According to THR's
HeatVisionBlog, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Joel Edgerton will star in the upcoming prequel to the John Carpenter-directed sci-fi horror classic
The Thing (1982), itself a remake of the 1951 film
The Thing From Another World, based on the 1938 short story
Who Goes There? written by John W. Campbell, Jr.
Matthijs van Heijningen, Jr. will direct the prequel penned by Eric Heisserer (the upcoming
A Nightmare on Elm Street reboot) and Ronald D. Moore (
Battlestar Galactica). Marc Abraham and Eric Newman are producing. Shooting begins in March in Toronto.
Winstead will play a Ph.D. candidate who joins a Norewegian research team in Antarctica after they discover an alien spacecraft beneath the ice. When an alien organism is freed from the ruins and begins a series of terrifying attacks, she is forced to team with a blue-collar mercenary helicopter pilot (Edgerton) to bring an end to the rampage.
Winstead appeared in a bit part in the thriller
Death Proof, from writer/director Quentin Tarantino, and starred in the 2006 horror pic
Final Destination 3. She also played John McClane's daughter Lucy in the 2007 action blockbuster
Die Hard 4.0, and caught Universal's eye for her performance opposite Michael Cera in the studio's highly anticipated fantasy/adventure/comedy/romance
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which opens in Australian cinemas on August 26.
Edgerton recently appeared on Broadway opposite Cate Blanchett in
A Streetcar Named Desire. He also starred in the television drama
The Secret Life of Us and has made appearances in
Attack of the Clones,
Revenge of the Sith,
Ned Kelly,
King Arthur and
Smokin' Aces. He next appears in the New Zealand romcom
Separation City (opening in Australian cinemas in March), and in the action drama
Warrior, from writer/director Gavin O'Connor.
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Australian Release: When it's done