sort of John D. McDonald-esque murder mystery set in the Florida Keys during a hurricane...
    

                     ... but we didn't get much of a chance to flesh any of this out. Word came back from testing in the field that the lightening bolt itself was a little unreliable - seems that it would hit the dot on the screen most of the time, but would occasionally veer off short of its target and strike the nearest metal object - a seat back, an audience members wire rim glasses, say... despite the creator's assurance that he would work to make the process 100 % reliable, Lang reluctantly consigned the idea to the dustbin of motion picture history... 

COULD THIS MAN PLAY PALMER ?

Rob coming out of THE FOG, 1980

                       Having had a taste of  The Roar Of The Greasepaint by appearing as an actor in front of the camera on THE FOG, Rob Bottin initially made a concerted pitch to John Carpenter and myself to play Palmer in THE THING. We were surprised by his request ( when John first mentioned it to me I thought he was kidding ), and skeptical of his ability to pull it off - he already had the massive responsibility of the effects work heaped on his twenty two year old shoulders, much of which was scheduled to be shot with the principal actors. Undaunted, he told me he was deadly serious about playing the role and would take acting classes if need be, but as pre - production rapidly advanced it was clear to all that it was an impossible idea to pursue ( I don't recall whether Rob actually read for the role, but I remember him lobbying hard for the chance )...

              

                  I was the custom then ( and, indeed, now ) for studio casting departments to pay very close attention to up and coming comedians performing at nightclubs around Hollywood, with assistants dispatched nightly to monitor the proceedings at watering holes like THE IMPROVISATION. When THE THING first crossed the desks of executives at Universal they wondered whether, given the roles' comedic potential, it would be advantageous to consider one of the best and the brightest for the role of Palmer...

Charles Fleischer

Jay Leno

Gary Shandling

                  Jay Leno met and read for us. A recent film of his, AMERICAN HOT WAX, was screened. Gary Shandling and Charles Fleisher ( later to become the voice of ROGER RABBIT ) also met, among others, but the concern always was whether they had the dramatic "chops" in order to pull the entire role off...       

                   A veteran casting director, Lynn Stalmaster, had given me a great early piece of advice -  "When in doubt, always go for the actor" - which is just what we did with David Clennon. David had recently appeared in MISSING, the Costa-Gavras film for Universal, and was one of the first actors in the door - an early and enthusiastic selection by John and ourselves, and one we certainly never regretted...

THE CAST AND CREW SCREENING

The original program given to invited guests on June 11, 1982 

           
             
               THE THING cast and crew screening was held thirty years ago tonight on the evening of June 11, 1982. We had some trouble finalising the date. Universal's largest showcase, the Alfred Hitchcock Theatre, was then in nightly use trying to accommodate the turn away throngs of invited guests to E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL ( which also opened theatrically this night amid reports of record-breaking box office ), but for one evening they agreed to relinquish their hold and moved to three smaller screening rooms nearby ( the same rooms where we had tested the alternate ending for THE THING several weeks earlier ).


               John, in Tennessee for pre-production on FIRESTARTER, could not attend. Many of our mutual friends and colleagues did , as well as large contingents of Rob's special effects crew and David Yewdall's sound effects team. One of the six 70mm prints made for release was pressed into service for the first time...

... and the back

                   While the screening was taking place I did what producers are supposed to do, pace the lobby and walk aimlessly around the studio - this night it was easy to sense an electricity in the air, some sort of palpable energy, but it was not directed at us - the buzz on the lot among the night shift, the studio gate guards, our own assistants, the publicity people assigned to work our screening was all about E.T. and the expectation that it would become the highest grossing film of all time. Word had spread that wherever it was playing showings of the film were sold out for the entire day - an unheard of proposition in an era before online ticket ordering and reservations - and that people were standing in massive lines for five or six hours. In this giddy, increasingly celebratory atmosphere it was almost as if  THE THING was an afterthought, the screening taking place in a near vacuum of anonymity, something already discounted and consigned to oblivion. I smiled as I thought of the film in terms of a poor relation...

