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The 36 Things We Learned from John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ Commentary

Commentaries don’t get much better than this, folks.
The Thing
By  · Published on July 13th, 2011

Welcome to Commentary Commentary, where we sit and listen to filmmakers talk about their work, then share the most interesting parts. In this edition, Jeremy Kirk spends time with one of the most entertaining commentary tracks out there as John Carpenter and Kurt Russell talk 1982’s The Thing.


Sometimes an intro says it all, and one of those times is now. The Thing remains an all-time classic, even if it was lambasted on release, and the commentary with its director and leading man is the stuff of legend. We’ve listened to it before, and we’ll probably listen to it again, but for now, keep reading to see what we heard on the commentary for…

John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982)

Commentators: John Carpenter (director), Kurt Russell (actor), the sounds of Carpenter’s lighter flicking

Best in Commentary

“The paranoia is the glue that holds the movie together.” – John Carpenter

“It just ate his head.” – Kurt Russell

Final Thoughts

The camaraderie on the set of The Thing really comes through in the way John Carpenter and Kurt Russell talk about their experiences. It doesn’t sound like it was an easy shoot in any way, shape, or form, but the honor of being a part of it is something every member of the cast and crew seems to wear like a badge. That comes through in this commentary, as well. Carpenter and Russell are good friends. You can tell that just in the way they interact. The way they speak on their experience with The Thing gives us an incredible amount of insight into what went into making the film a reality. This insight touches on both technical aspects involved in creating the film as well as personal anecdotes that shed some interesting light on the personal experiences. Most importantly, there’s very little dead air in their commentary.

Stay tuned for more ‘Commentary Commentary’…

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