A lot of people were let down by the comics. I emjoyed the first two books (THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD) however I was shocked when writer Chuck Pharrer proclaimed if he continued the series that MacReady would be a THING. Your response to that...
“That would be interesting. I didn’t dislike them. I didn’t all of the ones where everyone started turning into things after having sex.”
That was a washout.
“I sort of enjoyed it, I liked the face melting across the floor. I think with the graphic novels they should have let it rip a little more they didn’t actually come up with anything different than what Rob Bottin had done. You would think that they would come up with something more imaginative. I would love to know what the Thing’s politics are. In THE FLY Jeff Goldblum talks about an insect’s politics. You never really see things from the things point of view and you really don’t want to in the film. Do all the separate things link up? Or are they all sort of separate entities? And what happens when a thing takes over everything what’s left? Can they exist when they’ve taken everything over? I was a bit curious about that.”
Would you like to see a sequel?
“Only if Carpenter did it. I think I read in Hello that Lancaster died and his death had been really sad and lonely. And I thought “Oh no! If he had seen the book before he died. Just to know that someone really appreciated that might have cheered him up. He died before I finished the book.”
Your favorite scene(s) and why?
“The Filibrator. That whole scene is really extended, I had just no preparation for. I think I heard about the special effects before I saw it. But hearing it and seeing it are two different things. And you’re just like “WHAT!” It’s that whole scene and the way he played. From the point when MacReady locked outside. There are so many things going on and then he sort of whollops you from left field. You worrying about Clark who has stolen a scapel. And you’re thinking oh Clark is going to attack MacReady now, and then Richard Dysart’s hands get bit off. Then the Norris’ head comes off and becomes a spider head. It just doesn’t stop. I love the entire movie but that sequence. You wanted more adventures with the spider head, it was so weird and really gets you at a primeval level. We all sort of seen gross special effects, but it still packs a punch that noone has touched on since.”
Your favorite character and why?
"Apart from Kurt; you have to like MacReady. He’s a good man to have around when something bad happens. I think the characters are so good, this was another thing I couldn’t agree with the critics on. ‘Everybody’s faceless so it doesn’t matter when they turn into things because the characters were so badly drawn, badly acted.’ And I thought “No!” They were brilliantly drawn I think. I think it was a huge injustice to slag it off in that way. I was always intrigued by Fuchs, how he wanders off and you just see his burnt glasses. And MacReady goes ‘Oh the thing must have gotten to him so he committed suicide.’ You know MacReady with his brilliant sort of instincts on what’s happened. (Laughs)
"At a certain stage I thought Fuchs was a lot like Richard Dryfuss, he’s that everyman. MacReady’s that action man, he’s not everyman. Fuch’s very sympathetic, you kind of quite like him. When he goes wandering off, I was kind of upset and hoping that he would turn up later. Now I kind of quite like that some of the characters wander off and don’t return. If everything was spelled out for you and then you’d sort of not think about it anymore, like the ending. The fact that its not all there makes you think about it more and wonder what did happen.”
A friend of mine was telling me she thought initially the flaw of the film was that many things weren’t explained. Like when was the time when the keys were taken from Garry. But now each time she watches the film, she finds that the film isn’t flawed you HAVE to look for the clues. Like when the THING got the keys: when Windows dropped them in the store room at the sight of Bennings. Have you come across things like this.
“The things about the film that don’t seem perfect are often the things that linger in your mind. The fact there is sort of leeway for different interpretations.I’d love to get together with a bunch of THING fans and argue when Blair was taken over. He’s infected in the shed or is he?”
If BFI wanted to update the THING book what would you add?
“Um, well I’d talk to you (laughs). You know all these things I hadn’t heard before. And give a huge plug to your website. I wasn’t on the internet when I wrote it.”
There is one THING website that largely works from the Bottin Cinefantastique and compares the novel to the film.
“It was probably just as well that I didn’t have access to all these things. The Exorcist book is now getting rereleased because the author has seen more footage I would mind writing an update on it. It’s probably worth doing if there was extra footage.”
There are extra scenes. The dog runs away from the Norweigan compound. Bennings walking into the kennel and the scene stops just before that still when you see him get stabbed with that icepick. Another when Blair describes how the thing takes over the dog. And then my favorite when MacReady confronts everyone with the shredded long johns. He says “What size do you wear Clark?” Clark replies Large. And pretty much everyone wears size large. Now Norris gives a very guilty look at the longjohns as if to show us he’s been taken over. And this is another reason why they cut this scene at the end of it, Clark laughs this very guilty laugh.
“Really? I liked the character of Clark. You get the sense that he really doesn’t care for people but he really cares for his dogs. And that’s done in not a heavy handed way, it’s very subtle but everything’s there. The characters are so good.”
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