One can never oversaturate the pop culture conversation with too much content related to John Carpenter’s The Thing.
Considering just how much Carpenter’s directing career suffered as a result of the negative response to the 1982 film 43 years ago this summer, it’s our duty as fans to give the once-misunderstood sci-fi/horror masterpiece as much love as possible in order to make up for years of general neglect. What’s truly vindicating is seeing a brand-new generation of filmmakers tipping their caps to the movie — whether it’s Stan Uris’s head sprouting spider-leg limbs in It Chapter Two or a surreptitious Thing poster hung on Cady’s bedroom wall in M3GAN 2.0 (now playing in theaters everywhere; click here for tickets).
Turns out writer, director, and executive producer Gerard Johnstone “is a big fan of John Carpenter,” the sequel’s production designer, Brendan Heffernan (30 Days of Night, Time Bandits), exclusively tells SYFY WIRE over email.
M3GAN 2.0 production designer Brendan Heffernan explains that John Carpenter Easter egg
“Big Trouble in Little China was a key reference in the shooting of the fight between AMELIA and M3GAN,” Heffernan says. “The Thing was a Universal film so, seeing as Universal Pictures were partnered with Blumhouse and Atomic Monster on the M3GAN Franchise, we knew we could get clearance on this iconic poster.”
Given that the second entry picks up two years after the original, Johnstone wanted to show how Cady (Violet McGraw) is becoming more of an independent teenager and rebelling against her aunt’s many restrictions. A great way to drive that home was through her bedroom set. “She is unique, independent, and strong,” Heffernan adds. “We were very specific to dress [the set with] band and movie posters [that were] both contemporary and nostalgic. A unique identity for a character who has been through a lot and is trying to define herself through an individual style.”
On a more meta level, the Thing poster helped symbolize M3GAN’s well-earned place among Universal’s iconic monster library.
“Universal’s 20th century monsters — Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, Invisible Man and the Mummy — were all hidden away in the [set] dressing amongst collectibles, toys, key chains etc.” reveals the production designer. “Equally important to the design, was we needed iconic dressing to serve a story point. That story was that M3GAN had been observing Cady and had replicated Cady’s room in her lair. It was to be both familiar and eerily creepy; the same but improved. The design leaned into the idea of a witch’s gingerbread house.”
Heffernan continues: “Gerard loved the idea of seeing how wrong a home can be when an A.I. creates it. To tell this story, we needed the audience to recognize the replication. So we made sure to have the same bedspread, furniture, and tables, but with the addition of better musical instruments, collectables, tech, and candy. One key iconic piece of dressing we found that served all of the above was The Thing poster … We knew it would play in the shoot of both spaces. We would recognize the replication, that Cady had taste in good films and, unconsciously, [recognize] that M3GAN is an icon just like John Carpenter’s The Thing.”
More than four decades after its release, The Thing remains a paragon of moviemaking artistry, with much of the praise often directed — and rightly so — at Rob Bottin’s slimy, oozing, and snapping practical effects, which “just have a timelessness that sits so well with the art of cinema,” notes Heffernan. “Film captures a moment and then it lasts forever. I like that in The Thing, the camera captures moments that are real even if they’re only real in the act of illusion. Digital VFX are at their best when they serve this approach rather than replace it. The Thing is a great film to remind us of this …
“Beyond production design though, The Thing has the best and most outlandish creature makeup effects of any film I can recall and again, all done practically. It’s nothing short of fantastic. M3GAN is uniquely similar in this approach. [Special effects and makeup designer] Adrien Morot and his team have done an outstanding job of bringing M3GAN to life without using digital VFX. What they’ve achieved is amazing. The Thing continues to inspire filmmakers to achieve filmmaking ideas practically. It’s just a cooler, more fun way to make movies.”
M3GAN 2.0 is now playing in theaters everywhere. Pick up tickets here! John Carpenter’s The Thing, meanwhile, is now available to own from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment alongside the 2011 prequel and 1951’s The Thing from Another World.
