How ‘The Thing’ was nearly a different movie

Considered by many to be one of John Carpenter’s finest horror features, The Thing was very nearly a dramatically different film. After viewing an early cut of the movie, Carpenter (who also directed classics such as Halloween, The Fog, and Escape from New York) found it a confusing mess that dragged heavily and didn’t have any sort of lead character. By filming additional scenes, extending some, and cutting a huge amount of already-shot material, Carpenter created the movie that we all know so well. Stuart Cohen, who co-produced the movie, has written a blog post laying out the adjustments that Carpenter made to the script and final cut. It’s a fascinating insight into the drastic changes that can happen to a movie on its way to the theater.