Predators (film)

Predators
File:Predators-Movie.jpg Theatrical poster
Directed by	Nimród Antal
Written by	Michael Finch Alex Litvak Characters: Jim Thomas John Thomas
Produced by	Robert Rodriguez Elizabeth Avellan
Starring	Adrien Brody Topher Grace Alice Braga Laurence Fishburne Danny Trejo Walton Goggins Oleg Taktarov Mahershalalhashbaz Ali Louis Ozawa Changchien
Cinematography	Gyula Pados
Music by	John Debney
Production company	Troublemaker Studios
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	July 9, 2010 (2010-07-09)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$45 million

Predators is an upcoming 2010 science fiction, action and horror film directed by Nimród Antal, and starring Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo and Derek Mears. The film is a sequel to the 1987 Academy Award-nominated film Predator. Producer Robert Rodriguez stated that he named the film "Predators" in relation to how the second film in the Alien franchise was called Aliens. The title Predators is intended to have a double meaning, in that it refers to both the film's alien creatures, as well as the group of humans that are going against them.

Plot

The film follows a mercenary named Royce who is abducted by alien creatures known as the Predators. He is released onto an alien planet—which acts as a game reserve—along with seven other humans, who, with the exception of a disgraced physician, are all cold-blooded killers, the group consisting of mercenaries and convicts. Royce reluctantly leads the group of elite warriors as they come to realize they have been brought together to this planet as prey for a new breed of Predator. While battling to survive against these creatures, they come across an American soldier known as Noland who was brought to the planet years ago as game, but has managed to survive by hiding from the Predators in a cave. Noland reveals that the Predators have been hunting humans by dropping them on this planet for many years.

Cast

• Adrien Brody as Royce, an American ex-military/mercenary soldier
• Topher Grace as Edwin, a disgraced physician and a serial killer formerly on the FBI's most wanted list
• Danny Trejo as Cuchillo, a Mexican drug cartel enforcer
• Alice Braga as Isabelle, a Brazilian CIA SAD black ops sniper
• Mahershalalhashbaz Ali as Mombasa, a Sierra Leone death squad officer
• Oleg Taktarov as Nikolai, a former Russian VDV commando
• Walton Goggins as Stans, a deadly death-row San Quentin state prison inmate
• Louis Ozawa Changchien as Hanzo, a Yakuza/ninja hitman
• Laurence Fishburne as Noland, a stranded former U.S. soldier
• Brian Steele as Black Super Predator, a massive flusher predator with jaw bone on his mask named "Mr. Black" by the film crew
• Derek Mears as Predator
• Carey Jones as Super Predator

Development

The film was produced by Robert Rodriguez, and written by Alex Litvak and Michael Finch. In 1994, Rodriguez wrote an early script for the film for 20th Century Fox while he was working on his sequel, Desperado. Rodriguez presented the script to the studio, but was denied when they realized that the budget would be too large. About 15 years later, the studio decided that they should go back to his script. "It's the story from that script I had written way back then," Rodriguez said. "They had hired me to write a ‘Predator’ story while I was waiting to do ‘Desperado’ back in 1994. It was crazy, this thing I came up with. So then fast-forward to now and, like, six months ago, they found the script and called me up. ‘Hey, we want to redo this franchise and we found your old script. This is where we should have gone with the series! We want to move forward.' And that's what we're doing.” In 2009, 20th Century Fox studio executive, Alex Young, called Rodriguez to consider using his treatment to revive the individual Predator franchise. The film is being produced at Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios as opposed to 20th Century Fox so that Rodriguez has more creative control over the film. It was originally thought that Robert Rodriguez would direct, but on June 12, it was rumored that British director Neil Marshall was involved in directing the film. On July 1, 2009, Nimród Antal was officially signed on to take the director's chair. Rodriguez expressed that he wanted his film to be a sequel to the original Predator., as the film is trying to distance itself from the Alien vs Predator films. A cameo appearance was also written in the script for Arnold Schwarzenegger as his character Dutch from the first Predator film, though ultimately he ended up not being involved. Danny Glover has also confirmed he will not reprise his role from Predator 2.

Production

Casting

In his interview with MTV, Robert Rodriguez stated that the most important thing a Predator film needed was, "great characters so that the audience feels they’re going on this journey with them", and that the plural title is intended to have a double meaning; it refers to both the film's alien creatures, as well as the group of humans that are going against them, who could very well kill each other off even if there were no Predators. Rodriguez and Antal wanted each human character on the planet to feel like they could be a character in their own solo story. Cast information was released only a few weeks before shooting began. The cast consists of Adrien Brody who plays a man who ends up inheriting the mantle of leader. Topher Grace plays an accountant-type whose unassuming facade masks a dangerous serial killer. Alice Braga plays a tough female killer. Mahershalalhashbaz Ali portrays a man not afraid to die. Walton Goggins presents a loose cannon of the group. Oleg Taktarov is a former Russian special ops agent. Danny Trejo plays a hardened warrior with twin uzis. Rodriguez stated that he would like to get Arnold Schwarzenegger in for a cameo role as an aged Dutch. On November 30, Antal defended his decision in choosing Brody for the lead role in an interview to promote his upcoming film, Armored, saying,"It was a challenge in finding a balance. I think when we cast Adrian, there were a lot of people going, ‘What?’ but at the same time, if we cast a Vin Diesel in that role or if we cast anyone who is Arnold-esque, we would have been attacked for doing that. So we decided early on to go in a very different direction as far as the casting process, but it turned out fantastic." He also states a point that average soldiers are wiry tough guys, not burly men like Arnold.

