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Director attached to The Thing prequel?

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By Total Film published 16 January 2009

John Carpenter’s classic looks set to become a franchise

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Relatively unknown director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr is in talks to direct The Thing prequel for Universal Pictures, inside sources have claimed.

The director, currently attached to Zack Synder’s Army Of The Dead, is looking to make a movie set before the John Carpenter classic, according to Bloody-Disgusting .

The Thing prequel will apparently follow the ordeals of the Norwegian research camp, seen briefly in the first flick.

Keeping it in the (Macready) family

It looks like Heijningen is also pushing for the lead character to have a direct link to the 1982 movie. The director is keen to make the protagonist the brother of R.J Macready, the character played by Kurt Russell.

Sounds like an awful idea to us. Hopefully it’s either nothing more than a rumour or will be thrown out during development. We’ll keep you posted.

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Total Film

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

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