The iconic 1982 line Kurt Russell came up with on the spot
Credit: Far Out / YouTube Still
To state the blindingly obvious, Kurt Russell is an actor. You already knew that, but what we mean is that, unlike so many of his peers and contemporaries, that’s all he’s ever been.
The industry is awash with actors who form their own production companies to get involved with movies that they may or may not even star in, while others diversify into directing, some have been known to write the occasional screenplay, and others have gone one step further and own entire studios.
Russell, meanwhile, has never been too interested in what goes on away from the cameras. He’s been working since the early 1960s, and he has one writing credit to his name after penning Escape from LA alongside John Carpenter and Debra Hill. He also produced the Snake Plissken sequel, which is one of only two times that he’s taken on that role, the other being The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two, obviously.
He did executive produce the 2004 made-for-TV movie 14 Hours, which he wasn’t in and wasn’t credited for, with another EP gig on Taylor Sheridan’s streaming series The Madison the entire sum of Russell’s contributions to the industry in a non-performative capacity, so he evidently isn’t one for Hollywood politics.
However, he did write one of the most iconic scenes of an iconic career, and since neither Carpenter nor scribe Bill Lancaster called him out for his bullshit, we can only accept that he’s a man of his word. The final moments of The Thing were indeed penned by the iconic sci-fi horror’s leading man, which is even more impressive when it sounds like he did it on the fly.
The film’s finale has been the source of debate, dissection, and discussion ever since it landed with a dull thud in cinemas back in June 1982, and while Russell wouldn’t go so far as to reveal whether his RJ MacReady or Keith David’s Childs were carrying the titular creature when the credits rolled, he did take the credit for what was said between them.
“Why don’t we just wait here for a little while, see what happens?” has become one of the most well-known and indelible final lines in cinema, and as much as he noted that he “wouldn’t want to spill it” as to whether he or David were next in line to transform into something hideous, the indelible sign-off was his idea.
“You know, I wrote that last scene,” Russell offered. “It was difficult, because John and I were saying throughout the whole movie, ‘We don’t have an ending, we don’t have an ending’, and then I wrote that. He said, ‘I don’t want to go through two whole hours and have them come back to square one’, and I said, ‘John, that’s what the movie’s about.’”
When The Thing first introduces its grotesque beastie, the audience doesn’t know who’s infected, and who’ll be next. When The Thing ends, viewers are still none the wiser, even if there are only two candidates. Carpenter struggled to tie things up, only for Russell to step in and script it himself, creating a talking point that’s never been resolved.
