Q&A- What would you ask writer/director Dan O'Bannon? (1 Viewer)

[Kevin M]

Yes but John has said that he wanted to do a remake back when he was doing Dark Star with O'Bannon and scripts being more faithful to the original short story were being written by others as far back as 1975/76 so it wasn't like Carpenter saw Alien & said "I'm gonna out do that prick Dan! MUAAAHAAHAAA..MUAHAAAAHAAAA!", because he had wanted to do the film all along. This is according to Carpenter of course.
The producers saw how much money Alien made and that is how the money to do The Thing was acquired, it's not like some scriptwriters saw Alien and got the idea to do a more faithful remake of The Thing right at that moment, various people had been trying to "break it's back" for some time.
However I can see how easily this thread is going to turn into a "That Hack Carpenter" thread so I'll not join in because it can only serve to disrespect the good work of both men. I'll not take sides because I respect Dan & John.

 

[John CW]

"The producers saw how much money Alien made and that is how the money to do The Thing was acquired, it's not like some scriptwriters saw Alien and got the idea to do a more faithful remake of The Thing right at that moment, various people had been trying to "break it's back" for some time."
I clearly stated in my original post that the producers knew what they were doing when they greenlighted the picture. Why? Because they knew it would make some money! I never inferred anything else and love some of Carpenter's work... Attack on Precinct 13 is a damned good movie in my books and even The Thing is underrated if you ask me.
But there's no way you can convince me that Carpenter hadn't noticed the similarities to his buddies earlier film when he decided to the The Thing. Some ego had to be there (IMHO) just to do that to a friend... ("Let's see if I can do a version of the same thing just as well" etc). He HAD to know comparisons would be drawn so he HAD to feel he could do something better (or at least different).
Again, I respect Carpenter and his work but there's no point in being biased: Dan has "blackspots" on his filmography too IMHO!
~ John

 

[Kevin M]

The Thing?)

, so that was the basis for my opinion that it wasn't just filmed in response to Alien.
If I misunderstood your posts then I apologize, but they seemed pretty straightforward to me.

 

[John CW]

Here is what I meant (whether it was clear or not I don't know - sorry): JC probably wanted to do his whole "Alien" thing that he'd wanted to do for years (or so he claims at the very least) but the reason the picture was FINANCED (hence MADE - you cannot make a picture without MONEY and BACKING) was because it used a similarly successful formula to a previous financial success: Alien. (People trapped in small space with alien trying to kill them.) This is how the producers would have looked at it - they certainly wouldn't have overlooked its similarity!!
When I said "The Thing was definitely an attempt at redoing the "Alien" movie" I meant from the producer's perspective. Producer's only get to say "yes" to a film a few times year, and for better or worse they're very careful about it. It's an incredibly calculated business and, like I've said already, there's no way they would have overlooked the similarity to such a break-through picture.
Also: When I said "I wonder what Dan thinks of Carpenter's Alien "homage", The Thing?" I also have to believe that Carpenter himself couldn't have overlooked the similarities! ("Let's see if I can do a version of the same thing just as well" etc.) Hence the tongue-in-cheek statement "homage"
I guess if you don't agree you never will, so there's no point in discussing further. I don't mean to deliberately portray someone as a "bad guy" or anything I just have a cynical point of view I guess!
~ John

 

[Kevin M]

The producers motives were never in question, but your opinion that Carpenter's initial (or underlying) motive was to upstage O'Bannon is what I disagree with.
As you say, we will have to agree to disagree.
Plus it is very off topic, any news about what the answers to the trivia questions Dan posed on the old VHS box were?

 

[Michael Allred]

any news about what the answers to the trivia questions Dan posed on the old VHS box were?

We may never know. I haven't spoken with Dan for many months nor VCI pres Bob Blair (VCI owns "Dark Star".) It seems if a new DVD for the film is to occur then Carpenter will have to be the one to move it along. VCI was/is so eager to produce a "special edition" too....
I'm sure I must've posted this somewhere else but I did get in contact with Carpenter a while back and his stance on O'Bannon is that Dan has badmouthed him publicly for so long that he never wants anything to do with him again.
Now folks, just imagine if Carpenter and O'Bannon had remained friends over the years. These men were responsible for "Alien" and "The Thing" for pete's sake! Ah what they could've accomplished together......

 

[oscar_merkx]

let's hope that John Carpenter picks up the phone and calls VCI for that SE, especially since most are on dvd out now

 

[John CW]

Yipe, Carpenter is just cutting off his own nose to spite his face! He doesn't have to have anything to do with Bannon to add something to the DVD! He could record his OWN commentary AFTER listening ot Bannon's if he insisted.

Why are VCI so hooked up with JC anyway? I'm sure there must be other people who worked on it who could say something or help with deleted footage?

~ John