You know you feel old when one of your all time movie favorites nudges 30. Arnold Schwarzenegger's rumble in the jungle with the mandibled ugly motherf****r did just that on June 12th 2017.
Directed by John McTiernan and released on June 12 1987, Predator is perhaps one of the finest sci-fi movies ever made, Written by relatively newbies at the time, brothers Jim Thomas and John Thomas. The two would later go on to write other action movies such as Predator's lesser sequel, Predator 2 and the Kurt Russell movie Executive Decision which famously killed off Steven Segal relatively early on in the movie (he gets sucked out of a plane hatch) and later in 2001 they also wrote the military chase thriller Behind Enemy Lines starring Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman.
Arnie had wrapped Raw Deal, his mob themed actioner in 1986 when he was approached with the screenplay for Predator, which at the time was originally called 'Hunter'. Like his previous movies, Predator was pitched as a major A list part and would see Arnie take on the role as the leader of an elite special forces team on a mission to rescue hostages from guerrilla territory in Val Verde in Central America's Northern Triangle.
The movie saw the heavily armed special forces elite become the hunted as the Predator picked off the elite warrior team one by one.
Predator the movie wasn't all plain sailing, the film had to face a lot of challenges to get made and become the blockbuster hit it went on to become.The Predator creature was actually the thing that nearly sank the entire movie, the design of the original Alien creature was totally different to the Stan Winston masterpiece we've all come to know and associate with the franchise. The original Predator creature concept had a long neck and beak like appearance with spindly long legs, a far cry from the mandible, dreadlock styled alien warrior -hunter killing machine we know now.
Initially the suit was going to worn by martial arts expert Jean Claude van Damme, who at the time was a relative unknown within Hollywood. Steve Johnson Effects supervisor at Boss films got the brief for the 'alien creature, "What they needed was a character with backward bent reptilian legs, extended arms and a head that was out here," Johnson said. "They wanted to shoot on the muddy slopes of Mexico in the real jungles. It was virtually physically impossible to do. I told them it wouldn't work."Van Damme got his body cast but didn't realize that the red version of the suit was for the effects guys to work from, thinking it was actually the look of the Alien Van Damme ranted and had misgivings about the integrity of the role he had been offered. Van Damme promptly left the film reportedly from when a stunt man had broken his leg doing a kicking stunt Van Damme had refused to do due to the risk of injury .
Director John McTiernan wasn't so sure about the red alien suit design either, "it looked like shit, we had to stop shooting the movie anyway because we ran out of money, I sent the rushes in and told the studio, you really don't want to continue making this."
The shoot had already been a difficult experience for everyone, the heat was insane, the location was dense jungle, McTiernan had lost a lot of weight because he refused to eat the local food and it seemed the movie would soon grind to a halt or worse still collapse entirely.
However, the money drying up was actually the break the movie needed and one that provided the breathing space for the movie to carry on. Producer Lawrence Gordon secured more funding to continue the project many weeks later but not before Arnie had recommended to McTiernan to give Stan Winston a call, the special effects guru he'd worked on with Terminator in 1984. "Inspiration for the Predator design came from a piece of artwork in Joel Silver's office, a painting of a Rastafarian warrior. "I saw that and I thought it was a great starting concept for the Predator," Winston said. "I stared drawing and designing this alien character with quills that in silhouette would look like dreadlocks. It was on a flight to Japan with James Cameron that Winston got some additional input from Cameron. ' I've always wanted to see something with mandibles". Winston made good note of it and sketched out several designs before the plane landed.
The 200lb suit would be worn by van Damme replacement and 7ft tall actor (yes, 7 fee tall!) Kevin Peter Hall with the newly minted tribal looking design that Stan Winston ahd turned into a killer suit, McTiernan was able to shoot for 4 more weeks and finish the movie. Hall had suited up before on the bigfoot TV show "Harry and the Hendersons" but the film shoots location and heat were challenges even the 7tf tall Hall hadn't banked on. Hall would reprise the Predator role in Predator 2. Unfortunately it was to be his last Predator role on film, Hall died in 1991 after contracting HIV, he was 35 years old.