               The most enthusiastic response to the film that night came from the loyalists - Rob Bottin's gang loved it, as well they should, and thought it fairly represented the year of punishing work they had put into it. They were the rock stars of the evening, the execution of the effects universally praised by everyone. Ditto, acclaim for the sound effects team and their impeccable performance.
  
               The reaction elsewhere was decidedly mixed - strong differences of opinion seemed to break down along generational lines. I was confronted in the lobby afterward by a visibly angry Albert Whitlock, who thought the film was unnecessarily weighted toward gore and violence at the expense of almost everything else - he said his wife had to leave the theatre during the kennel scene and chose not to return. He found much of the film offensive, the first time I had heard this word used by someone closely connected with us to describe this movie...

                  Kurt Russell had seen THE THING several weeks earlier. I was the first person he spoke to when he left the screening ( John was in Tennessee ). His initial reaction was not positive, believing that much of the hard work, the relationship work done by the actors from rehearsal on was left on the cutting room floor in favor of what he called the "ick" factor. I think it is fair to say that most of the cast who saw the film this night felt the same way. There was general agreement that Rob's work was superb but maybe too good in that it overwhelmed the film and reduced them all to "pawns" as one put it  ( I think thirty years intervening time has notably changed and softened their view as it has at the same time increasingly validated John's decision-making ).


              The reaction among friends was more positive, but scarcely the ringing endorsement we had hoped for. Most thought the film powerful, but at the same time too dark and depressing - as one put it, John "had taken things one step too far". Several said the THE THING was unpleasant to sit through, something to be endured  rather than watched, not words one cares to hear describe the film two weeks before release. But the dominant storyline of the night was typified by the reaction of a close professional colleague, a producer of note, who came up to me with a "what can you do" expression on his face, shrugged with his palms up and said " Well, it isn't E.T."


                As if on cue, the three smaller screening rooms to our left opened up, ejecting a small sea of smiling, happy people, standing in marked contrast to our rapidly diminishing group of supporters. I was envious - it seemed we were caught in the wake of a phenomenon we hadn't counted on and were faring the poorer for it. Oh well, the great majority of reviews ( mostly print ) were yet to come - maybe they would see the light and help turn the tide... 

THE SOUND

                    Thirty years ago this week THE THING began it's final sound mix at what was then the best facility in Hollywood, Samuel Goldwyn Studio's Stage A. Having won the most recent Academy Award for RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK the room was constantly in demand, the chief reason being the talent being brought to the table by the late Bill Varney  and his capable associates Steve Maslow and Gregg Landaker.

L to R: Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, and Gregg Landaker with their  Academy Awards for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

                     John had previously mixed ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK with the men and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We were scheduled for a full six weeks ( time was needed to make six track stereo masters for the 70mm prints, two track Dolby stereo masters for regular release as well as separate monaural masters for theatres not equipped for stereo, as was the custom then ) after the crew completed work on POLTERGEIST ( which, as it happened, was of interest to us - we held hopes that the audience that went to see POLTERGEIST might come to see THE THING a month later )...

                  Initially Universal made a concerted pitch to have us stay at the studio ( having recently upgraded their facilities and built the brand new Alfred Hitchcock Theatre), and have the film mixed in something called "Ultra-Stereo" as they planned to do with one of their other signature summer attractions, THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS. It certainly would have been easier to stay on the lot with all that was going on ( Rob's effects work was still in full swing, his operation a few minutes away ), but we made the case that it wasn't the equipment that made the difference, it was the skill and the instinct of the men who were utilizing it...

                   Our approach to monster sound - making was essentially the same as the method pioneered by the legendary sound engineer Murray Spivak on KING KONG - combining organic (animal) sounds, changing pitch, slowing them down, speeding them up, thinning, sharpening, running them backwards and anything else we could think of until we ended up with something we liked and seemed to fit - really, a process of sound shaping, of trial and error...

