MOVIE NEWS – John Carpenter’s The Thing has kept viewers arguing for more than 40 years: is either MacReady or Childs still human by the end? According to Kurt Russell, that is exactly the point, because the finale is not a puzzle to be solved, but the final, unresolved state of paranoia.
The entire premise of John Carpenter’s The Thing, which is based on the novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, is that an otherworldly entity lands in Antarctica and can replicate any living being perfectly. Understandably, this causes the researchers at Outpost 31 to descend into madness as they speculate about who could still be human and who might be “the thing.” The movie ends with Kurt Russell’s MacReady and Keith David’s Childs embracing their doomed fate, as both men have reason to suspect that the other could be an impostor. That ending has fueled audience theories for four decades.
A lot of theories have emerged over the years, and members of the cast and crew have also weighed in with their own interpretations. Cinematographer Dean lot of theories have emerged over the years, and members of the cast and crew have also weighed in with their own interpretations. Cinematographer Dean Cundey previously claimed that he set up lights in a certain way to convey humanity, but Carpenter shot down Cundey’s explanation. Russell himself has now explained how intentional that ambiguity was, and how much he agrees with Carpenter on the subject. Speaking with MovieWeb in support of an upcoming screening of The Thing at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland, Oregon, whose proceeds will go to Goldie Hawn’s MindUp Program, Russell reacted to Cundey’s claims by saying, “I have to agree with John on that.”
Russell also implied that it would not really matter who was or was not human, because total annihilation would only be a matter of time. “Look, the point of The Thing that I think needs to be understood is that movie was meant to be one movie. It wasn’t in a period or a time when we were necessarily thinking about furthering what could be done with that concept. This was a movie that ends, and John and I talked about the ending quite a bit and ended up going with the ending that’s in the movie and shooting it and doing it. It is a situation that, I think it’s such a tight screenplay that Bill Lancaster wrote, and any of the work that we did with it, it’s pretty tight. If this particular organism were to, or has already made its way to Earth, you’d be hard-pressed to be able to do anything about it.”
While many fans try to decipher clues in order to “solve” who is or is not an impostor by the time the credits roll, Russell instead emphasized that the movie explicitly does not want to answer that question. “To me, the greatest thing about The Thing is the ending, and it’s what has given it its life,” the actor noted. “It’s tough, you can go a hundred different ways and say, ‘Well, there was this, or there was that, well, look what that was…’ All of that’s intentional, because the screenplay and the story itself provided the space for that to happen in … the more you present, the more it gets the audience to thinking, ‘Uh-oh, wait, wait, wait.’ Then when you finally get to the end, you have these two guys that both have a legitimate reason to suspect the other, and it’s just, in other words, it’s a movie about paranoia, and it isn’t going away. It’s not going away.”
The Thing marked Russell’s third collaboration with John Carpenter, following Elvis and Escape from New York. They would later make Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from L.A. together as well. Russell’s memories of The Thing largely center on the friendships he made during production, even though the movie is now regarded as a masterpiece after initially falling flat with audiences and critics alike. According to Russell, one of Carpenter’s great strengths was that he only ever considered the choice he felt was best for the outcome he wanted in the movie, not necessarily the one most likely to create immediate commercial success.
“The great thing about John was he was … he only ever considered making the choice that he felt was best for the outcome of what he wanted in the movie, not necessarily the outcome that would create as much of a commercial success at the moment, because it was clearly ahead of his time. It was very difficult to understand that this was a story about paranoia, and so I think about John in that regard and the fact that, when the movie came out, it was very difficult for them to understand how to market it.” Russell also noted that E.T. came out that same year, meaning audiences were effectively choosing between Spielberg’s friendly alien and Carpenter’s freezing, body-horror nightmare. They were probably films for two very different crowds.
Russell said it has been rewarding to see The Thing find its audience over the years, with home video, DVDs, and later viewing formats playing a major role in keeping these films alive. “John and I have had this experience with a lot of the stuff that we’ve done. John and I’ve had this experience with quite a few movies. Thank God for video and DVDs and stuff like that, because they found their life when they didn’t find it in the beginning, necessarily. I think of all those things, and I do like seeing over the years, now this one has become … it’s on a whole ‘nother level.” The actor recalled that Big Trouble in Little China is now a favorite cult film for many people, while the Escape movies were successful and enjoyable to make, even if they were not runaway hits. Those films also built their audiences later, but The Thing sits at the top of that pile.
“I just like that they now see the movie instead of just seeing this, at the time, this was what, 1982, I guess? It was just the monster, or the organism that we referred to as a monster, was just so horrific. It was also chilling, it was pretty disturbing … it was hard for people at that time, audiences, as well as marketing people, to understand that this is a movie about paranoia. It’s about not knowing who’s who, which is the title of the book, Who Goes There? that John – John was not making a remake of The Thing [from Another World]. He was doing a first make of the book, Who Goes There? and I thought that was compelling. It’s a fun thing, obviously, throughout the many years, now it’s been over 40, I guess, that people are able to see it for what it is, for what it was made [for], and really enjoy the conundrum and the Mexican standoff at the end that you just don’t know.”
Source: MovieWeb