The invisibility effect of the predator in the movie was achieved by having someone wearing a bright red suit (because it was the farthest opposite of the green of the jungle and the blue of the sky) the size of the Predator. The red was removed with chroma key techniques, leaving an empty area. The take was then repeated without the actors using a 30% wider lens on the camera. When the two takes were combined optically, the jungle from the second take filled in the empty area. Because the second take was filmed with a wider lens, a vague outline of the alien could be seen with the background scenery bending around its shape
The budget for Predator came in at $18 Million and went on to bank $98.2 million at the global box office, compare that to the last Predator movie 'Predators" budgeted at $40 Million it went on the bank $127 Million globally.
Predators cast was made up of a variety of larger than life characters, ex real life Navy Seal Jesse Ventura 'The sexual Tyranasaurus Rex' tobacco chewing minigun toting mercenary didn't need much tuition in handling firearms.
Carl Weathers, ex Oakland Raiders linebacker had appeared in a number of movies in the 70's and 80's including Force 10 from Navarone. Silver had recruited him in passing one day (as legend has it) by promising Weathers he could be in a 'big movie' he was doing.
Shane Black had written the script for Ron Silvers, Lethal Weapon starring Mel Gibson and Danny Glover which had released in March of 1987. Ironically enough Black is currently directing his own Predator movie and was recruited to help polish the script on the 1987 version more by trickery than anything else. The producers convinced him to take a part of the movie and told him, 'While you're down there running around with guns and stuff you may as well work on the script for us".
Sonny Landham who played Billy in Predator is descendant of the Cherokee and Seminole native tribes, a former porn actor who went mainstream and starred in a string of movies including Warriors, Action Jackson and Southern Comfort. A behind the scenes documentary revealed that Sonny had a bodyguard on the set of Predator who was tasked in keeping Sonny out of trouble off set when the crew wasn't shooting. Landham was involved in a car accident in 2016 and ended up losing both his legs as a result of the injuries he sustained when his car left the road. He has a Go Fund Me page set up to help him here
Arnold Schwarzenegger already had Conan The Destroyer,Terminator, Commando and Raw Deal movies under his belt by the time Predator came around and was already a household name when it came to summer blockbusters.Arnie was establishing his Hollywood clout and box office draw and by now making the most of his appeal, now officially a US citizen (since 1983) he was embracing the American dream. During the 1980's and early 90's Arnie pretty much defined the blockbuster movie, a larger than life star, actor and ambassador for physical fitness he is also a successful businessman, investor and 7 times winner of the Mr Olympia body building competition. It wasn't until Terminator 2 came along until he had really cemented his stellar pay cheque heyday. Arnie also managed to forge a successful political career when he served as the Governor of California from 2003 to 2011 before returning to acting and starring in movies such as Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Sabotage, The Expendables 3, not to mention a more varied role in the Zombie movie 'Maggie'.
Bill Duke who played razor snapping dry shaver Mac is an American actor who's other notable appearances have been in the tv shows Lost and Battlestar Gallactica, he also starred in Commando with Arnie and little known fact - directed the Whoopee Goldberg film Sister Act 2.
Richard Chaves who played poncho is not stranger to military life, from 1969-70 Chaves joined the army. He served 3 years with a tour of duty in Vietnam. His television roles include guest starring roles in Star Trek: Voyager, Walker, Texas Ranger, F.B.I. The Untold Stories, LA Law, Babylon 5, MacGyver, Trials of Rosie O'Neill, Miami Vice, Hill St. Blues. Film roles aren't as prolific but his TV work is extensive.
So there you have it, Predator at 30 years old, pretty crazy to think that with Star Wars just turning 40 many more of the big blockbuster movies are also putting some years under their belt.
I was at art college in 1987 and saw Predator three times, even now when I watch it with my son on TV the film never really seems to age.
End.
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