Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director Dan Trachtenberg about his work on ‘Predator: Badlands’, coming up with the new story, connecting it to the larger ‘Alien vs. Predator’ series, making the Predator the protagonist, creating the Predator language, casting Elle Fanning in her dual roles, and what fans can expect from future installments of the franchise.
(L to R) Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, director Dan Trachtenberg, and Elle Fanning at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 Hall H panel for ‘Predator: Badlands’. Photo: Disney.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.
Director Dan Trachtenberg at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 Hall H panel for ‘Predator: Badlands’. Photo: Disney.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about breaking the story for this film, and was it something that you were thinking about while you were making ‘Prey’?
Dan Trachtenberg: It came at the tail end of ‘Prey’. I just started thinking about, what would we do next if we were to do another one? I really felt like, if the next thing is just part two of what we just did, then the movie doesn’t get to stand on its own merits. Sometimes, you make a special thing and then part two is just the sequel to the special thing, not a special thing in and of itself. So, it was like, what would be another idea if I was making a first Predator movie again? There was this fan sentiment about the Predator of like, “Why does he always lose?” So that sparked the idea of, “Okay, if the Predator wins, what would be a story in which I could be rooting for the Predator? That led to the Predator as the protagonist and being thrust into the gauntlet like Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Naru (Amber Midthunder), and Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover). You know, like all the protagonists go through. What if the Predator was going through that gauntlet? Then really wanting to find a story where you could emotionally connect with this monster and have a great time with. I did not want to put any humans in the movie because if we put in a human, then it would just become a two-hander again and the human would feel like a protagonist so that’s why it became a robot. The idea of a broken robot, like Chewbacca and C-3PO, and then Weyland-Yutani and Synths, so it all spiraled from thinking of “what hasn’t been done” in Predator movies and what hasn’t been done in sci-fi.
MF: The film has several references to other Predator movies but also contains Easter Eggs for the ‘Alien’ series and the larger ‘Alien vs. Predator’ franchise. Can you talk about the choice to include those references in this movie?
DT: With ‘Alien’ and ‘Predator’, it’s not taking the big action figures and throwing them together, but instead, taking a little portion from one franchise and have that interwoven into the other, to say that’s another way of universe unifying and building it. That felt exciting to me. Frankly, it was born out of what the story wanted anyway. If the ‘Alien’ franchise was at another studio, we still would have made this movie. It just wouldn’t have been Weyland-Yutani as the company, but because it could be Wayland, it meant that then we could include MU/TH/UR and have it reflected in the father dynamic that Dek has. So, all of that made the movie richer but it wasn’t like, “We need to do ‘Alien vs. Predator’ How are we going to do that?” It didn’t come from that; it came from the narrative needs.
MF: Can you also talk about the choice to make the Predator the protagonist of this movie and show his home planet for the first time?
DT: It was incredibly challenging. The language, obviously had to be developed whole cloth, both written and spoken. His face, which was deliciously designed by Stan Winston with James Cameron‘s input to include the mandibles back in the 80s, is so cool for being a frightening and intimidating creature. But not at all conducive to having a wide range of emotion like we needed in the film. So, it was a great challenge to have to translate what Demetrius was performing into a face that has no nose, no lips, and teeth that don’t even let the mouth close. There was a temptation to cover his face up more and have him wear the mask. But I really didn’t want to soften our attempt at saying, “It’s a monster and you’re going to care.” So, we faced the challenge head on.
MF: Can you also talk about the challenges of creating the Predator’s language for this movie?
DT: We worked with a language expert, Britton Watkins, who’s both a language expert and sci-fi fan and really developed an entire grammar structure and dictionary, all based off of the physiology of the Yautja from ‘Predator’. So, it all comes from the way that we assume the throat works and the mandibles and all of that. It was an entirely custom-made language for the movie that Demetrius and Elle had to learn. I had a script that I could look at, but I really paid more attention to rhythm and emotion, and that things felt authentic rather than needing to know the pronunciations.
MF: Can you talk about casting Elle Fanning as both Thia and Tessa, and her specific and separate performances?
DT: That was the exciting thing. We’ve seen a lot of twin portrayals in movies throughout the years and characters doing dual roles, but being the funny sidekick, as well as the villain, typically requires two different actors. What Elle did is tremendous, and I got a lot of inspiration in watching ‘The Great’, where she was funny and there was an innocence to her character when it starts, then she must get really intense and that’s what clicked a nerve for me in casting her.
MF: Finally, have you started thinking about ideas for another installment yet? If so, would it be another original story, or would it include returning characters from ‘Prey’ or ‘Badlands’?
DT: I’m really developing both. I’m in this moment now where I was after ‘Prey’, where I was just trying to get excited about a path to take. I came up with a bunch of different paths and in that case, making both at the same time with ‘Predator: Killer of Killers’ and ‘Badlands’. So, now we are figuring out what the next step of some of the characters are. We’re also figuring out and have been quite stoked about some other ways into the franchise that we haven’t seen before So, all things are being developed.
‘Predator: Badlands’ will be available February 12th on Hulu and on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD February 17th.
Cast out from his clan, a young Predator (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) finds an unlikely ally in a damaged android (Elle Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.
Who is in the cast of ‘Predator: Badlands’?
Elle Fanning as Thia and Tessa
Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Dek and as the voice of Njohrr
After teaming with the ‘Alien‘ franchise for two movies, director Dan Trachtenberg brought the franchise back to popularity with the Emmy winning ‘Prey‘, which debuted on Hulu.
Now Trachtenberg is back with a new installment of the franchise called ‘Predator: Badlands‘, which stars Elle Fanning and will be release in theaters on November 7th.
In honor of the new release, Moviefone is counting down every ‘Predator’ movie ever made, including the ‘AVP‘ movies, animated films and ‘Badlands’.
2007’s ‘Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
After a horrifying PredAlien crash-lands near a small Colorado town, killing everyone it encounters and producing countless Alien offspring, a lone Predator arrives to “clean up” the infestation.
When a young boy (Jacob Tremblay) accidentally triggers the universe’s most lethal hunters’ return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled scientist (Olivia Munn) can prevent the end of the human race.
2004’s ‘AVP: Alien vs. Predator’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
When scientists discover something near Antarctica that appears to be a buried Pyramid, they send a research team out to investigate. Little do they know that they are about to step into a hunting ground where Aliens are grown as sport for the Predator race.
Danny Glover in ‘Predator 2’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
A police chief (Danny Glover) in the war-torn streets of Los Angeles discovers that an extraterrestrial creature is hunting down residents – and that he is the next target.
While three of the fiercest warriors in human history—a Viking raider, a ninja in feudal Japan, and a WWII pilot—are killers in their own right, they are merely prey for their new opponent: the ultimate killer of killers.
Cast out from his clan, a young Predator finds an unlikely ally in a damaged android (Elle Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.
When danger threatens her camp, the fierce and highly skilled Comanche warrior Naru (Amber Midthunder) sets out to protect her people. But the prey she stalks turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal.
In honor of the new release, Moviefone is counting down every film Shane Black has either written or directed.
NOTE: For this list we are only including films where Black has a writing or directing credit, and not films where he only has a Story By credit or an acting credit.
When a young boy (Jacob Tremblay) accidentally triggers the universe’s most lethal hunters’ return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled scientist (Olivia Munn) can prevent the end of the human race.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in ‘Last Action Hero’. Photo: Sony Pictures Entertainment.
After his father’s death, a young boy (Austin O’Brien) finds solace in action movies featuring an indestructible cop (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Given a magic ticket by a theater manager, he is transported into the film and teams up with the cop to stop a villain who escapes into the real world.
Count Dracula (Duncan Regehr) adjourns to Earth, accompanied by Frankenstein’s Monster (Tom Noonan), the Wolfman (Carl Thibault), the Mummy (Michael Reid MacKay), and the Gillman (Tom Woodruff Jr.). The uglies are in search of a powerful amulet that will grant them power to rule the world. Our heroes – the Monster Squad are the only ones daring to stand in their way.
(L to R) Mark Wahlberg and LaKeith Stanfield in ‘Play Dirty’. Photo: Prime Video.
Expert thief Parker (Mark Wahlberg) gets a shot at a major heist, but to pull it off he and his team must outsmart a South American dictator, the New York mob, and the world’s richest man.
(L to R) Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson in ‘The Long Kiss Goodnight’. Photo: New Line Cinema.
Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) is a small-town schoolteacher and mom with no memory of her life before washing up on a beach eight years ago. After a car accident and a violent home invasion trigger flashes of her past, she discovers she used to be a deadly CIA assassin. Teaming up with a wisecracking private investigator (Samuel L. Jackson), Samantha must return to her old ways to take down the people who tried to erase her.
Robert Downey Jr. in ‘Iron Man 3’. Photo: Marvel Studios.
When Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution.
(L to R) Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe in ‘The Nice Guys’. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
A private eye (Ryan Gosling) and an enforcer (Russell Crowe) investigate the apparent suicide of a fading porn star (Margaret Qualley) in 1970s Los Angeles and uncovers a conspiracy.
(L to R) Danny Glover and Mel Gibson in ‘Lethal Weapon’. Photo: Warner Bros.
A veteran cop (Danny Glover) and an unstable detective (Mel Gibson) become partners who must put their differences aside in order to bring down a heroin-smuggling ring run by ex-Special Forces.
(L to R) Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans in ‘The Last Boy Scout’. Photo: Warner Bros.
When the girl (Halle Berry) that detective Joe Hallenback (Bruce Willis) is protecting gets murdered, the boyfriend (Damon Wayans) of the murdered girl attempts to investigate and solve the case. What they discover is that there is deep seated corruption going on between a crooked politician and the owner of a pro football team.
(L to R) Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr. in ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.’ Photo: Warner Bros.
A petty thief posing as an actor (Robert Downey Jr.) is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl (Michelle Monaghan) and a detective (Val Kilmer) who’s been training him for his upcoming role.
‘Predator: Killer of Killers’ receives 7.5 out of 10 stars.
On Hulu on June 6th is ‘Predator: Killer of Killers,’ an animated anthology that has Predator creatures dropping in on three very different time periods of Earth.
Dan Trachtenberg certainly brought a breath of fresh air to the ‘Predator’ franchise after even Shane Black couldn’t manage to breathe new life into it with the disappointing ‘The Predator.’ So Trachtenberg has naturally been given free rein to explore other avenues, and he’s been on a cherry picking mission through the wider Predator mythology (which includes comic books, novelizations and video games) to find different looks for the Yautja aliens –– the Predators’ actual species name –– and different human challenges for them to face.
Yet as with any attempt to build on an existing franchise, does ‘Killer of Killers’ establish itself as worthy?
Trachtenberg worked up the story for the new movie alongside Micho Robert Rutare, with the latter tasked into turning their concepts into a screenplay. The result, as with any anthology is a mixed bag, with one of the stories standing out from the others; though all have something to recommend them.
The first, ‘The Shield,’ takes place in Viking times (841 A.D. if you really want to get specific), and sees a Predator incursion interrupting a clash between clan leader Ursa and Zoran, the war chief who murdered her father. A little like ‘Prey,’ it follows a rite of passage, as Ursa’s son Anders is being encouraged to fight like a warrior. Suffice to say, there are plenty of hacked limbs and slashed midriffs –– and that’s before the Predator creature even shows up.
‘The Shield’ manages some good moments undercutting expectations, though it is also relatively slight.
‘The Sword’ brings us forward in time to Samurai-era Japan, where a ninja has turned against the Samurai brother he was raised opposite. This time, the story of vengeance is slightly more nuanced, and the Predator who arrives to add to the chaos nimbler than the previous example.
Finally, ‘The Bullet,’ the third story, is set during World War II and features something truly new and different –– at least in big-screen ‘Predator’ action –– while it is the story of young mechanic (and wannabe pilot) Torres, it’s mostly set in the air, as American fighter planes take on a Predator spaceship.
It won’t surprise you to learn, particularly given Trachtenberg’s involvement, that there is also more going on here –– but spoiler concerns prevent us from talking more about that element. Suffice to say, there are connections here that slowly reveal themselves, and deepen the story.
On the animation front, Josh Wassung’s team acquit themselves admirably, creating subtly different styles for each time period, but finding a way to have them feel of a piece. While occasional moments can look like a video game cutscene, and the jerky animation can take a little getting used to, the overall effect works.
And, as mentioned, setting these stories in an animated world gives plenty of scope for bigger action set pieces and wilder moments.
Barring one or two recognizable names (Michael Biehn, Rick Gonzalez, Lauren Holt, Louis Ozawa and Doug Cockle), the voice cast here is mostly made up of people who will be familiar to die-hard gamers and animation fans.
Still, there are effective performances here –– Gonzalez gets a chance to shine as Torres, the young mechanic with some serious piloting chops in the World War II entry, while Lindsay LaVanchy does good work as Ursa, the Viking warrior aiming to forge the next generation of fighter while burning with vengeful fury.
Though the script and, by nature the anthology format, doesn’t always give the cast the most rounded of characters to play, they all work well.
Some ‘Predator’ fanatics might quibble with a few details here and there, and the quality of the stories can be mixed, but ‘Killer of Killers’ proves to be a welcome addition to the franchise, providing some visuals that would be prohibitively expensive in live-action and leaning into the mythology.
A few lingering story tendrils push it into Marvel territory in terms of wondering if this is all place-setting for Trachtenberg’s upcoming live-action ‘Predator: Badlands,’ but again, to even speculate about that is verging on spoiler territory.
And regardless, ‘Killer of Killers’ manages to tell a mostly contained, solid story with some welcome, clever nods to the ‘Predator’ movies of the past.
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What’s the story of ‘Predator: Killer of Killers’?
The anthology story follows three of the fiercest warriors in human history: a Viking raider guiding her young son on a bloody quest for revenge, a ninja in feudal Japan who turns against his Samurai brother in a brutal battle for succession, and a WWII pilot who takes to the sky to investigate an otherworldly threat to the Allied cause.
But while all these warriors are killers in their own right, they are merely prey for their new opponent –– the ultimate killer of killers.
Who is in the cast of ‘Predator: Killer of Killers’?
In ‘One Ranger,’ a gunslinging Texas ranger (Thomas Jane) tracks a bank robber (Dean Jagger) across the desert — only to discover he’s an international terrorist set on detonating a bomb in the heart of London. When the lawman’s partner is killed, he is drawn into partnership with a British intelligence agent (Dominique Tipper) and her boss (John Malkovich) to bring the outlaw to justice — dead or alive.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Thomas Jane about his work on ‘One Ranger,’ the “fish out of water” premise, creating his character, his partnership with Dominique Tipper’s character, the action sequences, working with John Malkovich and the possibilities of a sequel.
Thomas Jane in ‘One Ranger.’
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Thomas Jane, and writer and director Jesse V. Johnson about ‘One Ranger.’
Moviefone: To begin with, I thought this character fit you like a glove and is a prefect Thomas Jane role. Did you recognize that when you first read the script, and what were some of the aspects of the character you were excited to explore on screen?
Thomas Jane: I’ve had a lot of fun with creating iconic, classic characters, people that are a little left of center. This guy, just by being alive in 2023, is already a fish out of water even in his own world. We’re fortunate enough to be the opening night film at the Dallas Film Festival, so we’re in Texas Ranger country right now. I feel a real responsibility to creating something that these guys are probably going to watch. It’s probably only a few of them, but they’re going to watch this thing. So, I wanted to make sure not to embarrass myself and create something that honored who they are and what they do, because we need more Texas Rangers in the world right now.
MF: Can you talk about the unlikely partnership that your character forms with Dominique Tipper’s character throughout the events of the film?
TJ: We had this British character in the script and we were batting around ideas, and I had just worked with Dominique for five years on ‘The Expanse,’ and we had a really nice relationship. She’s a good egg. She’s dedicated, and we had the connection already between the two of us. So for us it was creating the antagonism that these two obviously are from opposite sides of the pond, and we wanted to have fun with that. But we knew that underneath was the respect that we both just naturally have for each other, so she ended up being a perfect choice and I’m just glad she said yes. It was a lot of fun but it was a tough shoot.
Dominique Tipper in ‘One Ranger.’
MF: I know you’ve worked with John Malkovich before, but what was it like for you to reunite with him again and work together on this movie?
TJ: He’s one of those consummate actors that every actor respects and admires. I remember when he did ‘Of Mice and Men’ back in the day, that must have been like the ‘80s when he hit the scene doing theater in Chicago and all that. So he’s always been someone to look up to and its always a thrill when you get to work with that caliber of talent. He always shows up. He showed up and he did his job. He was present, and he was there. A lot of these actors that come in for a short period of time, you can’t really count on them. Sometimes they need cue cards, you know what I mean? Not Malkovich. He shows up to have fun, and we certainly did have a good time. These two characters were allies. They’re on the same side, ostensibly, but they have very different ideas about how to get the job done, and that was fun. We had a respect, but also there was an antagonism and you’re always looking for that kind of thing.
Thomas Jane in ‘One Ranger.’
MF: I know that you did a lot of your own stunts and action sequences in this film, do you enjoy doing that and does it help you to stay in character and make those scenes as realistic as possible?
TJ: I’m a huge fan of Harrison Ford and if you watch his movies, even in something like ‘Frantic,’ that Polanski directed. Where his family gets kidnapped and he’s got to go after them, but he’s a regular dude. His physicality is just so great. He can say so much with the character just in the way that he moves his body, whether it’s ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ or something else. I grew up watching this guy, with his physicality. You know that it’s him because of the way he moves. You know that’s not a stunt guy because it’s Harrison Ford and the way he moves his body is telling us that he’s scared but he’s going to do it anyway, that he’s never been in this situation before but he’s figuring it out as he goes along. I always aspire to bring something like that because it always struck me. That’s why I like to have fun with the stunts and doing them.
MF: Finally, have you given any thought to a sequel and is this a character that you would like to play again?
TJ: We were just talking about that. Apparently Lionsgate has the same idea, so we’re going to try to figure that out.
(L to R) Thomas Jane and Dominique Tipper in ‘One Ranger.’
Premiering on Hulu August 5th is the latest movie in the ‘Predator’ franchise called ‘Prey,’ which is a prequel to the original and directed by ‘10 Cloverfield Lane’s Dan Trachtenberg.
‘Prey’ is set in the Comanche Nation during 1719 and follows a resilient and highly skilled young warrior named Naru (Amber Midthunder) as she discovers that what she is stalking is actually a highly evolved alien with a technologically advanced arsenal.
The result is a brilliant and thrilling movie that recaptures the magic and terror of the original, while featuring a career-making performance from Amber Midthunder.
Set in 1719, the film begins by introducing us to Naru (Midthunder), a young Comanche woman who was trained as a healer but dreams of being a hunter like her brother, Taabe (Dakota Beavers). She soon sees an alien spaceship dropping off someone or something, but not knowing what it really is, thinks it’s a sign from the spirits that she is ready to prove herself as a hunter. Taabe agrees to take her with him as he hunts a mountain lion that attacked their tribe.
However, as they are about to trap the lion, they are attacked by an unknown assailant, who is eventually revealed to be an alien being with technologically advanced weapons, that we as the audience know as a Predator (Dane DiLiegro). Now, with her brother injured, Naru must stop the French voyageurs who are threatening to destroy their land and defeat the alien creature in order to save her tribe and become the hunter she’s always dreamed of being.
The franchise began in 1987 with director John McTiernan’s groundbreaking film ‘Predator,’ which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. The original saw Arnold as the leader of a military platoon who while on a mission in the jungle discover an alien creature is hunting them.
The later films in the series abandoned the idea of one person hunting the Predator in a remote location to lesser success, with ‘Predator 2’ and the more recent ‘The Predator,’ both taking place in urban cities with a large group of characters trying to kill the creature.
2010’s highly underrated ‘Predators’ was the closest of the sequels to keep the original formula, although it takes place on an alien planet and not Earth. And don’t even get me started on the ‘Alien vs. Predator’ films as I don’t really consider them cannon.
But ‘Prey’ takes the series back to its roots, crafting a compelling and terrifying story about one person alone in the woods trying to survive the Predator’s wrath. Setting the movie in 1719 was a brilliant move not only to stand-out from the other films in the series, but it also allows the audience to see something we haven’t seen in the franchise before, which is a low-tech Predator, even though his technology is still advanced for 1719.
’10 Cloverfield Lane’ director Dan Trachtenberg delivers some his finest work yet setting a somber mood and tone for the film from the opening sequence. His choice to use the Predator sparingly was also wise, as it adds to the frightening tone of the film with characters fighting a creature that we can’t even see.
It also allows the human characters to actually be the leads of the movie, as you can relate to them easier than you can a Predator, who by mistake was made the main character in some of the sequels. ‘Predator’ movies are at their best when we as an audience can root for the human characters to defeat the monster. Trying to understand the creature and relate to him has never worked in this series and Trachtenberg successfully avoids that trap.
In fact, there are times when watching this film, you actually forget you are watching a ‘Predator’ movie, and that’s a good thing! It means that the other characters, setting, and situations are compelling enough on their own that you don’t need the Predator, but you are always thrilled when it shows up!
Fans of the series will not be disappointed by the look of the Predator, which is on par with what we expect from the character but is made even more interesting by the fact that this is an older version of the creature. Trachtenberg has fun with the retro Predator weapons, and actor Dane DiLiegro gives a menacing physical performance playing the role originally intended for Jean-Claude Van Damme (Fun fact!).
Dakota Beavers gives a solid performance as Taabe, Naru’s over protective brother. At times the character can be annoying, because he keeps telling Naru she can’t be the hunter she dreams of, when we all know she’s the true hero of the film. But the character comes full circle by the end and really supports his sister in his own heroic way.
While in a somewhat limited role, Michelle Thrush is also quite good as Naru and Taabe’s mother, Aruka. Again, she is another character constantly telling Naru she can’t do what we know she can but does give her daughter the inspiration she needs to fulfill her goals.
With this film, director Dan Trachtenberg establishes himself as one of the best filmmakers working today. While Trachtenberg’s smart direction and the clever screenplay by Patrick Aison help make ‘Prey’ so great, it’s really the exceptional performance of Amber Midthunder as Naru that really makes this movie special. She is a very talented actress that you are going to be seeing a lot more of in the future.
Like Arnold in the original, you need a compelling character and an exceptional actor to make a ‘Predator’ movie truly entertaining. As seen in the disappointing installments of the series, just having a Predator kill people is not enough. You need characters that we can admire, relate to, and root for to defeat the creature and make it a great movie.
Amber Midthunder gives a tremendous performance as Naru, and I for one would love to see a sequel to ‘Prey’ following her character after the events of this film. Midthunder gives Naru an innocence and vulnerability that is essential to the character, while still possessing enough courage and strength to make us believe she is actually capable of defeating the Predator.
In the end, ‘Prey’ is a fantastic action movie and the best film in the series since the original. With fresh direction, a smart script, and a fantastic performance from Midthunder, ‘Prey’ is a surprisingly great film that both ‘Predator’ fans and non-fans alike will enjoy.
If even the genre-steeped likes of Robert Rodriguez (producer of ‘Predators’) and Shane Black (who was in the original 1987 ‘Predator’ and wrote/directed 2018 misfire ‘The Predator’) can’t crack a great movie set within the alien hunter franchise, what hope does anyone else have?
That question will hopefully be answered in positive fashion by ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ director Dan Trachtenberg, who is behind a bold new take on the ‘Predator’ mythos. He’s aiming for more success by turning back the clock and making a prequel movie, which has a new trailer online.
‘Prey’, set 300 years ago, is the story of a young woman, Naru (Amber Midthunder), a fierce and highly skilled warrior. She has been raised in the shadow of some of the most legendary hunters who roam the Great Plains, so when danger threatens her camp, she sets out to protect her people. The prey she stalks, and ultimately confronts, turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technologically advanced arsenal, resulting in a vicious and terrifying showdown between the two adversaries.
The Comanche Nation is a Native American tribe today headquartered in Oklahoma, having migrated through Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas. Trachtenberg and his team have stated their intent to present a respectful portrayal of the Comanche people in ‘Prey’. “The filmmakers were committed to creating a film that provides an accurate portrayal of the Comanche and brings a level of authenticity that rings true to its Indigenous peoples,” says a statement.
Producer Jhane Myers, an acclaimed filmmaker, Sundance Fellow, and member of the Comanche nation herself, is known for her attention and dedication to films surrounding the Comanche and Blackfeet nations and her passion for honoring the legacies of the Native communities.
Writer Patrick Aison, who developed the movie with Trachtenberg, has written for shows including ‘Treadstone’ and ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’, while Trachtenberg broke out in the short film field and TV commercial space. Since directing the most successful ‘Cloverfield’ spin-off, he’s mostly been making episodes of TV including ‘Black Mirror’ and ‘The Boys’.
“It was very tricky to find a way to have the Predator feel, at once, 300 years earlier in iteration and in what it has to wield, but also feel still feel far more advanced than what our characters are used to and have ever dealt with before,” Trachtenberg told Collider. “That way, it really can feel like this David and Goliath grudge match unfolding. That was challenging. Some things in the trailer are teased, and I’m excited for people to watch some familiar gadgets and some familiar weapons in the arsenal, but also a lot of new things that I think are super cool and that I hope people will enjoy.”
‘Prey’ is targeting an August 5th release via Hulu.
The ‘Predator’ franchise has seen a lot of ups and downs in its time – the 1987 original (which saw Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mercenary go up against an alien creature who arrives on Earth with some time to kill) remains a classic.
Since then, the movie series has never quite soared to the same heights. The first sequel couldn’t recapture the bloody intensity, ‘Predators’ came close, while even Shane Black (who appeared in the first film) struggled with ‘The Predator’. The less said about the ‘Alien vs. Predator’ spin-offs, the better.
Hopes are high, yet nervous, then, for the latest attempt to bring the stalking extraterrestrials to screens. This one comes courtesy of ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ director Dan Trachtenberg who, along with writer Patrick Aison, has developed a prequel that spins the clock back long into the past for the first actual encounter between humans and Predators.
‘Prey’, set 300 years ago, is the story of a young woman, Naru (Amber Midthunder), a fierce and highly skilled warrior. She has been raised in the shadow of some of the most legendary hunters who roam the Great Plains, so when danger threatens her camp, she sets out to protect her people. The prey she stalks, and ultimately confronts, turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal, resulting in a vicious and terrifying showdown between the two adversaries.
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The Comanche Nation is a Native American tribe today headquartered in Oklahoma, having migrated through Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas. Trachtenberg and his team have stated their intent to present a respectful portrayal of the Comanche people in ‘Prey’. “The filmmakers were committed to creating a film that provides an accurate portrayal of the Comanche and brings a level of authenticity that rings true to its Indigenous peoples,” says a statement. “[Producer Jhane] Myers, an acclaimed filmmaker, Sundance Fellow, and member of the Comanche nation herself, is known for her attention and dedication to films surrounding the Comanche and Blackfeet nations and her passion for honouring the legacies of the Native communities.
Aison has written for shows including ‘Treadstone’ and ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’, while Trachtenberg broke out in the short film field and TV commercial space. Since directing the most successful ‘Cloverfield’ spin-off, he’s mostly been making episodes of TV including ‘Black Mirror’ and ‘The Boys’.
This teaser actually works to make you eager to see the movie without giving much away – the tone is there, and what more do you really need to know? Hopefully future trailers will not reveal everything. After all, Predators prefer to stay hidden.
‘Prey’ represents the hope for a new way forward for the ‘Predator’ franchise and will arrive on Hulu on August 5th.
Fred Dekker is a genuine genre legend. The filmmaker behind “Night of the Creeps,” “The Monster Squad,” and a handful of the very best episodes of TV’s “Tales from the Crypt,” doesn’t have a huge filmography, but what he has contributed has left a lasting mark on an entire generation of filmmakers and fans. Which makes this new Blu-ray release of “Night of the Creeps,” from the fine folks at Shout Factory’s Scream Factory imprint, such a gift. (There’s even a limited-edition box set version with a little Tom Atkins figurine.)
The 1986 film, Dekker’s first as director, is a charming and gooey low-budget chiller about some alien space slugs that turn young people into violent zombies. (You know, that old story.) With its mixture of practical effects, bursts of drive-in-worthy sex and violence, and knowing humor, it positions itself as a perfect send-up and loving celebration of the kind of B-movies from the 1950’s that Dekker and his ilk grew up with.
In an in-depth and wide-ranging conversation, we talked about the legacy of “Night of the Creeps,” what he learned from the production and whether or not he’d want to remake any of his earlier films. Plus, we get some details on the troubled productions of “Titan A.E.” and last year’s creatively compromised “The Predator.” Dive in!
Moviefone: Are you still surprised by legacy of “Night of the Creeps?” I read an interview around the time it was released that said you wrote it in five days.
Fred Dekker: There’s a little hyperbole in those interviews. I think the first draft was probably more like three weeks. I did write one script in college in one weekend, just because I’d heard the John Landis had done it. I just wanted to see if I could do it. But that was not a script that I ever showed to anybody. I just put it in a drawer. But “Creeps” is probably three weeks for the first draft and then tinkering there-after. But I had a lot more energy and a lot more chutzpah when I was young.
As far as the legacy, you know, it’s impossible to know what the effect of what you’re doing is going to have. You can hope and you can dream. I continued to be bewildered.
TriStar Pictures
It seems like stature of the movie has grown over the years and even looking on this new Blu-ray, the big screening you had in Austin was in 2009. And it feels like the momentum is still gaining.
I mean, it definitely has a life beyond anything I could’ve imagined. I have obviously a personal relationship to the movie that is uniquely mine. I really disliked it for years and it wasn’t tied to its success or failure at the box office. I mean, it did fail although it did have a big following in Germany. All of my films have had these strange legacies. It’s like “Creeps” had a big following in Germany and I’m not sure, but I’m think that may have had something to do with Roland Emmerich casting Jason and Jill in “Ghost Chase,” which came afterwards. It makes sense to me because it’s not like they were, you know, uh, uh, Fred Astaire and ginger Rogers for anything. I love them, but they weren’t Becall and Bogie.
Other than that it didn’t really catch fire. But that doesn’t mean anything to me both in the films that I’ve made and films that I love. Some of my favorite films completely tanked and are very obscure. But I love what I love. With “Creeps,” all I saw when it was finished were the mistakes that I made. And that stuck with me for quite some time. Obviously if it had been a giant hit, my ego would have taken over and I would have said, “Of course it’s great. I knew it would be.” But it took me many years to start to appreciate the good stuff about it. The bad stuff still bugs me. There’s still a lot of wincing that I do when I see the film, but the stuff that’s good I think is better than I thought it was at the time.
Well, I mean, what was your major takeaway at the time?
I definitely learned a great deal from having made that first film because I never went to film school. They wouldn’t accept me. So I ended up making a lot of films with my buddies in college and shooting video and editing it myself. And so I definitely wasn’t a complete neophyte, but I was a little bit enamored with certain directors at the time who are still my heroes, the Spielbergs and Mike Nichols and Kubrick — all the directors who seem to have a real vision and you can spot their movies a mile away. The Coen Brothers, Michael Mann and people like that. So I was very beholden to smy vision of the movie in my head. And the problem with that is that I ended up shooting things in a particular way.
On the Blu-ray Michael [the editor] talks about the scene in the frat house where Chris and JC are pledging. And the Bradster is sort of doing a very subtle Nazi indoctrination. And I storyboarded that very meticulously and every shot is exactly as I storyboarded it, but I wasn’t paying enough attention at the time to pace. The thing that I learned from “Night of the Creeps” that went going into “Monster Squad” and anything else that I had done since then is to have a stopwatch and make sure that however long it takes to play the scene or the take, that we do a couple at different speeds and presumably faster. If you look at the Preston Sturges comedies of the forties or some of the great comic directors of those days or even Howard Hawks, where he had everybody talking over each other very quickly. I think that’s a great litmus test because people will almost never blame you if your movie goes too quickly, but they will get their noses out of joint if it’s too slow. So the lesson I learned on “Creeps” was pace. But there’s times when it takes its time and that really, really works for it. Making movies is trying to catch lightning in a bottle and it’s very, very tricky to do.
Well, has anyone ever approached you and have you had any interest in, in adapting “Night of the Creeps” for TV or doing a remake? Was that ever a possibility or something that you want to explore?
Here’s the thing. I mean, I’ve made three feature films. I directed an episode of “Tales from the Crypt.” And that is the oeuvre that I have; that’s kind of my entire filmography. And that’s not by choice, by any stretch of the imagination. If any of these pictures had done really, really well, if “Monster Squad” had been a hit, I already had a deal to make the next film, which was going to be the “Johnny Quest” movie. And then when “Monster Squad” tanked, obviously the studio and I don’t blame them, went, “Well I don’t know.” The idea that I would go back and remake one of my three movies is, to me, just insane. Life is too short as it is.
Are you opposed to somebody else remaking them?
Absolutely I am. I’ll be completely honest, Shane Black and I have both been approached about adapting “The Monster Squad” for television. Was it my first choice? No. But I’m a big fan now of long form television. I think “Breaking Bad” was a seminal viewing experience for me that I equated with “The Godfather.” I think it’s the modern version of “The Godfather.” It just happens to be 62 hours long instead of, you know, two-and-a-half to three-hours long. So I’m a big fan of that. And figuring out a way to take “Monster Squad” and turn it into a long form series was very exciting to me. But when we were approached, it was right after “Stranger Things.”
Hollywood has, as you must know, a monkey see, monkey do a business where, Oh, well that’s successful, so let’s just rip that off. So Shane and I had a meeting at Paramount. I said, “Let me just clarify — you guys want us to do a rip off of a rip off of us?” And they all sort of laughed. But that’s basically what it came down to. And my other thought was on “The Monster Squad” was to show us the squad as they are now, because the fans that discovered the movie when they were very young, the age of the kids in the film, they may not have seen in the movie theater. They may have seen it on HBO or on video, but they grew up with it in the same way that the characters in that movie would have grown up.
I thought, well, let’s make this movie for the people who fell in love when they were kids and say, “Where is the squad as adults?” And Shane said to me, “Well that’s it.” I said, “Yeah, it’s a great idea.” And he goes, “No, that’s Stephen King‘s ‘It.’ the first part of the book and the first movie is them as kids fighting monsters and the second movie is them as adults fighting monsters.” So as a fan of the genre, there is nothing to me remotely interesting or new about “Monster Squad” as a movie or a TV show. Maybe in 10 years, maybe in 15 years. But right now it’s like, well everybody’s already doing it.
I did set up the director’s cut ending of “Night of the Creeps” as a kind of a wink. Not to say that you know, there’s going to be another one or there’s more to this story because I wouldn’t want to do one without Tom Atkins. Depending on which version of the movie you see… The movie that I disowned was the theatrical version, he is presumably dead, but not necessarily. In the director’s cut, he is definitely dead. So unless it’s a dream and he wakes up and the phone rings and he says, “Thrill me,” it’s really hard to bring him back. And I think he’s the money. I think Tom Atkins in that movie is to me half of the movie. If you took him out or put another actor in there, I just don’t think it would have any of the of the magic or the juice that it has.
And it bugs me when people make sequels to movies are freak occurrences. I’m a big fan “Die Hard 2,” but it goes down a little hard. I even like the third one, “Die Hard with a Vengeance” is terrific but “Die Hard with a Vengeance” at least acknowledges that John McClane is being chosen to run this gauntlet because of previous things he’s done. It isn’t like, “Isn’t that a coincidence that there are terrorists every f*cking places guy goes?” And the “Jaws” sequels are the same thing. So for me “Night of the Creeps” is a one shot. I don’t know what more you do with that idea that’s going to make it interesting or expanded. I wouldn’t know how to do that. That’s one I wouldn’t mind if somebody went off and said, “Hey, I want to do a sequel to this.” I would be interested to see what they came up with.
Fox
Just to touch on some of your other work, you helped on “Titan A.E.,” right? What was that experience like?
Yeah. I wasn’t gun for hire. I needed work and I was approached by Fox because I think they were fans of mine and they saw in “The Monster Squad” a slightly before its time, PG-13 family movie, where you’re edgy enough so that the teens don’t completely look down their nose on it, which is why, by the way, teens didn’t go see it. The movie was a bomb because kids couldn’t get in because it was PG-13 and teens thought it was cheesy and adults wouldn’t take their kids because they thought the kids would be scared. So it canceled out every possible audience it could have had, strangely. It was the same reason that I was brought on to do “RoboCop 3,” because they wanted to skew younger, but they wanted to skew younger in a way that wasn’t going to be looked on as cheesy, which ultimately it was much to my dismay. So that’s why Fox approached me, I think. But I was really just a gun for hire. They gave me stuff that I did not create, that my heart really wasn’t in. And to me it was kind of a no-win situation.
Fox
Can we talk about what happened with “The Predator?” We’ve seen set photos of good guy predators driving armored cars and you’ve alluded on your Facebook page to it not being the movie you and Shane wanted. Can you talk about that?
Sure. I think we were halfway through the shoot. Um, we had devised a sequence which, which I confessed was my idea, which was essentially, our heroes have to get from point A to point B and they commandeer military convoy. And at that point in the film, we had established a pair of Predator emissaries, basically good guy predators. What was interesting to Shane and I was to ask a question that nobody to give a shit about, which is, what do predators do, except for hunt? Because they’ve invented interstellar spacecraft. So they’re not stupid. They’re not just a bunch of Arkansas rednecks who come to Earth to play the most dangerous game. They actually have a civilization and a culture. And presumably that’s worth exploring since none of the other movies do it.
So our idea was that their planet is dying. And so they’ve decided to take what previously was explored, which is to dope up creatures with the DNA of other types of predators from alien worlds and create new targets for their hunt. But now they realized, well, hey, we need maybe to upgrade ourselves just to survive. And then they go to themselves, well, hey, earth is warming up. We like a warm environment. Maybe we should move in. So the premise of the movie is that in the third act was these two predators come aboard the ship and everybody’s freaking out and the predators actually want to communicate. They want to say, “Hey, we’ve got a problem, you have a problem. Maybe we should team up.”
So that whole convoy was trying to get the emissaries to the ship to get away and they were going to be chased by A, the upgrade who we meet in the finished version of the movie and B, and this was a huge change from our initial premise, is that at the beginning of the movie, you see the first Predator that shows up in the movie. He leaves the ship and we push in on this container in the, in the ship. And what they ended up with was the terrible ending that I have nothing to do with it. Shane didn’t write either. That was sort of someone decided it was a good idea.
There’s something on the ship. Well, originally there was a whole bunch of those in the ship. And what those were was those were the gestating hybrids. Essentially what they were nurturing and growing in these pods were the hybrids of Predator DNA mixed with the DNA of creatures from all over the galaxy that would enable them to basically eradicate mankind so that they could populate it themselves. And so the convoy chase, the idea was that it would be all of our heroes on these badass, big military vehicles and the upgrade releases the hybrids and chases them and the hybrids jump onto the convoy. And it’s a big, rootin’, tootin’ fantastic action sequence.
Shane storyboarded it. And we had a pre-viz and animatics and it was I think a really cool idea. At some point or another, the studio, I think, and I’m not pointing fingers at anyone in particular, but there were these misgivings that we were straying too far from what people expected the movie to be. And so we sat down and went, “I guess we need to do a hunt and it needs to be at night, so it’s scarier.” So we ended up going in that direction, which I don’t think served us because it didn’t top anything we’d seen before. I’m actually quite pleased with the first half of the movie, but it kind of goes off the rails by, and Hollywood does this all the time by, trying to appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one.
I think that the convoy chase should have been done at night to be scarier. And I argued for it, but I was just the co-writer, if I’d been a producer on the movie, they would have listened to me more. But believe it or not, that’s the short version of how it became what it is.
Fox
How close did you come to getting Arnold Schwarzenegger to come back?
I think personally, and I argued, again, I was not a producer on this movie, so I could just say things and people will all nod or shake their heads. I believe the convoy chase, had we done it and had we done it at night, would have been something that had never been seen before in a movie. Whether you think it’s a Predator movie or not is up to you. But I thought it would have been cool.
And the other thing I said is, “We have to have Arnold Schwarzenegger in this movie.” Because, like it or not, one of the master strokes of “The Force Awakens” is that ending. Because even though Luke doesn’t do anything except turn around and have a beard, it touches that little nostalgia button in you and you go, “Oh cool.” And then you go to the credits and there’s no way that movie’s not going to be a big hit. Even though there’s not a single original thing in it, all it is just “Star Wars” and “The Empire Strikes Back” combined and you switch it around a little bit and you change characters, but there’s not a single moment in that movie where I go, “Oh, that’s an interesting, cool thing.” Because I saw it all before. I love these movies so I know them pretty well. And I know when you’re showing me something from another “Star Wars” movie. Hollywood doesn’t like to do that these days. They want to just trot out. This is why there’s so many remakes that we don’t need. So they filmed that again with a worst Chucky doll? Why do we want that?
Fred called me back later that day to clarify the potential Arnold Schwarzenegger cameo at the end of the film. This is what he said:
We very much wanted him in the film but what we had written was a cameo that would have spring-boarded into a major role in any sequel. He decided it wasn’t enough of a role and nobody was willing to put money on the possibility of a sequel. He would be taking a pay cut. He would have said, “Come with me if you want to live.” Shane had a talk with Arnold but at the end of the day, the sequel wasn’t a done deal and this is really not a lot of screen time for Arnold to go and fly to Canada and do a half day.
I also asked for him to clarify what he and Shane had to do with the ending that actually made it into the movie:
We shot it. I wrote that very last line. But I wasn’t happy about it. The whole thing seemed to not be in step with that particular franchise. It was one of many ideas that we floated and shot. We shot a version where Ripley was in the cocoon and we shot one where Newt from “Aliens” was in the cocoon. Sigourney didn’t want to clear any future for Ripley in the franchise and ultimately I don’t think anybody remembers Newt well enough for that to have meant anything.
“Night of the Creeps” is now available on Blu-ray from our good friends at Shout Factory. It’s a wonderful edition and very much worth it.
Sony’s efforts to create a Spider-Man spinoff universe certainly paid — at the box office, at least. Critics may have torn apart this super anti-hero flick, but it raked in the big bucks. Tom Hardy stars as a journalist named Eddie Brock who comes into contact with an alien symbiote that fuses with him. That gives him superpowers but also turns him into a slime monster with a really gross, long tongue.
The movie arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on December 18 (and is already available on Digital HD). Bonus features include three deleted or extended scenes, an Easter Egg pop-up mode, and a history of Venom in comic books.
Shane Black’s reboot/sequel to the classic sci-fi franchise brings back the super lethal alien hunters — even smarter, stronger, and ferocious than before — to wreak havoc on Earth, with only an evolutionary biologist (Olivia Munn) and a team of ex-soldiers standing in their way.
The movie arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on December 18 (and is already available on Digital HD). Bonus features include deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Watch an exclusive clip featuring young cast member Jacob Tremblay:
Balancing light scares and zany fun, this family-friendly centers on an orphaned boy named Lewis who goes to live with his oddball uncle (Jack Black) in a house that mysteriously has a tick-tocking sound. Soon, he learns that his uncle and witchy neighbor (Cate Blanchett) can practice magic, which they’ll need when Lewis accidentally wakens the dead.
The movie arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on December 18 (and is already available on Digital HD). Bonus features include deleted scenes, audio commentaries, and behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Blake Lively stars in this stylish thriller as Emily Nelson, an elegant and mysterious woman who strikes up a sort-of friendship with fellow mom Stephanie (Anna Kendrick). Then, Emily disappears without a trace after calling Stephanie for the titular favor. Is she dead? Where did she go? Should her husband (Henry Golding) be a suspect? This is the kind of grown-up movie — beautifully shot, with snappy performances and a carefully-built mystery — that just don’t get made anymore.
The movie arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on December 18 (and is already available on Digital HD). Bonus features include deleted scenes, eight featurettes, and a gag reel.
A star-studded cast — including Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm and Chris Hemsworth — gathers at a rundown hotel in Lake Tahoe with a dark past. Everyone has a secret to bury, and over the course of one night, seek redemption. This mystery thriller is chock full of twists and turns, building up to a shocking end. Available on Digital HD.
Michael Moore is up to his usual provocative tricks again, this time with a scathing look at current American politics and the presidency of Donald Trump. He asks two questions: “How the f–k did we get here?” and “How the f–k do we get out?” Available on Digital HD.
Jonah Hill’s directorial debut is a heartfelt, finely drawn coming-of-age tale about a teen from a dysfunctional family who spends his summer escaping his troubled home life and hanging out with a group of skaters. The film’s lo-fi visuals evoke a sense of time and place. Available on Digital HD.
NEW ON NETFLIX
‘Ellen DeGeneres: Relatable’ (December 18)
The beloved daytime talk show host headlines her first stand-up comedy special in 15 years. She pokes fun at her sunny reputation, fabulous wealth, and penchant for dancing, but also goes dark (and even drops the F-bomb).
‘3Below: Tales of Arcadia’ (December 21)
Guillermo del Toro expands his animated “Trollhunters” universe with this tale of two royal teenage aliens fleeing from a surprise takeover of their home planet. They crash-land in Arcadia, where they try to blend in at the local high school.
‘Watership Down’ (December 23)
A new animated version of Richard Adams’ seminal novel features an all-star cast as the voices of a group of rabbits that flee the intrusion of man and the destruction of their warren. Brothers Hazel (James McAvoy) and Fiver (Nicholas Hoult) lead them through the harrowing trials of predators and adversaries as they seek an idyllic new home.
‘The Year in Memoriam,’ ABC (December 17, 10 p.m.)
The ABC News special pays tribute to notable figures who died in 2018, from Aretha Franklin to Stan Lee to President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush.
‘The Voice’ Season 15 Finale, NBC (December 18, 9 p.m.)
America’s choice for the winner is crowned in front of judges Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton.
‘Survivor’ Season 37 Finale, CBS (December 19, 8 p.m.)
One person will outwit, outplay, and outlast all the others to become Sole Survivor and win $1 million.
