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This film was based on the novella "Who Goes There?" by Don A. Stuart. The credits on this film list the author by his real name, the science fiction editor and writer John W. Campbell, Jr.
It is generally believed that Howard Hawks took over direction from Christian Nyby (his former editor) during production, and it has always been acknowledged by Nyby that Hawks was the guiding hand. However, in an interview, James Arness said that while Hawks spent a lot of time on the set, it was Nyby who actually directed the picture, not Hawks. Filmmaker John Carpenter, who directed the remake The Thing (1982), said in an interview that he asked Hawks that question in 1971; Hawks told him that he only gave Nyby some suggestions. Carpenter noted however that in later life, Hawks started to claim more and more credit for directing the film, and that the completed movie has much more of Hawks' trade marks than Nyby's later work.
John Carpenter has cited Howard Hawks as an inspiration. He included parts of this film in Halloween (1978), mirrored the final line in The Fog (1980), and remade the film as The Thing (1982).
Howard Hawks asked the U.S. Air Force for assistance in making the film. He was refused, because the top brass felt that such cooperation would compromise the U.S. government's official stance that U.F.O.s didn't exist.
Originally, it was intended to make the creature a shapeshifter, as in the novel, but the limited budget forced the filmmakers to drop the idea. Early conceptual sketches depict a very plant-like looking creature, with one of its limbs seemingly undergoing a transformation into a human hand. Close-ups of "The Thing" were removed. It was felt that the make-up could not hold up to close scrutiny. Allegedly, test footage was shot featuring a creature with the earlier alien design (blue-skinned, with three red eyes, a sucker mouth and stringy hair), played by a one-legged man.
According to Make-up Artist Lee Greenway, he took James Arness in his car to the house of Producer and co-Director Howard Hawks to show off the make up for The Thing. After months of frustration, Hawks told Greenway to put a Frankenstein (1931) type of headpiece on Arness. Arness reportedly regarded his role as so embarrassing, that he didn't attend the premiere.
The famous scene when the crew formed a ring around the flying saucer frozen in the ice, was actually filmed at the RKO Ranch in the San Fernando Valley in one hundred degree weather.
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Our Halloween fun continues with John Carpenter's The Thing.
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