Obey: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About They Live

John Carpenter’s They Live is one of the most criminally underrated films of the ‘80s. In response to the unbridled capitalism that took over America under Ronald Reagan, Carpenter made a movie about a blue-collar guy who stumbles upon the shocking realization that aliens have dominated Earth. They’ve taken over all human businesses and advertising and they’ve been using them to brainwash the public.

Roddy Piper paved the way for every subsequent professional wrestler-turned-movie star with his compelling performance in the lead role of John Nada. So, here are 10 behind-the-scenes details from the making of John Carpenter’s They Live.

10 The Role Of John Nada Was Written For Kurt Russell

When John Carpenter was writing the script for They Live, he had Kurt Russell in mind for the role of John Nada. However, when it came to actually making the movie, he decided to cast someone else, since he’d already made three movies with Russell (Escape from New York, The Thing, and Big Trouble in Little China).

Before casting Roddy Piper in the role, Carpenter considered a bunch of different actors for the role, including Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Michael Keaton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Tommy Lee Jones, Dolph Lundgren, Ron Perlman, Alec Baldwin, Jeff Bridges, and Bruce Campbell.

9 Roddy Piper Refused To Take Off His Wedding Ring During Filming

John Carpenter was looking for a genuinely rugged, tough-as-nails dude to play John Nada, and cast wrestler Roddy Piper in the role after seeing him in WrestleMania III.

At the time of shooting, Piper was a happily married man, and he refused to take off his wedding ring for filming. So, in certain shots of the movie, Nada can be seen wearing a wedding ring.

8 The Aliens Were Designed To Look Like Corrupted Human Beings

Having depicted alien life in his previous film The Thing, John Carpenter wanted to go against the traditional portrayal of extraterrestrials in They Live.

Instead of making the aliens look like a sleek, sophisticated, advanced race, Carpenter decided to make them look like rotting walking cadavers. This would both juxtapose with the aliens seen in other sci-fi movies and symbolize They Live’s aliens as corrupted human beings bent on corrupting humankind.

7 John Carpenter Wrote Keith David A Role After Liking His Performance In The Thing

When he was putting together the script for They Live, John Carpenter remembered liking Keith David’s performance in The Thing and wrote the role of Frank specifically for him.

He wanted to give John Nada a sidekick who wouldn’t be a traditional sidekick in that he could kick ass in his own right. Ultimately, The Thing and They Live ended up being Carpenter and David’s only two collaborations.

6 The Five-Minute Fight Scene Was Only Supposed To Be 20 Seconds Long

One of the most iconic sequences in They Live sees Nada and Frank fighting in an alleyway for five-and-a-half minutes. This fight was originally supposed to last for just 20 seconds, but Roddy Piper and Keith David decided to fight for real. They actually hit each other, except for the face and crotch shots, which were faked for obvious reasons.

Their mostly improvised fight went over five minutes. Carpenter initially planned to cut it down in post-production, but he ended up liking the full take so much that he left it in the film, uncut.

5 John Carpenter’s Script Was Inspired By Reaganism

Ever since They Live came out, John Carpenter has been very open about the political subtext. He wrote the script as a critique of Reaganism, and specifically the increased consumerism and the rise of subliminal advertising that came along with Reagan’s presidency.

Roddy Piper, on the other hand, always shied away from discussing the political overtones of the movie. As he was living in the U.S. due to a green card, he didn’t feel comfortable discussing politics. Plus, he’d met Ronald Reagan and found him to be a decent guy, so he avoided publicly commenting on Reagan’s policies.

4 The Opening Shot Cost $24,000

The opening shot of the train rolling by cost $12,000 to set up. On the first take, the crew made a technical error that meant that the footage would be unusable.

So, they had to do it a second time, again at a cost of $12,000, meaning that the opening shot of the film cost a total of $24,000.

3 Vince McMahon Tried To Stop Roddy Piper From Starring In They Live

Vince McMahon didn’t want Roddy Piper to appear in They Live – which was no surprise to John Carpenter – and promised to find Piper another film project with the same pay rate. However, Piper passed on the movie McMahon dug up for him and still wanted to make They Live. The disagreement led to Piper cutting ties with the WWF (now known as WWE).

According to Piper, McMahon was a control freak. When Piper eventually returned to wrestling, he was twice as popular as when he left, and he credits They Live with creating that buzz.

2 John Carpenter Recycled A Prop From Ghostbusters For This Movie

The alien communication device used by the guards near the end of They Live was a recycled prop that was previously used as the PKE Meter in Ghostbusters. When John Carpenter was first pitching They Live, an executive at Universal didn’t get the point of the film’s message.

He told Carpenter that aliens controlling the world’s businesses wouldn’t be scary, because “we sell out every day,” and Carpenter ended up incorporating that line into the film.

1 Roddy Piper Came Up With The Famous “Chew Bubblegum” Line

Easily the most famous line in They Live is, “I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass…and I’m all outta bubblegum.” This line was conceived by Roddy Piper himself. There was no one-liner in the script, and Piper just so happened to keep a notebook full of one-liners as potential verbal takedowns for his wrestling career.

He let Carpenter take a look at this notebook, and thought that the “chew bubblegum” line would fit perfectly with the character of John Nada and incorporated it into the film.

About The Author

Ben Sherlock
(3461 Articles Published)

Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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