Editing The Thing (1982 film) (section)

===Creature effects===
''The Thing''{{'}}s special effects were largely designed by Bottin,{{sfn|Billson|2009}} who had previously worked with Carpenter on ''The Fog'' (1980).{{sfn|Carlomagno|1982|p=13}} When Bottin joined the project in mid-1981, pre-production was in progress, but no design had been settled on for the alien.{{sfn|Carlomagno|1982|p=13}} Artist Dale Kuipers had created some preliminary paintings of the creature's look, but he left the project after being hospitalized following a traffic accident before he could develop them further with Bottin.{{sfn|Freer|2016}}{{sfn|Carlomagno|1982|p=13}} Carpenter conceived the Thing as a single creature, but Bottin suggested that it should be constantly changing and able to look like anything.{{sfn|Abrams|2014}} Carpenter initially considered Bottin's description of his ideas as "too weird", and had him work with Ploog to sketch them instead.{{sfn|Carlomagno|1982|p=13}} As part of the Thing's design, it was agreed anyone assimilated by it would be a perfect imitation and would not know they were the Thing.{{sfn|Kirk|2011}} The actors spent hours during rehearsals discussing whether they would know they were the Thing when taken over. Clennon said that it did not matter, because everyone acted, looked and smelled exactly the same before (or after) being taken over.{{sfn|Abrams|2016}} At its peak, Bottin had a 35-person crew of artists and technicians, and he found it difficult to work with so many people. To help manage the team, he hired Erik Jensen, a special effects line producer who he had worked with on ''[[The Howling (film)|The Howling]]'' (1981), to be in charge of the special make-up effects unit.{{sfn|Carlomagno|1982|p=14}} Bottin's crew also included mechanical aspect supervisor Dave Kelsey, make-up aspect coordinator Ken Diaz, [[moldmaker]] Gunnar Ferdinansen, and Bottin's longtime friend Margaret Beserra, who managed painting and hair work.{{sfn|Carlomagno|1982|p=14}}
[[File:TheThing(1982)-KennelSFX.jpg|thumb|left|The Thing assimilating dogs. [[Stan Winston]] was brought in to help complete the effect. It was operated on a raised set with puppeteers working below.|alt=A creature bearing the face of a dog lies on the floor. Various unnatural formations such as legs and tentacles are present on its body.]]

In designing the Thing's different forms, Bottin explained that the creature had been all over the galaxy. This allowed it to call on different attributes as necessary, such as stomachs that transform into giant mouths and spider legs sprouting from heads.{{sfn|Billson|2009}} Bottin said the pressure he experienced caused him to dream about working on designs, some of which he would take note of after waking.{{sfn|Carlomagno|1982|p=13}} One abandoned idea included a series of dead baby monsters, which was deemed "too gross".{{sfn|Freer|2016}} Bottin admitted he had no idea how his designs would be implemented practically, but Carpenter did not reject them. Carpenter said, "What I didn't want to end up with in this movie was a guy in a suit{{spaces}}... I grew up as a kid watching science-fiction monster movies, and it was always a guy in a suit."{{sfn|Mahon|2018}} According to Cundey, Bottin was very sensitive about his designs, and worried about the film showing too many of them.{{sfn|Menzies|2017}} At one point, as a preemptive move against any censorship, Bottin suggested making the creature's violent transformations and the appearance of the internal organs more fantastical using colors. The decision was made to tone down the color of the blood and viscera, although much of the filming had been completed by that point.{{sfn|Abrams|2014}} The creature effects used a variety of materials including mayonnaise, creamed corn, microwaved bubble gum, and K-Y Jelly.{{sfn|Tompkins|2015}}

During filming, then-21-year-old Bottin was hospitalized for exhaustion, [[double pneumonia]], and a bleeding ulcer, caused by his extensive workload. Bottin himself explained he would "hoard the work", opting to be directly involved in many of the complicated tasks.{{sfn|Svitil|1990}} His dedication to the project saw him spend over a year living on the Universal lot. Bottin said he did not take a day off during that time and slept on the sets or in locker rooms.{{sfn|Freer|2016}} To take some pressure off his crew, Bottin enlisted the aid of special effects creator [[Stan Winston]] to complete some of the designs, primarily the Dog-Thing.{{sfn|Menzies|2017}}{{sfn|Carlomagno|1982|p=14}} With insufficient time to create a sophisticated mechanical creature, Winston opted to create a [[hand puppet]]. A cast was made of makeup artist [[Lance Anderson]]'s arm and head, around which the Dog-Thing was sculpted in oil-based clay. The final foam-latex puppet, worn by Anderson, featured radio-controlled eyes and cable-controlled legs,{{sfn|Martin|2018}} and was operated from below a raised set on which the kennel was built.{{sfn|Martin|2018}}{{sfn|Hemphill|2017}} Slime from the puppet would leak onto Anderson during the two days it took to film the scene, and he had to wear a helmet to protect himself from the [[bullet hit squib|explosive squibs]] simulating gunfire. Anderson pulled the tentacles into the Dog-Thing and [[reverse motion]] was used to create the effect of them slithering from its body.{{sfn|Martin|2018}} Winston refused to be credited for his work, insisting that Bottin deserved sole credit; Winston was given a "thank you" in the credits instead.{{sfn|Menzies|2017}}{{sfn|Carlomagno|1982|p=14}}
[[File:TheThing(1982)-NorrisSFX.jpg|thumb|The Norris-Thing. False arms were attached to a double amputee, allowing them to be "bitten off" by the chest mouth.|alt=A white male lies on a table seemingly unconscious. His torso is opened from chest to stomach in the formation of a mouth with sharp teeth along the edges. A doctor attempting to revive him has both his hands inside the exposed, empty cavity.]]

In the "chest chomp" scene, Dr. Copper attempts to revive Norris with a defibrillator. Revealing himself as the Thing, Norris-Thing's chest transforms into a large mouth that severs Copper's arms. Bottin accomplished this scene by recruiting a double amputee and fitting him with prosthetic arms filled with wax bones, rubber veins and Jell-O. The arms were then placed into the practical "stomach mouth" where the mechanical jaws clamped down on them, at which point the actor pulled away, severing the false arms.{{sfn|Menzies|2017}} The effect of the Norris-Thing's head detaching from the body to save itself took many months of testing before Bottin was satisfied enough to film it. The scene involved a fire effect, but the crew were unaware that fumes from the rubber foam chemicals inside the puppet were flammable. The fire ignited the fumes, creating a large fireball that engulfed the puppet. It suffered only minimal damage after the fire had been put out, and the crew successfully filmed the scene.{{sfn|Beresford|2017}}{{sfn|Carlomagno|1982|p=16}} [[Stop-motion]] expert [[Randall William Cook]] developed a sequence for the end of the film where MacReady is confronted by the gigantic Blair-Thing. Cook created a miniature model of the set and filmed wide-angle shots of the monster in stop motion, but Carpenter was not convinced by the effect and used only a few seconds of it.{{sfn|Menzies|2017}} It took fifty people to operate the Blair-Thing puppet.{{sfn|Kirk|2011}}

The production intended to use a camera centrifuge{{snd}}a rotating drum with a fixed camera platform{{snd}}for the Palmer-Thing scene, allowing him to seem to run straight up the wall and across the ceiling. Again, the cost was too high and the idea abandoned for a stuntman falling into frame onto a floor made to look like the outpost's ceiling.{{sfn|Cohen|2011g}} Stuntman Anthony Cecere stood in for the Palmer-Thing after MacReady sets it on fire and it crashes through the outpost wall.{{sfn|Rosenbaum|1982}}