It is often mentioned that John Carpenter had the luxury of time when he made THE THING ( Maintaining an office at Universal Studios from April, 1981 through the end of June, 1982 ) and that this expansive schedule in large part contributed to the films’ overall quality. Although this was true in some respects it stands in contrast to a frenzied Six Week period from late October to early December, 1981 in which THE THING shape shifted into something harder and more powerful, and in the process took a decisive turn toward the dark side. During this time John restructured the film, wrote what was essentially a new Second Act to conform to the editing he had done ( including new death scenes for two characters ), adopted MacCready as his spiritual doppelganger, and scrambled to get all of it shot on location in Stewart, B.C. Coming face to face with his own greatest fear – fear of failure – he was able to make THE THING undeniably his…
This is how it happened…