                     Work on this aspect began just after principal photography commenced, shepherded by David Lewis Yewdall and Colin Mouat. Originally the search was on for a signature sound for the monster, one you would have heard initially on the audiotape recording Copper finds at the Norwegian Camp, and again later. This concept was abandoned as we moved from the notion of the creature as one final form entity to the deconstructionist idea it could be anything, which certainly opened up avenues for audio experimentation. As John began editing the film these experiments were salted in to see if we were headed in the right direction, and were fully fleshed out on the mixing stage, with it's array of sophisticated processing equipment ( all analog ), some eight months later...

                          I wish I could recount with specificity exactly what went into, and in what proportion, the making of each individual sequence, but the fact is memory fails me. I do know that were looking for a sort of high pitched, painful, shrill sound for the introduction of the dog - thing which called for the extensive use of bird calls and and a pig squeal, all heavily processed. In the Blair Monster we were looking for a large, definitive, square sound and you certainly hear a great deal of lion ( and for those of you who find some similarity with KING KONG's final roar, you are correct - it was our tip of the hat)...

                     Benning's roar was created by custom recording human screams  and then have them individually synthesized by a gentleman named Craig Harris. These were later combined on the mixing stage with other, non human sounds and additionally processed to give you that haunting, forever lost in hell effect. You also hear the result of this particular processing in the off-stage, human sounding screams at the beginning of the kennel sequence, as well as during the Norris transformation...

                    Wherever possible, a special effort was made to custom record background tracks on location during breaks in filming. Many of the wind tracks heard ( including the steady state wind always present at the Norwegian camp ) were made this way. Also specific sounds indigenous to the location - helicopter start-ups, tractor engines idling, flamethrower whooshes etc. Despite the rigors of location filming there was very little dialogue replacement  done - less a dozen lines in all, a tribute to our production sound mixer, Thomas Causey... 

                      When we played back the completed kennel sequence for the first time we looked at each other and shrugged. There was something missing - despite all the meticulous work the scene fell flat. Our salvation lay in a track our music editor, Clif Kholweck, found at the last minute. The low drone sound that begins as MacCready and Co. slowly approach is a sound effect, actually background air conditioner hum sharpened, shaped, and eventually pushed to absurd levels ( the reveal of the dog - thing ) before being taken out on the first shotgun blast. But what the hell, it worked, and the scene came alive... 

                     This sound proved to be so effective we went back and added it to Clark's initial approach and confrontation to the kennel...

                       ... as well as MacCready's final confrontation with the Blair monster ( the sound begins as Mac drops the dynamite and is woven in and out until the first explosion ). Astute listeners will also hear part of Morricone's plucked-string cue "Contamination" thrown in for good measure...

                     My favorite sound effects story from THE THING is as follows... I asked one of the sound editors, Colin Mouat, how they came up with the ultra - realistic background sounds of the dogs howling in the kennel. He replied that he had his children gather together the neighborhood dogs on a Saturday morning, put them inside his house, turned on the recorder, left, and donned a hat and full trench coat. Pulling up the collar to hide his face, he then proceeded to furtively move around the house, tapping on windows and rattling doorknobs. The resultant hysteria is what you now hear ( I was assured the dogs were amply rewarded with waiting treats )...

Bill Varney

                 THE THING never sounded better than in Stage A, and it was for that reason we chose to have the first screening of the completed film there for Universal's President Ned Tannen. A crucial event, we invited a few close friends and relatives to help fill out the space. Ned was shown to the center seat in front of the mixing console, the sonic "sweet spot". The memory I will always carry with me was Bill Varney sitting at the controls,  watching the production executive sitting directly in front of him, and constantly making minute level changes in reaction to Ned's body language throughout the movie -  in essence providing him with his own custom mix in an effort to put our absolute best foot forward, the very definition of a professional at work...

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...)