The Thing (1982)   tidbits

Kurt Russell almost killed himself with a stick of dynamite. Russell threw an actual stick of dynamite during a scene toward the end of the film. He did not anticipate it being so powerful. Russell was blown backwards after detention; this take was left in the film. (above gif is not that scene... couldn't find it on google and I'm actually at work right now so can't go make one myself...)

John Carpenter was sold on making the film by the blood test scene.

Easily one of the best movie scenes of all time.

Some scenes were shot with stop-motion animation, but John Carpenter rejected them, because they looked too fake.

Nick Nolte turned down the role of MacReady, as did Jeff Bridges. Harrison Ford and Clint Eastwood were both considered. On top of this, a relatively unknown Fred Ward campaigned for the role.

Anyone else think Fred Ward kinda looks like the new Punisher (Jon Bernthal)?

John Carpenter has stated that of all his films, The Thing is his personal favorite.

Oh really? Not Escape from LA??

Entertainment Weekly ranked this as the 12th scariest movie of all time.

The Norwegian dog in the film was named Jed. He was a half wolf/half malamute breed. Jed was an excellent animal actor, never looking at the camera, the dolly or the crew members. Jed, however, is NOT the dog seen in the beginning chase scene, where the Norwegian is trying to shoot him. Per Carpenter's commentary, this was another dog painted to look like Jed.

The "I know I'm human." scene was originally shot in the rec room, but was re-shot outside, along with several other scenes, due to Carpenter's fear, after seeing an assembly edit, that the movie was "A bunch of men talking indoors".

To give the illusion of icy Antarctic conditions, interior sets on the Los Angeles sound stages were refrigerated down to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, while it was well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

Can you beleive that the films score was not done by John Carpenter. I thought for sure it was him. It was in fact done by Ennio Morricone.

Thanks for reading. I got most facts/tidbits from IMdB.

I really love this film, it's definitely in my top 5 favorite movies. Everything about this fil seems to be right on. The score, the cast, the cinematography, the script, everything is just amazing! Acting is well done as everyone contributes to the tension and fear that builds up throughout the film. Kurt Russell is in top form. I like that the ending doesn’t follow the norm and is fitting for what the film is as a whole. Technically this film is a masterpiece. A truly wonderful film for all horror buffs, and damn awesome for anyone who has good taste in films.