Great podcast guys!
I love hearing about stuff like this, the original or alternate stories we never got to see (hell I just read the Dark Horse comic version of William Gibson's Alien 3 a few nights ago), so this was great hearing about all the different pitches and versions of the story they went through.
The one with Dutch is reminiscent of the idea the Thomas brothers mention on the Predator 2 Blu-ray about another Predator coming to Earth specifically to hunt him, but this one's a bit more fleshed-out and I really like the idea of it taking place in an ocean-type environment. A mountainous region would be cool too, but the notion of a group of Predator stalking Dutch and a bunch of others around a submarine or an aircraft carrier or something could have been really cool and different.
I like the idea of multiple hunting parties all converging on a planet that's about to be destroyed too. That one could have been pretty cool too just from the standpoint of tracking multiple groups who all ultimately come together, all the while with that ticking clock in the background.
It's understandable that they wanted the movie scaled down from some of the "Predator clan war" stuff he describes too, which I feel like could have gone either way if we'd actually have seen it. It
could have been cool, but it also could have just been a bunch of Predators running in to each other with nothing seeming particularly "Predatory" about the fighting. But I liked the sound of having an almost Ahab-like Predator who communicates very sparingly. It sounded like he had a good handle on exactly how much of that sort of stuff it would have been good to show.
I can totally see why they wanted Gerard Butler to star in it too. He was definitely at his height as a sort of mid-tier action movie star around that time. And I can certainly see him in the role. But ultimately I thought Adrian Brody did a great job, and it was very interesting to hear how he was actually cast, so I'm glad it turned out the way it did (Royce for Hunting Grounds DLC when?!).
The idea for Predators 2 sounds awesome, it's such a shame we never got to see it. "Die Hard on a Predator ship" could have been a great concept, and I like the idea of Royce and Isabelle inducting new arrivals into their group and getting them up to speed fast. Basically the more proactive and helpful, non-asshole versions of Noland.
And I totally would have geeked out like crazy at that ending too!
The original AVP comic was one of the very first Alien and Predator things I ever experienced, so I've always loved the concept and to me their universes have always been linked. So having them be brought together like that in a movie where there was absolutely no inkling of it until that moment would have been awesome.
And I guess it's not too surprising given the earlier "black blood" drafts that the Super Predators were indeed intended to be genetic upgrades. I don't think I would have had as much of a problem with it if they'd made it official in Predators 2 as I did with how they handled it in The Predator since they made it very clear
within the movie itself that they were a separate group from the classic Preds (and I also really liked their designs), but since the movie never got made and Predators leaves it ambiguous I think I'll just stick to imagining them as a different sub-species or whatever.
So yeah great job with this one, it was super cool to listen to!