On December 18, 2009, Laurence Fishburne was reportedly cast for a role in Predators. On January 13, 2010, information on Fishburne's character, Noland, a man who survived for ten years on the alien planet by living in a cave, was revealed in an interview with Louis Ozawa Changchien, stating,"It's a really interesting role, quite different from Morpheus (from The Matrix).... a bit shady, crazy, surviving on his own, kind of a ratty character. I didn't know anything about his role, and we all went to see the rehearsal. It was quite a surprise." Changchien, who plays "Hanzo", also stated about his own character, "I guess he used to be a guy who can murder someone without a qualm, but by the time he arrives to the Hunting Camp, he'll no longer be that kind of person...Those things aren't explained in the script, but you'll get it when you see the movie."

Actors Brian Steele, Derek Mears, and Carey Jones will portray the Predator creatures in the film.

Filming

The film was shot in 2D on a 53 day schedule. Exterior filming location was mostly set in Kolekole, Hawaii. Filming started on September 28, 2009. The film wrapped up its 22 day shoot on the Hawaii location on November 1, 2009. The film shot its interior set scenes at Robert Rodriguez’s studio in Austin, Texas. 60% of the film was shot in Texas in order to be eligible for a tax benefit. The film shot more exterior footage at Canyon Lake Gorge in Comal County, indicating that the film will not rely mostly on CGI backgrounds.

On January 15, 2010, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, who plays "Mombasa," stated in an interview that filming on Predators has completed and that a trailer for the film was being developed while they were still filming. "It was a blast. It was an amazing experience. We were in the tropical rainforests of Hawaii stomping through the mud and getting rained on all day and then we ended up finishing in Austin, Texas. I really think this movie is going to be good. They had cut together a trailer while we were still working and it looked amazing. It's a great cast and along with the action elements and the sci-fi elements, and with Robert Rodriguez being involved, I think it's going to push it to another level."

On March 12, 2010, a behind the scenes footage was released on the official movie website. It was also revealed that a trailer would be released on March 18, 2010.

Special effects

Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis, head of special effects studio Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc, also known as "ADI", who previously worked on 2004's Alien vs. Predator and 2007's Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem are stated not to be in charge of the creature design for the film, as well as Stan Winston Studios. KNB EFX’s Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero have taken over building the creature suits. Berger, who worked with Winston on the original Predator, stated that the studio is reprising the original Stan Winston design of the Predator in the film, saying "We wanted to have the Predator look as it did in the original film. We went back and looked at the original...everyone’s going to be very happy that we’ve been very faithful to the Stan Winston designs." In addition to the original Predator designs, the film will also feature many new creatures never before seen in a previous Predator film, such as a new breed of Predators that belong to another Predator tribe, alien creatures that have been domesticated by the Predators for use in hunting, and other alien creatures that have been brought to the planet by the Predators to be used as prey.

Music

It was thought since the film began production that original Predator composer Alan Silvestri would return to do the score, but on February 26, 2010, it was announced that John Debney, who worked with Rodriguez on such movies as Spy Kids and Sin City, would compose the original score for the film.

On March 22, 2010, Rodriguez shared his thoughts on how the score should play out in an interview he did with Antal with Cinematical.com, saying " I think we're going to go for something that fits the tone of the movie really well. That original score went great with the movie, but the notes and the music do really evoke a quality – you know, when he (Debney) showed me his rough cut, or some scenes, every once in a while at the right moment I started hearing strings from the score – because we had a temp score, and it really works.... So we'll probably incorporate some of that. At the right time, because you don't want to overuse it. but it's like the James Bond theme – you can't use it all of the time, but when you do, you can get the audience really, really pumped."

Comic

A four issue tie-in Predators comic book by Dark Horse Comics will be released on June 9 to promote the release of the film. The comic is a prequel to the events depicted in the film. The comic follows a team of Navy SEALs is in the midst of a firefight when suddenly they awaken to find themselves in a new and more deadly environment being stalked by a strange enemy. One by one these special-ops officers are killed by the unseen threat, until only one man remains.

Release

The projected release date for the film is set at July 9, 2010.

It was announced on March 3, 2010, that Robert Rodriguez and Nimród Antal would reveal a "first look" at Predators at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas on March 12, at 10:15pm. Rodriguez expressed his excitement about the event, saying, “My director Nimród Antal and I are excited to bring this first look at Predators to Austin’s SXSW Film Festival, an event that’s become vital to the filmmaking scene. Austin is my home and I’m proud that Predators was conceived and filmed here.”

External links

• Official website
• Predators at IMDb
• Template:Amg movie
• Predators at Rotten Tomatoes
• Predators at Box Office Mojo