Effects From Another World

It all started with a short story: Who Goes There? tells of an expedition in Antarctica that finds an alien frozen for 20 million years, who is over a meter tall, weighs 42 kilograms, has blue hair, green blood, and three glowing red eyes. When scientists thaw it, it comes to life and absorbs everything around it, including humans. It becomes clear that the thing can mimic not only the bodies of others but also their personalities.

The short story by Joseph W. Campbell Jr., which he published under the pseudonym Don A. Stuart in the August issue of Astounding Science Fiction, dates from 1938. Around 13 years later there was the first film adaptation. The monster looked there like the brother of Frankenstein's creature - but the film impressed a little boy named John Carpenter.

The idea for the remake

A good 30 years later the thing was to be resurrected and John Carpenter, a big fan of Howard Hawks, the producer of the 1951 film, was able to fulfill a dream. The idea for a remake came about as early as 1975 when then-TV producer Stuart Cohen met the young Carpenter and they chatted about Campbell's original story.

At the time, however, Carpenter was still unknown and it took Cohen two more years to convince Universal of the rightness of the idea. However, the project didn't get the green light until 1979, after Alien proved to be a huge success. At that point, Carpenter was no longer a blank slate either, having celebrated a huge success with Halloween (1978).

Burt Lancaster's son Bill was hired for the screenplay, and over the course of the following months and years he wrote various versions, some of which differ significantly (the novel adaptation by Alan Dean Foster, for example, is based on the first version and has significant differences from the film). . The difficulty was to treat all characters equally and to clarify both the motivation and the modus operandi of the creature. Initially, readers of the script found the thing very confusing.

An interesting detail about Lancaster's script (and the finished film) is that the original is used as a reference. Because the destroyed science station where the thing is found could be the same outpost as in the original if the thing had defeated the protagonists there.

Kurt Russell starring

Kurt Russell, who had worked with Carpenter twice before, was cast for the lead role. He was the last to join the cast as the original plan was to cast MacReady older. Ultimately, however, Carpenter realized that this was a natural fit for Russell, with whom he had previously made Elvis and The Rattlesnake.

When Carpenter began work on the project, he wanted to go well beyond what Hawks had accomplished. He wanted a creature that shouldn't swim, fly, crawl, or walk. It should be something entirely new. So he turned to Wisconsin-based artist Dale Kuipers to design the creature.

Kuipers devised a creature that would wrap itself around its victim's head and invade its brain, acquiring any information it needs, while at the same time laying eggs inside them. Carpenter was happy with the design and wanted to continue with Kuipers when Kuipers was injured in an accident and was out for two months. Carpenter then turned to Rob Bottin to turn the design into the creature.

A year just for the special effects

Carpenter had known Bottin from working together on The Fog (1980), but it wasn't until his werewolf effects for The Howling (1980) that it became clear he was up to the task. Bottin was interested but didn't find the design all that spectacular as it resembled too much an insect. So he declined, but Carpenter approached him again and offered to create new designs.

When the director heard what Bottin had come up with, he needed some time to think it over. The artist's visions were so unusual that Carpenter wondered if and how they would even be technically feasible.

Bottin's work began in April 1981. Filming began four months later, with Carpenter editing the film during production. However, the majority of the effects were created after filming was complete, with Carpenter shooting the effects sequences himself.

Bottin put together a 40-strong team - Kuipers had been offered to take part, but Kuipers turned it down - and started with a budget of $750,000, which would later grow to $1.5 million. For the storyboards and concept drawings that had to be made for the numerous effect scenes, Mike Ploog, who had attracted attention in the 70s as a comic artist at the publisher Marvel, was engaged.