In a new interview with Yahoo! Movies, Shane Black has opened up about quite a few aspects of his time working on The Predator. Black talks plenty about the 3rd act reshoots, how he and Fred Dekker looked for a direction for the film, the focus on disabilities and plenty more.
In regards to the 3rd act, Black goes into more about his decision to remove Edward James Olmos’ character, General Woodhurt, from the film.
Well, the structure remained largely the same. There was a proponent of working with the predators, played by Edward James Olmos, and there was a suggestion that maybe he was trying to recruit the first predator in the movie.
And when we went back we thought that that was one bad guy too many, one character too many in retrospect, and regretfully we removed his role from the movie and just let Sterling K Brown carry it solo.
Black also talked a little more about the extent of the reshoots, saying that for the most part it’s the same sequence as originally shot. Alien vs. Predator Galaxy understands there was some substancial differences between the original sequences and the new one but it does seem to follow the same basic idea.
Also the Ark site scene, there was a whole different… it was the same set, the same sequence basically, but all set during the day with them attacking the Ark and freeing the kid, and running away with the predator chasing them but it was all daylight. It just… we started to do our effects work, and it looked kind of cheap in a way. It looked… it didn’t really feel like a big expensive movie when the predators are just running around in daylight like that.
We could have finished the film like that, honestly we could have, but I just didn’t think it would work as well. Thankfully, I have to credit 20th Century Fox, this was a big, fairly expensive deal to turn that back into night time, and they went along with it.
We went up and rebuilt it on a different location, we put the ship back in, restaged the the attack on the ship, and the rescue of the kid, all at night
In regards to his decision to make Aspergers play into the film in a more significant way, Black explained that it was:
Because I think there’s a case to be made that people who have what is viewed as a disability are actually the most valuable members of our society. There are those among us who consider schizophrenia to just be another form of existence and not necessarily even… there’s one theory that they’re seeing something that other people simply don’t.
I personally suffer from tourettes disease. I bark and chirp sometimes so I’ve had to play with that, and I thought I always try to keep a sense of humour about it. It doesn’t show up all the time, but when it does it’s usually with a girlfriend or something, so I try to keep a sense of humour about it.
Black also re-iterates how thankful he is The Predator has wrapped up, saying that “I’d love to bid goodbye to this thing. As sad it sounds, it’s been a long road. If it does well, great, but my lord, it’s been seemingly forever.“
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And who knows, they eventually went back and completed the unfinished effects and audio in the Alien 3 Assembly Cut for the Blu-ray
That's about what I expected.
There was a fourth act?
I think that'll be a pretty small page then?
DELETED SCENES
Act 2
Act 4
END OF PAGE
Yeah i saw Coyle's picture when it leaked, but i remember it seemed already different from what was described in the script (he was supposed to have his spined ripped out), here it just seemed his face was messed up, and the creature that killed him appeared dead and shredded all over the APC. Very curious to know more about all that.
Can only second this. I would be very interested in hearing reviews and story lines/deaths etc from any test screenings, old and new that differ from the final movie.
Me too. I find it interesting and sorta odd that no one has written an article or posted a video about the test screenings, if indeed they were as different from the final product as they said.
Justice Leage was worse in that aspect but yeah, The Predator was bad from the script, i dont see how much studio meddling besides the obvious ending scene could have provoked more damage to an already very flawed movie.
Justice League was like 90% whedon/wb footage and it was so noticeable.
I know that Coyle originally died during the APC scene from a hybrid attack. You can find set photos of his body on top of the APC with his face all tore apart. I would like to read how the movie changed from the test screening as well. Perhaps Hicks and Co. can get the detail and on the next podcast discuss changes from the leaked script, to the original cut that was shown in test screenings, and then to the final film!
I would love for those who saw the test screenings to manifest themselves and talk about it here, the deaths, the scenes shot as initially planned etc... I mean there can't be an embargo that lasts till now ?
From the original leaked script it wasn't explained either. He just shows up in it for comedic effect.
