THE THING Prequel Just Got A Lot More Interesting ... Again.
[Yep. Bumped this up with some fresh casting news. Update is below.]
Funny what a difference casting can make. Like a very great many people, I've been dreading the thought of the upcoming re-do of The Thing. Not because I'm automatically against remakes - the Carpenter version is itself a remake, after all - but because the Carpenter version is a true classic and the fear of a studio jamming a bunch of pretty young things into some strip-mined version of the same story hoping to capitalize on the name just did not make Todd a happy boy.
But then came word that this isn't going to be a remake at all but rather a prequel telling the story of the Norwegian base that dug up the alien parasite in the first place. A smart move that, as there's obviously a story worth telling there. That soothed my fear some.
And now comes the casting. Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Okay, sure. She is a pretty young thing but she's not at all a vapid, pin-up but a very smart, articulate actress one who - most importantly - is actually very, very good. If you're going to go young, she's a good choice. The kicker, though? Joel Edgerton in the lead. This makes me a very happy boy indeed. Neither pretty nor young, Edgerton is - dare I say it - cast from the same mold as Kurt Russell, a gruff manly sort of man, the sort that generally doesn't get lead roles in Hollywood any more. His selection tells me that the producers here are looking at what's going to work for the story, not what's going to look good on the poster and that bodes very well indeed.
UPDATE.
So, with production now rolling here in Toronto, Joel Edgerton has been doing some press on the film and saying all the things you expect someone to say at this stage. That's not so interesting. What is interesting, though, is that seeing those interviews sent me off to see what was new behind the scenes. I originally went looking to see if I could find the unit publicist and get myself on set but what I found instead was new casting news. And it's good. Real good. One two fronts. First, the Norwegians are real, actual Norwegians. I'd have been reasonably pleased if they even cared enough to just go Nordic, but nope. Actual Norwegians. More importantly, they're damn good actors, too.
Joining the cast on the Norwegian base are Trond Espen Seim (Hawaii, Oslo; Varg Veum; Troubled Water), Stig Henrik Hoff (Max Manus, Night of The Wolf, Hawaii, Oslo), and Jan Gunnar Røise (A Somewhat Gentle Man, The Last Joint Venture, Lonsj) along with some smaller names.
Of these three, Seim is a full-on, big time Movie Star in his homeland - and deservedly so - while the others on the a-list of character actors. Considering that the studio could easily have put anybody with pretty much any accent in these parts with virtually nobody in the audience able to tell the difference, that they cared enough to go out and get the real thing - and real actors - counts for a lot, in my book.
Funny what a difference casting can make. Like a very great many people, I've been dreading the thought of the upcoming re-do of The Thing. Not because I'm automatically against remakes - the Carpenter version is itself a remake, after all - but because the Carpenter version is a true classic and the fear of a studio jamming a bunch of pretty young things into some strip-mined version of the same story hoping to capitalize on the name just did not make Todd a happy boy.
But then came word that this isn't going to be a remake at all but rather a prequel telling the story of the Norwegian base that dug up the alien parasite in the first place. A smart move that, as there's obviously a story worth telling there. That soothed my fear some.
And now comes the casting. Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Okay, sure. She is a pretty young thing but she's not at all a vapid, pin-up but a very smart, articulate actress one who - most importantly - is actually very, very good. If you're going to go young, she's a good choice. The kicker, though? Joel Edgerton in the lead. This makes me a very happy boy indeed. Neither pretty nor young, Edgerton is - dare I say it - cast from the same mold as Kurt Russell, a gruff manly sort of man, the sort that generally doesn't get lead roles in Hollywood any more. His selection tells me that the producers here are looking at what's going to work for the story, not what's going to look good on the poster and that bodes very well indeed.
UPDATE.
So, with production now rolling here in Toronto, Joel Edgerton has been doing some press on the film and saying all the things you expect someone to say at this stage. That's not so interesting. What is interesting, though, is that seeing those interviews sent me off to see what was new behind the scenes. I originally went looking to see if I could find the unit publicist and get myself on set but what I found instead was new casting news. And it's good. Real good. One two fronts. First, the Norwegians are real, actual Norwegians. I'd have been reasonably pleased if they even cared enough to just go Nordic, but nope. Actual Norwegians. More importantly, they're damn good actors, too.
Joining the cast on the Norwegian base are Trond Espen Seim (Hawaii, Oslo; Varg Veum; Troubled Water), Stig Henrik Hoff (Max Manus, Night of The Wolf, Hawaii, Oslo), and Jan Gunnar Røise (A Somewhat Gentle Man, The Last Joint Venture, Lonsj) along with some smaller names.
Of these three, Seim is a full-on, big time Movie Star in his homeland - and deservedly so - while the others on the a-list of character actors. Considering that the studio could easily have put anybody with pretty much any accent in these parts with virtually nobody in the audience able to tell the difference, that they cared enough to go out and get the real thing - and real actors - counts for a lot, in my book.
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