Why the PREDATOR sequels get the face WRONG [Opinion Piece]

[Voodoo Magic]

I never said Anderson wanted it to look like Stan's Predators. I'm talking conception to execution and it's final variances.

And throwing in "before fabrication" now is a whole different conversation. If you would have said that originally, I would have never begged to differ. 

[SiL]

I never said Anderson wanted it to look like Stan's Predators. I'm talking conception to execution and it's final variances.

And throwing in "before fabrication" now is a whole different conversation. If you would have said that originally, I would have never begged to differ. 

Even in that regard there's no indication Anderson was unhappy with what he got. He's fairly honest when he thinks an effect looks naff in his own work.

I'm pretty sure the Straus bros stage by their decision to go with a fully animatronic head for Wolf too and thought he looked fine.

I was always talking design, and the mandibles are apparent in the design. My point was just that the directors always had the ability to tell ADI to change things in the design of they wanted, and Trachtenberg has the same right.

[Corporal Hicks]

If any of the existing directors cared enough about it to request a change, they could have. There is no evidence they did.

Pretty much what Alec said when we spoke to him.

[BigDaddyJohn]

Like I said, fingers crossed Trachtenberg has a different taste than previous directors in the matter then.

[Corporal Hicks]

I was laughing with Voodoo, Ridge and Xenomorphine that it'll just be the Emissaries to save pennies.

[SiL]

And then Predator fans get a taste of the horror of recycled suits 

[Master]

I was laughing with Voodoo, Ridge and Xenomorphine that it'll just be the Emissaries to save pennies.

Good one! Suits of Emmissaries weren`t bad actually. I specially do like the brown one with those crazy blue-black outlined spots. Brings memory of warm, shallow sea animals in an instant. Faces though, they`d need good fix.

And then Predator fans get a taste of the horror of recycled suits 

We kinda did with AvP-R. Dumb Preds of crashed ship were reused from AvP. And AvP had reused and reperpoused Alien suits IIRC.

[Voodoo Magic]

If any of the existing directors cared enough about it to request a change, they could have. There is no evidence they did.

Pretty much what Alec said when we spoke to him.

Of course! During conception absolutely. The director will be all over that.

My point was always unexpected issues after execution when there's no time left. Our mutual mate conceded a couple weeks ago that with recent Predators there's been something lost between sculpts and final product. I was like - your conceding that? I'll take it! 

And that all applies to my point:

At some point time is a factor and where you are on your production schedule. Not many studios, especially now, will allow what McTiernan was able to accomplish back then by shutting production down for months for creature improvements.

TQ brought up the great point that The Fugitive looked facially proportionally better in his CG scenes than his practical scenes. So when there's a difference between cg design and practical execution, when the practical head doesn't quite match the concept art and maquette the director approved and you need to film Predator scenes in a couple days, as a director you may just be forced to run with it per the producer & studio's direction.

[Kradan]

I was laughing with Voodoo, Ridge and Xenomorphine that it'll just be the Emissaries to save pennies.

[Voodoo Magic]

I was laughing with Voodoo, Ridge and Xenomorphine that it'll just be the Emissaries to save pennies.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/bd/20/aa/bd20aa0664d34f68d4a4c7d2ed9a699f.gif

I'm fine with a body reuse, but I hope Dan Trachtenberg is in a similar mindset where he would never approve of these heads as his featured Predator or Predators in Skulls. I hope Dan would immediately reject these designs as not being up to snuff.

[SiL]

Or he might think "Cool, something new but recognisable!"

[Nightmare Asylum]

10 Cloverfield Lane is excellent; far and away the best movie with "Cloverfield" in the title, and that is due entirely to Trachtenberg's directing.

That being said, the alien design in the film isn't really anything special. Hopefully, with the creature stuff in Skulls presumably being more up in the forefront than in 10CL, he and his team harken back a bit to something more iconic in the style of the Predators from the first two films. I don't want to see yet another remake of the original design, I want the new one to feel like another individual member of the species, but with that same sense of elegance in design and performance that made Winston/KPH Predators stand out and hold up.

[SiL]

I for one would be happy to see something like the Emissaries, but with the jaw proportions fixed.

[BlueMarsalis79]

God almighty they look f**king terrible.

[SiL]

The egg head's not too bad.

But I still wouldn't mind the one with the sunken eyes if they fixed the jaw. Fugly, yes, but I'm still down for individualisation.