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"THE THING" Screenplay by Bill Lancaster Based on the story "WHO GOES THERE" by John W. Campbell. Jr. SECOND DRAFT March 4, 1981 CAST MACREADY 35. Helicopter pilot. Likes chess. Hates the cold. The pay is good. GARRY 46. The station manager. Stiff. Ex-army officer. Wears a handgun. CHILDS 33. Six-four. Two-fifty. Black. A mechanic. Can be jolly. But don't mess. BLAIR 50. Sensitive. Intelligent. Unassuming. An assistant biologist. DR. COPPER 45. Professional. A decent man. A good doctor. PALMER 27. Second string chopper pilot. Crack mechanic. Long hair. Slight sixties acid damage. NAULS 22. The cook. Bright. Black. Irreverent. But kindhearted. Roller skates. NORRIS 44. Stocky. Rugged looking. A geophysicist. An incipient heart condition. BENNINGS 38. A meteorologist. Dutiful. An old pro. CLARK 24. The dog handler. Likes it here. Good at his job. SANCHEZ 21. The radio operator. Hates it here. Lousy at his job. In the winter of 1982 these men were commissioned by the United States National Science Foundation to gather data concerning the physical and natural sciences on the continent of Antarctica. THE MAIN COMPOUND OF U.S. OUTPOST #31 The interior is a cramped and never ending maze of hallways, passageways and doors which connect the many rooms and compartments within the compound. Sturdy, but prefabricated materials have been used in its construction. There is a laboratory. An infirmary. A kitchen and mess hall. A communications room and sleeping quarters. Other cubicles are for storage and supplies. The most spacious area of the building, and the main center of activity, is the Rec Room. Of the many entrance ways to this room can be seen the small work chambers with their sophisticated computers and other scientific equipment. The below quarter houses the generator and still other compartments for storage. A long underground tunnel connects the main compound to the dog kennel. FADE IN: A STARRY BLACKNESS From out of the billions, the smallest of specks drives slowly forward. It closes; getting larger; its features becoming more identifiable: a vessel. Flip-flopping; out of control. Its stern roaring with flame. It passes; its blue fire surging into the screen. "THE THING" A thundering... FADE TO: BLIND AND FERAL WHITENESS ...Glacial desert... gusts of snow... superimpose: ANTARCTICA 1982 WINTER A SOUND Loud and strident. A helicopter streaks across frame. It travels precariously close to the ground; its chassis battered and swayed by the wind. INT. COPTER Red dials beam on the faces of two men. One carries a rifle and searches the horizon with binoculars. The other pilots. Their unkempt faces, their blazing eyes notate a wildness. They bark at each other in some Scandinavian tongue. Two men arguing like mad and desperate children. The man with the binoculars sights something. EXT. HORIZON - BINOCULARS' POV - A DOG It turns and snarls at the craft some fifteen hundred yards to its rear. Then whirls and gallops off. A gun blast kicks up snow at its heels.