THE THING (2011): Unused Alien Pilot Concept Art & Creepy Transformation Sculptures
Much of the amazing concept art and creepily good transformation sculptures that you will see after the jump were not used in 2011's The Thing, as producers decided to use CGI instead of the practical effects created by the artists at Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. (ADI).
Artist, Paul Komoda, uploaded concept art of the Juliette creature, Alien Pilot, and Griggs' transformation in the helicopter scene. The Alien Pilot is very interesting because the creature was meant to appear at the very end, but producers ditched it for a different conclusion.
"Basically that spaceship would have been originally crewed by an alien race which, as it was relayed to me, would have been on a planet to planet zoological expedition, collecting different creatures and storing them in these containment pods" - Paul Komoda
You'll find galleries from a couple of the sculptors on the project, Mikey Rotella and Casey Love. As a bonus, I also added Casey's images that document his time working with Rick Baker and his crew on Men In Black 3 alien designs. Enjoy!
Images by Paul Komoda
The Thing - Makeup Sculpture Phase for Jonas ADI
Images by Mikey Rotella
The Thing Test - Spotlight on Ice Block Thing ADI
Images by Casey Love
BONUS! MEN IN BLACK 3 RETRO ALIENS! BONUS!
PLOT - Antarctica: an extraordinary continent of awesome beauty. It is also home to an isolated outpost where a discovery full of scientific possibility becomes a mission of survival when an alien is unearthed by a crew of international scientists. The shape-shifting creature, accidentally unleashed at this marooned colony, has the ability to turn itself into a perfect replica of any living being. It can look just like you or me, but inside, it remains inhuman. In the thriller The Thing, paranoia spreads like an epidemic among a group of researchers as they’re infected, one by one, by a mystery from another planet.
THE THING (2011) was directed by Matthijs van Heijningen, from a script written by Ronald D. Moore and Eric Heisserer. The film starred: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ulrich Thomsen, Eric Christian Olsen, and Trond Espen Seim.