PREDATOR: Fixing the Creature - Robert Short Productions & John McTiernan

[Voodoo Magic]

Glad this was dug back up! Had no idea about Robert Short's involvement.

Always remember John too!  If the director didn't bring in the Maasai Warrior painting to Robert Short, who knows how the Predator would have ultimately looked!

Now that I'm really looking at it, the very first creature design even had mandibles so it was a concept floating around the production for a while. Maybe Cameron suggested mandibles closer to the final design and Winston was just fluffing the story a bit for humor.

Yep that could definitely be it.  But ultimately it perpetuates the notion that it was all Cameron's idea with no mention of Short, which kind of rubs me the wrong way a bit.

[PredBabe]

Glad this was dug back up! Had no idea about Robert Short's involvement.

Always remember John too! If the director didn't bring in the Maasai Warrior painting to Robert Short, who knows how the Predator would have ultimately looked!

I could never forget about that man! Always got a kick out of him being the only one who didn't want to say "you are one ugly motherf***er" at the end of the making footage. 

Now that I'm really looking at it, the very first creature design even had mandibles so it was a concept floating around the production for a while. Maybe Cameron suggested mandibles closer to the final design and Winston was just fluffing the story a bit for humor.

Yep that could definitely be it.  But ultimately it perpetuates the notion that it was all Cameron's idea with no mention of Short, which kind of rubs me the wrong way a bit.

Agreed, Short was snubbed because of how it was presented.

[Voodoo Magic]

I could never forget about that man! Always got a kick out of him being the only one who didn't want to say "you are one ugly motherf***er" at the end of the making footage. 

Haha, indeed!  He was strangely reserved considering the amount of curses some of his films contain!

[Lizardboy]

Amazing post! pretty interesting.

I think these concepts would be good designs for a black goo mutated predator.





Maybe they inspired in some form the mutated yautja from Alien vs. Predator: Fire and Stone.

[The Old One]

So you mean a Predator Abomination? Yeah, something like that but something closer to a good design? lol But seriously, something more consistent with the Neomorph? I'd hope so anyway, after Covenant, sources became far more consistent with the Pathogen's effects.

[Corporal Hicks]

The little arm with the shoulder canon still tickles me. 

[The Old One]

Emblematic of everything I hate about the series, even if I love aspects of it, especially the premise.

[Corporal Hicks]

Oh, it frustrated the hell out of me the same way Prometheus does.

[The Old One]

I'll agree on that, but Covenant's existence means Prometheus is now somewhat palatable, for me anyway.

[Trioxin]

Did any one else see the interview with jean-claude van damme  saying something along the lines. he was SUPER pissed that his agent basically lied to him saying he was gonna go to show off his martial arts skill not be a monster. Then they drag out that abomination and slap him in side and he said it was the most redicules thing he had ever seen and he was embarrassed to be in it. Thank god they changed the design and did not cast jean-claude van damme. I don't think it would have turned out quite as well without Kevin Peter Hall and the new design.

[The Old One]

I think that's a given.

[Greyback]

Thank you very much for all this information. I didn't realize that John McTiernan and Robert Short had such a big influence on the design.To be honest, I had never heard of Robert Short before.

I found this information on the stan Winston School website with lots of great pictures.
https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/predator-movie-making-the-predator

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/predator-30th-anniversary-behind-the-scenes

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/predator-behind-the-scenes-creating-the-mechanical-head-face-and-mouth-for-the-jungle-hunter?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=blog+-+creating+the+mechanical+head&utm_content=main&fbclid=IwAR0702oy7fVpkH6StwgTuCoFAJiRIgO6LUKBMcZqDOuYnTeN0zAYJpPwGAo

I wish there were books by J.W. Rinzler on Predator and Predator 2 to make all this information, as well as other anecdotes from the filming, available to a wider audience.

[CANNON]

This is an amazing post! Love the knowledge.

This iconic design catapulting Predator on the map, topping it off with an amazing reveal: the respect of removing the mask to have a showdown with his worthy prey in Arnold.. and now... we have Feral...