Universal Pictures
Thanks to his new series on Peacock, film fans have been blessed with a bevy of new interviews with legendary director John Carpenter, who hadn’t directed a major project since 2010.
Among his many iconic hits, one of his most beloved films is the horror classic The Thing, which stars Kurt Russell and was released in 1982.
The Thing features a famously mysterious ending, as audiences are left wondering (spoiler warning for a 40-plus-year-old movie) whether Russell’s MacReady or Keith David’s Childs are the titular and monstrous “Thing.”
While cinematographer Dean Cundey had previously claimed that the lighting of the shot gives away the answer — MacReady still has the light of humanity in his eyes while Childs does not — Carpenter not only pushed back on Cundey’s assertion but added, albeit jokingly, that he’s “full of s—.”
“[Cundey] doesn’t know. He has no idea. He puts the lights up. He puts the lights up, and we were in the snow. He has no clue. You tell him that. Tell him he’s full of s—,” Carpenter told ComicBook.com.
Carpenter did, however, reveal who does know the truth behind The Thing’s iconic ambiguous ending: himself.
“Yes, I know. I know who’s the Thing and who’s not in the very end… Nope, cannot tell you. Sorry.”
Carpenter’s comments about The Thing isn’t the only headline he’s made in recent days, as the 75-year-old Halloween and Escape From New York filmmaker also shared his incredibly on-brand review of Barbie, which basically boiled down to: “I didn’t get it but, hey, Margot Robbie sure is great!”
Carpenter has been giving interviews to promote his new Peacock anthology series John Carpenter’s Suburban Screams, which he executive produced, scored, and directed an episode of. Carpenter directed the sixth episode of the series, titled “Phone Stalker.” All six episodes premiere on Friday, October 13.