I’ll go ahead and admit I’ve never seen John Carpenter’s THE THING. I know, I feel like whacking myself upside the head but I’ve just never had the chance to watch it. Considering Carpenter is one of my favorite directors and the fact that THE THING is apparently this amazing movie means I’m definitely going to check it out sooner rather than later… Definitely before this prequel comes at us!
Word from Bloody-Disgusting has THE THING PREQUEL script getting rewritten! Apparently Ronald D. Moore’s version wasn’t cutting it so Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment went out and hired Eric Heisserer to rewrite the script. Heisserer’s name might sound familiar because he also recently rewrote Wesley Strick’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET script.
Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. is set to direct THE THING PREQUEL. Moore’s script followed the Norwegian camps point of view. An American scientific expedition to the frozen wastes of the Antarctic is interrupted by a group of seemingly mad Norwegians pursuing and shooting a dog. The helicopter pursuing the dog crashes leaving no explanation for the chase. During the night, the dog mutates and attacks other dogs in the cage and members of the team that investigate. The team soon realize that an alien life-form with the ability to take over bodies is on the loose and they don’t know who may already have been taken over.
Heisserer actually caught wind of BD’s newsbreak and decided to comment on the news via his official blog. Here’s what he had to say:
“They were quite fast on the draw, those folks at Bloody. Yes, Matthijs and I are hard at work with the very smart team at Strike on the prequel. We are all so much in love with Carpenter’s film, so protective of it, we’re doing all we can to avoid stepping on its toes. I jumped at this job because I hold the Carpenter adaptation to very high standards, and I knew it would be a challenge to create a comparable companion piece. Sort of a “Nobody better screw this up, especially me” mentality. Lucky for me, the people at Strike and the director have the same standards.
This is a “from scratch” rewrite assignment for the most part, as was my work on A Nightmare on Elm Street. I can’t say any more on that. I have the highest respect for both Ron Moore and Wesley Strick.”
So there we go. At least all this noise means things are really moving forward on THE THING prequel. Keep it here for any and all updates on the project as we hear them!
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