They Live (1988)
Director: John Carpenter
Plot[]
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.
Male Deaths[]
- Gregory J. Barnett [Security Guard #1]
- Keith David [Frank Armitage]
- Norman Howell [Blonde Haired Cop]
- Peter Jason [Gilbert]
- Matt McColm [Police officer]
- Jimmy Nickerson [Security Guard #2]
- Roddy Piper [John Nada]
- Kerry Rossall [2nd Unit Guard]
Female Deaths[]
- Meg Foster [Holly Thompson]
Trivia[]
- The only character given a first and last name is Holly Thompson (Meg Foster).
- Carpenter brought real "homeless folks" into the production for several scenes and smaller characters and gave them food as well as paychecks. "I thought that was a pretty classy thing to do," says Piper.
- Roddy Piper, being a married man at the time of filming, refused to take his wedding band off. That's why in several scenes you can see a wedding ring on.
- The line "I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubble gum" was ad-libbed by Roddy Piper. According to director John Carpenter, Piper had previously written the line in his notebook of potential verbal bits during his wrestling career. He shared the notebook with Carpenter, and they agreed that this particular line fit the character and the film perfectly. Piper went on to use it at a wrestling match.
- The role of Nada was originally written for Kurt Russell. But John Carpenter felt he should cast somebody else after casting Russell in four of his films before this one: Elvis (1979), Escape from New York (1981), The Thing (1982), and Big Trouble in Little China (1986).
- The big fight sequence was designed, rehearsed, and choreographed in the backyard of director John Carpenter's production office. The fight between Nada (Roddy Piper) and Frank (Keith David) was only supposed to last twenty seconds, but Piper and David decided to fight it out for real, only faking the hits to the face and groin. They rehearsed the fight for three weeks. Carpenter was so impressed he kept the scene intact, which runs five minutes, twenty seconds.
