History Trivia / TheThing1982

* FakeAmerican: The English Donald Moffat as Garry.

* SparedByTheCut: Nauls was originally killed by a jack-in-the-box like alien, only they cut the scene as the special effects didn't look real enough, and Carpenter liked leaving it ambiguous anyway. Another scene, which made it to storyboards but was never filmed, showed him [[CruelAndUnusualDeath being eaten alive from the inside out by a series of Thing-tentacles]].

* TheWikiRule: [[http://thething.wikia.com/wiki/The_Thing_Wiki The Thing Wiki]].

* CreatorChosenCasting: Although Creator/KurtRussell was involved with the production very early on, he was actually the last actor to be cast. Creator/JohnCarpenter was leaning towards him but, having already worked with him previously, he felt he should consider some other actors for [=MacReady=]. Carpenter relented after several choices fell through. Carpenter's initial concern was that his and Russell's working history, combined with Russell's fame as a leading man, would telegraph to the audience that [=MacReady=] was TheHero, while Carpenter wanted to keep suspicion high that [[AnyoneCanDie no one can be definitively trusted]], even by the audience.

* NeverWorkWithChildrenOrAnimals: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in the case of Jed, the wolfdog that portrayed the Thing in its canine guise, who received high praise from Carpenter for his professionalism and intelligence. Jed always knew not to look at the camera or at crew members, remained quiet and well-behaved at all times, and obeyed all of his trainers' commands immediately- and, on top of all that, his onscreen behavior is consistently eerie, suspicious and mechanical, as if he somehow understood that he was playing the role of a duplicitous alien.

* NamesTheSame: The actor who plays Windows is named Thomas G. Waites, but is no relation to [[Music/TomWaits Thomas Alan Waits]]. This is lampshaded in the DVDCommentary.

* BannedInChina: The film was originally banned in Finland.

* CreatorChosenCasting: Although Creator/KurtRussell was involved with the production very early on, he was actually the last actor to be cast. Creator/JohnCarpenter was leaning towards him but, having already worked with him previously, he felt he should consider some other actors for [=MacCready=]. Carpenter relented after several choices fell through. Carpenter's initial concern was that his and Russell's working history, combined with Russell's fame as a leading man, would telegraph to the audience that [=MacReady=] was TheHero, while Carpenter wanted to keep suspicion high that [[AnyoneCanDie no one can be definitively trusted]], even by the audience.

** [[spoiler:The Blair-Thing]] was originally shown onscreen much longer in a really bad stop-motion scene, which Carpenter deleted.

** Another example, according to the commentary, occurs when [[spoiler:Mac and Copper reveal the corpse of the Thing they recovered from the Norwegian camp]]. The production team used A&B smoke during the scene, with everyone gathering around. The cast's reaction to the stench is genuine.

** Bill Lancaster wrote the script with Creator/ClintEastwood or Creator/HarrisonFord in mind for [=MacCready=]. Universal suggested Creator/KevinKline, but feared that he didn't have enough star power. Carpenter did meet with him and gave it serious thought. Other candidates included Creator/TomBerenger, Creator/JeffBridges, Creator/PeterCoyote, Creator/ScottGlenn, Creator/EdHarris, Creator/JohnHeard, Creator/KrisKristofferson, Creator/NickNolte, Creator/SamShepard, Creator/ChristopherWalken and Creator/FredWard.

* CastTheRunnerUp: David Clennon was originally cast as Bennings, but found the Palmer character more interesting and fun.

* RealLifeRelative: Creator/JohnCarpenter's wife Creator/AdrienneBarbeau voiced the computer.

** Brazilian and Portuguese; ''O Enigma De Outro Mundo'' (''The Enigma of Another World'') and Veio do outro mundo (It came from another world)

* LifeImitatesArt: During the Covid-19 pandemic, the news about viral outbreaks in a Chilean and a Belgian antarctic base were met with joking comparisons to the film.

* CreatorChosenCasting: Although Creator/KurtRussell was involved with the production very early on, he was actually the last actor to be cast. Creator/JohnCarpenter was leaning towards him but, having already worked with him previously, he felt he should consider some other actors for [=MacCready=]. Carpenter relented after several choices fell through.

