Dan Trachtenberg‘s “Prey” hits Hulu next month, and the director’s first movie since 2016’s “10 Cloverfield Lane” is a riveting new take on the “Predator” franchise. The film takes place in the 1700s and follows a female Comanche warrior who takes on one of the fearsome intergalactic hunters to protect her tribe. And Trachtenberg found inspiration for the movie’s premise from an unlikely place: a scene from the original “Predator‘ his friends told him about as a kid that isn’t actually in the movie.
READ MORE: ‘Prey’: Dan Trachtenberg Says There Could Be More ‘Predator’ Movies On The Way
In the latest issue of Empire, Trachtenberg went into detail about how his first viewing of John McTiernan‘s 1982 informed his later idea for “Prey.” “I was dying to see it, but I was not allowed,” said the director, who was only six when the movie first came out. “In third grade, I was on the way to a karate tournament with these [older kids] who had seen it, and over the entire trip they described the whole movie. I vividly remember them saying there was this character, Billy [played by Sonny Landham], a Native American scout who fights the Predator on the bridge over a waterfall.” But, of course, those who have seen “Predator” know no such scene exists. In his final moment onscreen, Billy prepares to fight the Predator on the bridge. But then the movie cuts to Arnold Schwarzeneggar‘s Dutch and the remaining commandos, who overhear Billy’s bloodcurdling scream in the distance, signaling his off-screen death to the alien.
Trachtenberg was disappointed when the scene he heard about wasn’t even in the film. “I just thought, ‘What?!’ But that image captured my imagination.” And that image simmered in the director’s mind for decades before he finally was able to make “Prey” with 20th Century Studios. Trachtenberg also wanted to make his film have higher stakes than any other “Predator” movie before it. “I wanted to shift the focus to someone who would normally be a sidekick,” he continued. “In “Predator,” Billy was just one of the men on the team. In “Prey,” we’re watching someone lead this movie that has never lead this type of movie before.” And that lead is Amber Midthunder‘s Naru, whose not only is unmatched physically against the Predator but only has simple weapons against the alien’s various advanced tools. “I wanted to make a survivor’s story about someone who was really up against the impossible, to make it feel even more severe than those we had seen before.”
It doesn’t get much more lopsided than a female Native American warrior against an alien hunter with high-tech gear. The early 1700s setting helps too, as the film takes place far before the advances of modernity. “The key was I never wanted it to feel ‘easier’ for Naru,” said Trachtenberg. “The premise is David versus Goliath — I didn’t want to make Goliath smaller. [The Predator] doesn’t have its plasma caster, but it does have heat vision and other tools.” Those other tools include a shield the Predator uses as a weapon and defense. So, while Naru may not have the Predator’s firepower, she still may have a fighting chance.
From the sound of things, Trachtenberg made “Prey” into a version of the scene from “Predator” he always wanted to see as a kid. How will the film hold up against the original and the other installments in the franchise? Find out when “Prey” hits Hulu on August 5. Watch a trailer for the film below.