There was one scene in particular that was so obvious. It was the scene we are introduced to Olivia Munn's character. It was the scene that was cut due to the sex offender but you can tell there's a chunk missing there.
The entire forest scene in the 3rd act at night is a reshoot. Notable character deaths are changed significantly from the original script and I believe the first test screenings. The CG there is a bit off because they probably didn't have as much time to work on it. The whole scene felt a bit low budget, like they had to get it done quickly, which they did. I like parts of that scene but it does feel like it was added in late.
There is also a bunch of ADR'd dialogue from Olivia Munn's character that's added in for exposition because they probably realised they need to explain some stuff.
Can't forget the last few minutes either. That scene is entirely a reshoot. It felt so tacked on.
For me, it was less to do with spotting specific things that had obviously been added (with the exception of the final scene - the CGI in that was noticeably poorer than the rest of the film, suggesting it was added late) and more the fact the editing throughout was so obviously sloppy. I can't believe a director of Black's calibre and experience would have intended it to be that way, so it tells me the film was majorly reworked in post.
Honestly, I'd love to know where people think they can "see the cuts" and "see the reshoots" because I never seem capable of that magic.
So who made a bonus before it was sold to Fox and why is Jon Davis still running these films?
My immediate impression upon seeing the film was that far more than the final act had been fiddled with. This seems to confirm that.
To me, it had all the weaknesses of Monster Squad and little strengths of the Predator franchise entries.
I don't really look into the behind the scenes stuff from many movies, but The Predator have the biggest development mess I ever saw so far. And I'm not sure if those reshoots hadn't happened it would make things better for me.
Predators working with the US army wearing military pants that get killed mere minutes after being introduced, mutated predator hybrids with more limbs and tentacles, a kid using weaponized autism against predators. The hell Shane. This movie was doomed to have issues from the start. Between this crap and the ending we got, it's hard to decide which would be less worse.
They could just had done the Fugitive team up with humans to fight the Upgrade in place of the friendly preds and make up something less controversial at the ending. It's like the writers of Aliens vs. Predator: Deadliest of the Species were involved in this. So many nonsense. What's next? 20 foot tall predators? More Human-Predator hybrids? Why make create new types of predators? The original creature is already great on its own.
As much as the cuts and reshoots inevitably messed with the movie's cohesion, it's not like it was full of stellar concepts to begin with and those darn studios ruined it. That leaked script was never good. Though I can buy that awful predator killer suit being something they forced in.
Not read yet.
I think I like this more than Predators, which I am actually a fan of.
The first and third act got significantly changed.
The third act didn't include a suit of armor for us humans ... hell, it wasn't even supposed to be shown.
You all saw the dip in CGI quality ...
The whole film was clearly tampered with and certain elements recontextualised or reshot to fit.
The dialogue, most of it anyway, is class. The effects are uniformly decent. The Predators don't really display any "crazy new abilities". The only moment where the film really jumps outside the box is in the final two minutes.
People are really blowing the comedy thing out of proportion. Yes there's lots of funny lines in it, but there were lots of funny lines in Lethal Weapon and The Nice Guys, and they're still really dark, serious movies at heart. Plus the previous Predator films, the first two anyway, had plenty of comedic dialogue in them.
As for the reshoots, having watching the film, it felt like far more than the final act had been fiddled with. The film was littered with scenes that felt like they'd been edited in post. I really got the overriding impression it was a movie that had been majorly trimmed for time, like the studio panicked and had it cut down to maximise the number of times they could show it in a day. It's a story we've heard plenty of times before, and how often has it turned out for the best?
I have my doubts. At least Alien 3 took itself seriously and still fits well within the lore and spirit of the franchise. This movie has Jeepers Creepers 3 written all over it. The bad dialogue, cheesy effects, crazy predator abilities, like the creeper's "seeker mines" etc. I keep expecting to see a tv spot for this movie featuring someone saying "what happened here, happened before!".
Eh, calm down.
"Most directors"
or
"Not all of 'em"
Not all of 'em SiL.
Most of them are exhausted, yet had a great colaboration with the studio/actors.
This just reeks of FOX meddling with the movie Shane tried to make.