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News came yesterday via Heat Vision that two cast members have been picked for the upcoming prequel to The Thing. If you have any ounce of awesome in you, you’ll recognize The Thing as the unbelievably fantastic John Carpenter film starring Kurt Russell and Wilford Brimley.  Itself a remake of The Thing from Another World, Carpenter’s version begin with some apparently crazed members of a Norwegian Antarctic research base chasing a dog.  As the story progresses, all the Norwegians are dead and the dog was carrying a parasitic alien that can realistically mimic the appearance of any living organism.

The planned prequel is written by Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica) and Eric Heisserer (A Nightmare on Elm Street remake) and will focus on said crazed Norwegian team, before they go crazy.  In the casting department, mega-hottie and personal crush #17 Mary Elizabeth Winstead has been cast as a Ph.D. candidate who is with the team as they discover an alien spaceship buried deep within the ice.  Joining her is Australian Joel Edgerton as a helicopter pilot, described as a mercenary because apparently only mercenaries are helicopter pilots now, rather than, you know, regular people who fly helicopters.

Normally a producer, Matthijs Van Heijningen is directing the film.  While I count The Thing as one of my all time favorite flicks, and consider it among the top 20 movies of all time regardless of genre, I’m somewhat okay with the idea of a prequel.  I mean hey, it’s not a remake so that’s good.  It’s not a sequel, so that’s good – because Carpenter has his idea for a sequel, though it will likely never get made.  What we’re getting here is something entirely new.  In this prequel, a helicopter pilot and a research scientist will fight the shapeshifting Thing.  In the original movie, a helicopter pilot and a mechanic fought the shapeshifting Thing.  Wait a minute – that sounds like a remake.  Only the names have changed!  And they added a hot chick.

So really what this prequel is looking to be is a remake that has been changed slightly and then stuck into the form of the Norwegian science base.  That said, I’m willing to give this a chance for a few reasons: Mary Elizabeth Winstead is hot.  The Thing is an awesome premise.  Ronald D. Moore wrote it.  Sounds like a not bad formula to get started.  The film is slated to begin filming in March for a late 2010 release.

What do you think of this news?