Joel Edgerton discusses new Thing
“It has a lot of curious links and snaps of the old movie”
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
With production on Matthijs van Heijningen’s new Thing movie officially in full swing, star of the show Joel Edgerton has been discussing what we can expect from the flick.
While out promoting the release of The Square , directed by his brother Nash, Edgerton had a chat with Shock Til You Drop about the film, which is going under the simple working title The Thing .
First up, he confirmed that it’s definitely “a prequel”, with the Norwegian base at the film’s centre “modelled on the base you see in the [ John ] Carpenter film”.
“Being a prequel you’ll see a lot of tie-ins as to how the base comes to be the way it is in the Carpenter film,” he says. “Being so destroyed, and that evidence you see in the Carpenter film, we’ll get a glimpse into that.”
Edgerton goes on to say that the prequel can stand entirely on its own for the three people out there who haven’t seen Carpenter’s masterful version, but there are sly winks for those who have seen and love it.
“This film will stand up as a story,” he confirms. “For anyone who has not seen the original, it will just be a self-contained film, but it also has a lot of curious links and snaps of the old movie for the people who are fans or are familiar with the Carpenter movie.”
In terms of his director’s ambition, the actor reveals that van Heijningen’s not “trying to reinvent the [ Carpenter ] film, he’s certainly not trying to eclipse the film”. Neither, apparently, is he trying to remake it.
Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox
“What Universal and Matthijs are trying to do is make a partner piece to The Thing ,” says Edgerton, “while also reinventing the aspect of - modern filmmaking has come a long way - so I guess they’re paying respect to the original while bringing a new time and different [ approach ] without throwing away what they did in the past.”
Think you can groove with this Thing ?
Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.


