The Thing’s Kurt Russell Reflects on His Character’s Iconic Sombrero

There are a number of memorable character traits for Kurt Russell’s MacReady in John Carpenter’s The Thing, with one of them being the large sombrero the character wears to combat the cold. The actor recently looked back on how much he hated the hat from the moment he saw it, though his trust in Carpenter for what was best for his character resulted in him sporting the accessory, as Russell admitted that it was a case of ignoring his own instincts and putting his faith in a fellow collaborator. Russell now understands not only why Carpenter made the decision, but why it made a perfect fit for the character.

“When I was in there I noticed, sitting over on this chair by itself, was this enormous sombrero. Finally, at some point, I said to the wardrobe person, ‘What’s the deal with the sombrero?’ and they said, ‘Oh, that’s your hat.’ I said, ‘I’m not f-cking wearing that hat. It’s insane. What are you talking about? No,’” Russell joked to GQ. “And they said, ‘Well, John’s already been shooting some stuff with it,’ I said, ‘What?’ They said, ‘Yeah, just established.’ I said, ‘That hat?! Established with what?’ ‘You’re flying the helicopter, they already got some helicopter shots.’ I went, ‘Come on! I need a character to actually hang my hat on,’ and I said, ‘That’s the hat?’”

The Thing marked Russell’s third collaboration with Carpenter after Elvis and Escape from New York, with the pair then going on to develop Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from L.A. Given that a sombrero wasn’t an obvious choice, Russell now believes the hat was a reflection of MacReady’s eccentric behavior.

When asked if he still hated the hat, Russell confessed, “No, no, no, I think it’s perfect. There’s a lot of things, sometimes, that somebody else sees that you don’t see. You have to be open for these things. That was a tough one because it’s just you wearing this big-ass, goofy thing on your head. But, you see, that’s where John had no fear, because he knew how he was going to shoot it. And I started laughing at it and saying, ‘Yeah, he’s a drunk, he doesn’t give a sh-t so he’s got that sombrero on.’”

The Thing was based on the novella Who Goes There?, with that story also inspiring the 1951 movie The Thing from Another World. A new adaptation of the original, expanded story is reportedly in development through Blumhouse Productions.

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