Trivia: John Carpenter's CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON

[dragon53]

TRIVIA---in the early 1990s, Tom Pollock, head of Universal Pictures, approached John Carpenter about a remake of a Universal movie. Carpenter said, "He said, 'Look though our library of pictures, and see if there's anything you want to make.' The first thought that came to mind was CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON."
Carpenter looked at the script written by Nigel Kneale (QUATERMASS) for John Landis' 1980s cancelled remake, "Nigel wrote a very interesting script, but it was written for 3D. It was also written 10 years ago, and things have changed since then...We're going to start from the beginning, but we may use aspects of Nigel's work. He wrote some pretty neat scenes, but we're going to redo them."
Carpenter had earlier worked with Kneale on HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH, and Carpenter found Kneale to be "mean" and "irascible" when Carpenter wanted script changes. Consequently, Carpenter chose the TRADING PLACES team of Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod to write the script. Carpenter said, "There are several possible aspects to the storyline. One of them involves the Creature being the missing link between man and fish. It would be interesting to combine that with creationist scientists, who are trying to prove that man walked with dinosaurs 10,000 years ago. They try to prove the literal, Biblical origin of life – in total contradiction of scientific fact...I would also love to work in a little Lovecraftian feel. I'm thinking of The Shadow Over Innsmouth – fish mating with humans. There has been a legend about this man//fish, so perhaps there was a race of them, living in the Amazon. Supposedly, there are hidden pyramids in the Amazon, so I want to try to get that in there."
Carpenter chose Academy Award-winning makeup artist Rick Baker to design the new Gill-man. Baker said, "We actually did a whole bunch of designs and maquettes. My designs for the Creature were kind of like my designs for the Wolf Man; it was very much based on a love for the original material, and trying to stay true to that in a lot of ways. I think we had a creature that was updated, but you could still tell where it came from."
However, Carpenter's 1992 MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN was a box office bomb and led to the cancellation of Carpenter's CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON.

Rick Baker's concepts for John Carpenter's remake of CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON.