In addition to chatting to one of the gentle giants from The Predator, Den of Geek’s set report also included a lot of other great information about The Predator. They had the chance to watch the cast between shots, watch scenes being shot and talk to the cast about the time on the film.
Boyd Holbrook, the film’s leading man, had plenty of praise to heap onto Shane Black and his focus on the new set of characters who are going up against the latest Predators.
It’s Black’s focus on the characters and their relationships, Holbrook says, that will separate The Predator from other expensive blockbusters.
“In this demographic of films, these mega-movies, I feel like there’s been a little bit of phoning it in,” Holbrook tells us. “They’re all becoming this big, long film. I’m not tooting my own horn, but that’s why I was so attracted to a film like Logan, because I felt that it had substance and story, but still fitting in that demographic […]Once I saw there was an element of a true relationship between all the characters, and that Shane was coming on, the kind of film Shane makes, I was ecstatic, I guess you could say.”
“It’s Black’s focus on the characters and their relationships, Holbrook says, that will separate The Predator from other expensive blockbusters.”
Fellow cast member Thomas Jane, who plays Baxley, also took the chance to enthuse to Den of Geek about Shane Black’s take on The Predator.
“He’s trying to create a sense of realism,” the actor says, “but also a sense of humour with the thing, you know? It’s a little irreverent. It’s also scary, with a lot of terrific action. I love the idea of taking a bunch of lunatic, misfit veterans who were used up by the military and thrown away – they can’t even get their meds on time, or get proper care – we take these guys and pit them against a threat from outer space. I think it’s great.”
Jane also talks about his thoughts on why the Predator as a creature is so enduring and reveals a little about the nature of his character’s relationship with Keegan Michael-Key’s own character, Coil, saying that Braxley “really want to kill him in his sleep.”
Den of Geek also had the opportunity to talk Predator effects veterans Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr about The Predator’s character design, the mix of practical and digital effects and how important it was to fans to see a real Predator on the set.
“We’re big fans of practical effects, because we think the real stuff just looks the best,” Woodruff says. “That’s not to say there’s not a place for the digital as well, because there always is. So there are several Predator characters in this movie that are practical, as they should be in our opinion, and we think it’s what the fans want to see: a real Predator standing next to a person.”
There are little clues here and there, however, that not all the creature effects in The Predator will be practical. Later in the day, we see a sequence where a Predator goes flying backwards through a window – likely the same school window we saw Holbrook slammed up against in an earlier scene. It’s a small yet near looking stunt: we see the shot from a low, three-quarter angle as the Predator crashes through the wooden window frame.
Once the camera operators have caught the take, a crew member rushes in with those mirrored ball things that visual effects use to add CG elements to the sequence in post-production. First a mirrored ball is lowered in front of the camera, then a matt one, then a third one textured after the Predator’s skin: that pale, mottled grey with an amphibious, sticky sheen. Finally a prop arm is lowered into view; it’s unmistakably a Predator arm, but huge even by the alien hunter’s standards. Could it be that The Predator of the title isn’t a guy in a suit like the others, but a much bigger one brought to life with CGI? The occasional mention of a “10-foot mutha” certainly suggests that he will be.
“There’s sort of a love-hate relationship between the two of us [Keegan Michael-Key’s Coil],” Jane says, his face deadpan. “I really want to kill him in his sleep, but I also feel that we have a connection – we need each other in a way. He needs redemption from me. I just want to kill him.”
Keep checking in with Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest on The Predator! You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Predator fans on our forums!
Full interview with Boyd from the set visits.
https://twitter.com/slashfilm/status/1001206760990896128
Demystifying the monsters by giving them overly human traits, like it happened in some novels, is what takes away the threat, although I'm afraid that ship sailed long ago.
I don't see how witnessing communication between them is humanizing them (which btw I'm a big proponent of keeping them "otherly"), unless you're referring to something else...
Humanise them? Because I agree but they refuse to give the Predator an identity beyond the creature and that's the reason ultimately for said humanisation.
/The bigger badder version of said creature syndrome.
It's really not that hard.
Not saying this wouldn't have happened anyway but if Predator had tried to make it's own identity after Predator 2, or take Predator 2 a little further with a futuristic urban Earth, with its own series identity just beyond the creature itself. Predator would have a world to explore that's not just the creature.
Or riding on the coatails of the Alien universe and making the universe of both of them so much smaller due to that.
IMO do that, then slowly combine it with Alien, (With hints of Blade Runner, not direct connections other than global conglomerates or vehicles.) Then you have a cinematic universe that far and away supersedes that of any other.
So Hybridisation, Predator's speaking and tapping in the Alien technology of the Predator all depends upon execution.
Spoiler
This is what I'm hoping for! Actual conversations between the predators themselves. Even if it's broken and roughly translated, it would be cool to witness communication between them since all we've had so far have been grunts and snarls. (Though who knows, maybe that is language to them.) But knowing what they're actually saying to each other would be kickass.
Spoiler
McKenna: Who are you? What are you?
Upgrade: I...Warrior. You?
M: Same.
U: Warrior. New breed (pointing to Rory).
What a "chat"!
But I think they did not scrap that part. Actually it is the reveal of the film's top "surprise" when it turns out that Rory is the most "advanced" of the human race (I know it can be found out earlier when the Upgrade takes Rory to the ship...but this is the moment when the film clearly tells).
No way this is left out from the final version of the script.
Spoiler
Spoiler
Anyway, they do not say complete, full sentences, only words and with slightly bad grammer.
Spoiler
Very true, like when jungle hunter look at the trap and then look at dutch, or when city hunter realizes he's being fooled by keye's team when changing his vision modes.
I think we'll be seeing more of those expressions, I can't wait!
Director Shane Black opened up to CinemaBlend and other outlets and explained that a significant draw to work on the film involved working with an alien creature who had a discernable personality. Black elaborated:
https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2425421/why-shane-black-decided-to-direct-the-predator
You are correct. That would just be beyond excessive...
I think enough has happened in the previous movies and artifacts have been left lying around to assume that the right people know enough about what's going on. Not a secret, but not something that the general public knows about. I imagine the latter part will probably change after this movie.
Though, to be fair, Anna in Predator was quite familiar with the legend of the "Demon who makes Trophies of Man."
I understood what you meant
I'm hoping for a good twist
Kinda like Deadpool 2 did with the trailer and the movie being so different
I doubt he's directly related to anyone in previous predator lore but perhaps he makes reference to the events of the original based on whispers through the military just like Isabelle.
True, just really curious
Obviously he is Dutch's son...
I thought about this awhile ago, but didn't read that anywhere in the leaked script that I remember
I read through it really fast
If Anna knew about it in Predators, makes sense that others will. I hope nobody winds up being related to Arnold, that would just be too much.
This is from the Collider article Hicks posted:
Holbrook teased a connection to the original film through his character, who is familiar with the Predator lore. "I've seen something, and maybe there is a familiarity. I wouldn't want to say that he's a UFO conspiracy theorist, but he's heard of things and seen things, and that may be a reference to the original. So that's the reference to the original, which we are of keeping in lineage."
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Exactly
Collider just put out a big summary of everything from their set visit.
JoBlo's rundown of the set visit. Nothing we haven't seen in the others.
Hmm, can't say I'm thrilled about more structured armor with the predator being "less exposed." I've always liked the more minimal, organic, tribal feel. I am intrigued to see it in full, though!
I say wait for the movie and after that you can praise Shane if he deserves.
I defiantly loves these parts of the article
"It does play a little slower, maybe like a Western, which would lend itself to that fear factor." It also is a promising departure from the original film, which Holbrook says he's a fan of—and that Shane Black apparently had running on loop for two weeks in the production office of the film before shooting started—but the star repeatedly demurs at comparisons with his Quinn to Arnold Schwarzenegger's Übermensch in the original 1987 picture.
Intriguingly, this extra dimension came intentionally from pushing the cast to via improvise and self-edit. Recalling how the first draft risked being a 150 pages long, Black says he turned to Fred Dekker and said they can't define seven characters in dialogue; they have to cast them.
When Trish Monaghan shows us the new armor she's designed for the Predator, for instance, it has a medieval quality to its design, as if it belongs to a ritualized order of knights. One element she is particularly proud of is his new armor his back-flap, evoking feudal Japan.
"It's a bit Samurai, so it was able to cover, so he wasn't too exposed," she says of how it covers some of the musculature in the legs while still showcasing the familiar shape of what Schwarzenegger memorably deemed to be "one ugly motherf++ker."
Were you able to do any improv on the set?
On this movie, yeah. That's what's so great about Shane: he's an actor's director and he's also a writer. So a lot of times writers can be so married to a script, and a lot of times a director looks at the script as a Bible, but then you end up losing a lot of life that comes up that you wouldn't normally capture on camera. I've worked with directors where they shoot this, they shoot this, and then they go back into the editing bay, and they test it for the audience, and they go, "I love that character, that small character, did you get that?" But they didn't get it, because they weren't shooting.
So this movie, there's been so much collaboration and just in the moment, just everyone coming up with stuff and thinking of stuff, and being present, that helps make the movie feel really fun and fresh, and alive.
http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/the-predator/273544/the-predator-olivia-munn-finds-god-and-a-good-role-among-aliens
Mostly the same stuff but there was a little bit about the new Predator design -
Also ever since Avengers movie happened and turned Tony Stark into A level superhero. Iron Man is now always in front and center of crossovers and mega-events. He no longer has time to deal with foes in his rogue gallery, where honestly everyone else except Mandarin, sucks.
I never really heard of someone calling themselves Mandarin fan. It surprises me that people are still upset over Mandarin twist. I believe China had something to do with no wanting real Mandarin since even though Mandarin got a modernized revamp origin, his original story was always a racist Fu-Manchu stereotype.
Not very plausible though and this twist made the Mandarin in his final form through Guy Pierce a very generic evil mastermind.