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

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

CASTING CHILDS

















Ernie Hudson
Geoffrey Holder
Carl Weathers


Isaac Hayes







Bernie Casey
             







                    From my incomplete notes made at the time: John gave some initial consideration to Isaac Hayes, having just worked together in ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK ( John also did the same with Lee Van Cleef for the role of Garry ). Geoffrey Holder's availability was checked very early on. Carl Weathers and Bernie Casey met and read, but it was Ernie Hudson who had the inside track until late in the process and was on the way to being cast when we met Keith...









2 comments:

  1. Another great post. Crazy to think of Geoffrey Holder as a potential I always see him as the camp director from Boomerang with the great laugh.
    Also interesting to see Carl Weathers was a potential I can see why he wouldn't work though he is too much of a leader type and wouldn't have worked in the ensemble.
    Hope you do one of these for all the cast members, I've always been curious on the 'what could have beens.'

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  2. Some interesting casting choices...though I must say Keith David was absolutely perfect in the role. I'm not certain how many roles he had before this one, but it feels like The Thing was his real breakout.

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