Stock Characters In "The Thing" Prequel

By our guest blogger, Matt Jussim

A casting breakdown for the upcoming prequel to John Carpenter's 1982 classic "The Thing" has been revealed over at Bloody Disgusting, and the character descriptions have given away some further plot points.

According to the descriptions: The prequel, as expected, will deal with the Norwegian team of scientists in a remote Antarctica outpost who discover an alien spaceship far beneath the ice and decide to thaw out one of the creatures inside.

Interestingly, only one of the three lead roles is Norwegian, with two of the scientists and a helicopter pilot being English-speaking.

The main female character who unleashes the creature by accident is an American. Her feeling of alienation working amid a group of non-English speaking Europeans becomes a key character development issue.

The original film had a specific dynamic because of cast was completely male. There was a specific sense of suspicion and rage that arose from having those guys cooped up together. Adding women will change the mix significantly, and hopefully help differentiate this film from the original.

Some other characters that will be featured: The 40-something expedition leader who clashes with a greedy scientist with plans to use the creature for fame and fortune. There's also the 30-something pilot/mercenary who reminds the lead girl of her father and becomes her partner.

The Matthijs van Heijningen-directed project, with a script penned by Ron Moore and re-written by Eric Heisserer, begins shooting in March 2010 in Toronto.