Related Sections: Interviews Movies News
Ron Moore offers details about his prequel version of The Thing
Ronald D. Moore told SCI FI Wire that he's completed his script for The Thing, which he said will be a companion piece to John Carpenter's 1982 sci-fi horror movie of the same name.
Carpenter's film was in part a remake of the 1951 film The Thing From Another World, which was in turn based on John W. Campbell Jr.'s short story "Who Goes There?"
In Moore's film, a prequel, audiences will meet the body-snatching alien life form in the period before it attacked R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell) and his team during an Antarctic expedition, events depicted in Carpenter's movie.
Moore (Battlestar Galactica) talked exclusively with SCI FI Wire about The Thing last night in New York at the SCI FI Channel's upfront presentation for advertisers and the media. Following are edited excerpts from our exclusive interview.
Where are things at with The Thing?
Moore: I was working on The Thing. I finished. I did my last draft a few weeks ago and turned it in. They [Universal Pictures] seem happy. They have a director [Matthijs Van Heijningen] assigned, and we'll wait to see when and if they green-light it.
What was your goal with this new version?
Moore: Well, the idea was to make a companion piece to Carpenter's. I started on the project with the feeling that Carpenter's version is just an amazing piece of work. It's a great film, and we really wanted to honor that version.
And so you've gone the prequel route?
Moore: We wanted a piece that would link up to [the Carpenter film] and not supplant it. So we didn't try to sort of completely reinvent what it was. We wanted a movie that would sort of live alongside it.
By Paul B. at 7:26 AM ON 03/17/09
More proof that this site has become a blog: the use of "spoilers" in the title to draw readers in, even though there are NO SPOILERS in the article.
All of this information--what little you give--was already known: prequel about the "Thing" before the events of Carpenter's movie.
Typical of SciFiWire--oops, sorry, "SyFyWyre" I guess, eh? What a waste of bandwidth...
By gorehound696 at 8:01 AM ON 03/17/09
and to me it is a film that should not be made and i will boycott it.
Lame Idea..........why don't you make up something new loser !@!!!
By Pennarin at 8:53 AM ON 03/17/09
You guys are retentive. I didn't notice the spoiler in the title in the first place, and if I did wouldn't have cared. Wire is meant for casual reading, nothing more. You guys take this like holy writ. I guess you also check for spelling...
I for once never heard of Moore's project, and The Thing being one of the most enjoyable movies I ever saw, I will look forward to this release.
By JK at 9:07 AM ON 03/17/09
I call bull on you, gorehound. You know you'll go see it.
I hate it when people scream boycott, because the rest of us know that scifi fans will watch anything that has a potential to be good.
By Informed Misery at 9:12 AM ON 03/17/09
Yet another remake, prequel, reboot, blah blah blah. Where are the original ideas?
By Soren B at 9:13 AM ON 03/17/09
I don't mind seeing a prequel...as long as it's good...which it probably isn't....but who knows - it should at least be given a chance though.
As long as it's not a direct remake - THEN I would've been mad as hell, since a remake of The Thing is not needed.
By Ra-Amun at 10:43 AM ON 03/17/09
with all the cgi they'll use it won't look as good as Carpenter's version
By Blues at 11:36 AM ON 03/17/09
I agree with Informed Mysery. With so much great sci-fi available we get yet another rehash, of sorts. Try reading some of Ray Silverberg, Harlan Ellison, Andre Norton, Michael Kurland, or countless other writers who brought new and innovative ideas to SF. Yet we get, no matter the quality, Star Trek 115, Star Wars the Animated/CGI Sitcom, The 43rd remake of Invasion of the Booby Snatchers. Yea some of it is OK, even good. But the lost potential could have been Excellent. And I dread the ending of the new Battlestar Galaxative. Somehow, with the lower quality of this "season's" episodes I feel it will be less than uplifting or satisfying.
By Kyle Nin at 11:45 AM ON 03/17/09
That's a relief. I heard that it was going to be a remake. I'm glad they're doing a prequel instead, because the movie was perfect the way it was.
By Don Stuart at 3:42 PM ON 03/17/09
John W. Campbell's original novel creeped me the hell out. Of the two movies based on it, I think I prefer the 1951 original. The monster in it was corny, but it built an awesome sense of dread as the creature got closer, and closer, and closer...
The scene in the original where the scientists uncover the crashed UFO is cinematic genius, a study in elegance that today's genre film makers could learn a lot from.
Nobody should be surprised that Ron Moore has written a prequel to the Thing. Prequels, reimaginings, remakes...that's all he does.
By jbs780 at 3:56 PM ON 03/17/09
"Nobody should be surprised that Ron Moore has written a prequel to the Thing. Prequels, reimaginings, remakes...that's all he does.
Well...that may be true...but so far...it seems that he does what he does...VERY WELL! Wouldn't you say? 8^)
By kjelle at 4:42 PM ON 03/17/09
Don Stuart, huh? Clever.
I don't mind that Moore's work is derivative, because he does do a decent job of it. The real problem - as with most prequels - is how to make it suspenseful when we already know how it ends, which only gets thornier if the whole point of a story is suspense.
By IsoTek at 8:26 PM ON 03/17/09
Now now. Maybe its not what he does....Maybe its what he gets noticed for. His original series "Virtuallity" while not super original is a series all its own by Moore that has gotten no attention by scifi press in the past 5 to 6 months. That said, I wish Moore would try to stay toward original works, it seems he is capable of original thoughts but you are right Don, branching off others works is what he does best.
By Astounding at 11:36 PM ON 03/17/09
Yes, you are right IsoTek, I forgot about Virtuality. However, it sounds awfully derivative. After all his time on the Star Trek spin-offs and more than 4 years of BSG (counting the original mini-series), I would love Moore to tackle something a little more hard scifi. Is there a place for hard scifi on TV?
By callinite at 2:06 PM ON 03/18/09
All of you are overly pessimistic. Informed Misery has decided its a reboot. Yeah I'm sick of reboots too. I'm sorry those other sci-fi authors have been passed up. I guarantee that purchased screenplays exist of their work. I believe there is a lot to learn about The Thing. Why has everyone decided that Thing effects will be CGI. Still, I don't know why Moore has to be worried about those damn swedes.
By wilf bee at 11:07 PM ON 04/17/09
this bummer will most likely go down as the werst banished box office bomb and become banished berelegated homeless exile eatin out of garbage cans on the corner of bzink and blunk streets brespectiveley.
By crcurran at 2:20 PM ON 05/22/09
just so you know... John Carpenter directing "John Carpenter's The Thing" wasn't the main reason that movie was great. Rob Bottin deserves most of the credit.
JohnC wanted to do parasites that attach to the back of your neck and control you like Heinlen's Puppet Masters. It was Rob Bottin who came in and suggested they take it in whole new direction. The guy had to even take a forced break due to work exhaustion.
Thanks to Rob Bottin, "The Thing" (1982) was more like the original story written by John C. Campbell, Jr. in the 30s.
Another factoid - Bill Lancaster, Burt Lancaster's son, wrote the screenplay for John Carpenter's "The Thing"
Visit mobile.syfy.com/wire on your mobile device.
crcurran:
just so you know... John Carpenter directing "John Carpenter's The Thing" wasn't the main reason that movie was gr...More »