Trailer
Plot summary
In the winter of 1982, a Norwegian team at the Antarctic research station Thule digs an alien craft and a body out of the ice. Dr. Sander Halvorson and his assistant Adam Finch bring in American paleontologist Kate Lloyd to examine the discovery. Pilots Sam Carter and Derek Jameson and crewman Griggs fly her to the station, where chief Edvard Wolner and his people wait. The body is hauled back in a block of ice, and the creature inside it soon wakes and escapes. Because it can take the form of anyone it touches, the team loses track of who is human and who is not, while Dr. Halvorson pushes ahead with his research over Kate's objections.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Thing (2011)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- After making the Dawn of the Dead remake, producers Marc Abraham and Eric Newman went through the Universal Studios library for new properties. Finding John Carpenter's 1982 film The Thing, they convinced Universal to create a prequel instead of a remake, feeling a remake would be like painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa.
- Norwegian actor Dennis Storhøi was initially hired for the role but was replaced by Thomsen after a week of filming, which required digital effects work in post, as Thomsen's face was put on Storhoi's body for scenes that had already been shot with the other actor.
- Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. became involved when his first planned feature, Army of the Dead, a Las Vegas zombie sequel to the Dawn of the Dead remake written and produced by Zack Snyder, was canceled by the studio three months before production began.
- Actual Norwegian and Danish actors were cast to play the Norwegian characters, and the director let them improvise elements different from the script when they felt it was appropriate, such as a scene where the characters sing the Norwegian folk song "Sámiid ædnan".
- In Moore's original draft it was clear who would be the Thing, but in rewrites it was decided the audience should not know who is infected, to add to the paranoia. Heisserer researched everything the first film revealed about the Norwegian camp, down to the smallest details, for a consistent backstory.
- A sequel was in development, with Kate's character battling the creature on an oil platform near the South Pole, but the plans were abandoned following the critical and financial failure of the film.
- The decision was made to give the prequel the same title as the first film, because the producers felt that adding a "colon title" such as Exorcist II: The Heretic would be less reverential.