** Bill Lancaster wrote the script with Creator/ClintEastwood or Creator/HarrisonFord in mind for [=MacCready=]. Universal suggested Creator/KevinKline, but feared that he didn't have enough star power. Carpenter did meet with him and gave it serious thought. Other candidates included Creator/TomBerenger, Creator/JeffBridges, Creator/ScottGlenn, Creator/PeterCoyote, Creator/EdHarris, Creator/NickNolte, Creator/SamShepard and Creator/ChristopherWalken.

* FocusGroupEnding: Reportedly, an alternate ending was made for this express purpose, where [=MacReady=] is rescued and confirmed to be human. This was apparently the crew's idea. They never meant to include it in the final cut, but they felt it was better to be safe than sorry if the studio demanded a change. Otherwise, they'd have to go to the trouble of getting Kurt Russell back on the set.

** Creator/WilliamDaniels and Creator/BrianDennehey were considered for Copper.

** Bill Lancaster wrote the script with Creator/ClintEastwood or Creator/HarrisonFord in mind for [=MacCready=]. Other candidates included Creator/TomBerenger, Creator/JeffBridges, Creator/ScottGlenn, Creator/PeterCoyote, Creator/EdHarris, Creator/NickNolte, Creator/SamShepard and Creator/ChristopherWalken.

** Music/IsaacHayes, Creator/ErnieHudson and Creator/CarlWeathers were amongst those considered for Childs. Hudson almost landed the role, but lost it to Creator/KeithDavid.
** Creator/WilliamDaniels was considered for Copper.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The film features very '80s hair (most notably on Creator/KurtRussell), loads of Cold War paranoia, and a plot that mirrors the AIDS crisis. Arguably a subversion, as it's explicitly set in the Winter of 1982.

* DisownedAdaptation: The director and star of [[Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld the original 1951 film]], Christian Nyby and Kenneth Tobey, both stated their dislike for Carpenter's version, believing that the gore overshadowed everything else and [[DarknessInducedAudienceApathy made it impossible to care about the characters]]. Nyby even described the film as [[INeedAFreakingDrink an ad for J&B Scotch]].

** Bill Lancaster wrote the script with Creator/ClintEastwood or Creator/HarrisonFord in mind for [=MacCready=]. Other candidates included Creator/TomBerenger, Creator/JeffBridges, Creator/ScottGlenn, Creator/EdHarris, Creator/NickNolte, Creator/SamShepard and Creator/ChristopherWalken.

** Creator/JayLeno read for a part in the film as it was customary of studios to seek out stand up comics as the next potential up and comers.

** [[spoiler:Creator/KurtRussell was almost injured in the scene where he blows up the Palmer-Thing with a stick of dynamite. Apparently, he had no idea exactly how big of an explosion it would produce, and the reaction that he has in the movie is genuine.]]

* ExecutiveMeddling: An extremely bizarre example: the basic cable edit actually makes the movie a lot bleaker and nastier. Carpenter hates it for precisely this reason.

** Bill Lancaster wrote the script with Creator/ClintEastwood or Creator/HarrisonFord as [=MacCready=]. Other candidates included Creator/TomBerenger, Creator/JeffBridges, Creator/ScottGlenn, Creator/EdHarris, Creator/NickNolte, Creator/SamShepard and Creator/ChristopherWalken.

** Creator/DonaldPleasence was the original choice for the character of Blair, but was unable to perform the role due to a scheduling conflict.

*** Though this is somewhat of a modern take on the situation. Back in '82, Russell's biggest achievements were playing the lead in ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork'' (not a financial success nor yet the CultClassic it came to be), being [[WesternAnimation/TheFoxAndTheHound the voice of an animated dog]] (in another unsuccessful movie) and playing the lead in a TV series axed after airing only 11 of its 15 episodes due to terrible ratings. In other words, he ''was'' the relative unknown face the script needed, but Carpenter was reluctant to reuse the same actor as his leading man (just like [[Creator/StevenSpielberg Spielberg]] and [[Creator/GeorgeLucas Lucas]] didn't initially want Creator/HarrisonFord to play Franchise/IndianaJones). However, Kurt Russell did still have some big name draw due his earlier Disney films, and was the most stereotypically "leading man" type actor in the cast (to the point of getting full starring billing: Russell is the only actor to get billed in the opening credits).