Introduction

Predator is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by John McTiernan and written by brothers Jim and John Thomas.

It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the leader of an elite paramilitary rescue team on a mission to save hostages in guerrilla-held territory in Central America, who encounter the deadly Predator, a technologically-advanced alien who stalks and hunts them down.

Predator was written in 1984 under the working title of Hunter. Filming ran from March-June 1986 with creature effects devised by Stan Winston; the budget was around $15 million. 20th Century Fox released the film on 12 June 1987 in the United States, where it grossed $98.3 million. It initially met with mixed-to-negative reviews, but has since been reappraised as a classic of the action genre.

The success of Predator spawned a media franchise of films, novels, comic books, video games, and toys. It spawned three direct sequels: Predator 02 (1990), Predators (2010) and The Predator (2018). A crossover with the Alien franchise produced the Alien vs. Predator films, which include Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007).

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Outline

A spacecraft flies near Earth and releases an object which enters the atmosphere. Some time later, in a Central American jungle, US Army Special Operations soldier and Vietnam Veteran Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer and his elite mercenary rescue team – Mac, Billy, Blain, Poncho, and Hawkins – are tasked by Dutch’s former commanding officer, General Philips, with rescuing a foreign official and his aide held hostage by insurgents. CIA officer Dillon, an old friend of Dutch’s from the Vietnam War, is assigned to accompany the team over Dutch’s objections.

The team discovers the wreckage of a helicopter and three skinned corpses, identified by Dutch as Green Berets out of Fort Bragg that he knew personally. Dutch’s team reaches the enemy camp and kills all of the insurgents, including a Soviet intelligence officer searching through valuable documents. Confronted by Dutch, Dillon admits the mission was a setup to retrieve intelligence from captured operatives and that the dead military unit disappeared weeks earlier in a failed rescue.

After capturing Anna, the only surviving guerrilla, the team proceeds to its extraction point, unaware that it is being tracked with thermal imaging by an unseen observer. Anna escapes and is chased by Hawkins, but they are ambushed by the creature. It spares Anna but kills Hawkins and drags his body away. Dutch organises a search for Hawkins’ body, during which Blain is killed by the creature’s plasma weapon. Enraged, Mac initiates a firefight in which the creature is wounded, revealing luminescent green blood. The unit regroups and realizes that something in the jungle is stalking them. Dillon believes more guerrillas are responsible, but Billy is adamant that the perpetrator is not human, an assertion that is met with scepticism. The team makes camp for the night, setting traps in all directions.

That night the traps are set off, and Mac kills a wild pig, mistaking it for the creature. In the confusion, the creature steals Blain’s body and Dutch realises that their enemy uses the trees to travel, making their traps ineffective. A second attempt to capture the creature using a net momentarily succeeds, but it quickly escapes, leaving Poncho injured. Mac and Dillon try to pursue it, but the alien outmanoeuvres and kills them. The creature then catches up with the others, killing Billy and Poncho and wounding Dutch. Realising the creature does not target unarmed prey because there is “no sport” in it, Dutch sends Anna to the helicopter unarmed. The creature pursues Dutch into a river, and its cloaking device malfunctions. The creature, now visible, goes within a few feet of a mud-covered Dutch. His thermal signature reduced, Dutch remains unseen by the creature and it moves on. Dutch realises he can use mud as camouflage.

While the creature collects trophies from the dead mercenaries, Dutch crafts traps and weapons and lures the creature to him. He disables the creature’s cloaking device and inflicts minor injuries but falls into a river, losing his mud cover, and is pinned by the creature. Acknowledging Dutch as a worthy foe and wishing to fight him in equal terms, the creature discards its mask and plasma caster and engages him in hand-to-hand combat. Dutch is almost beaten, but manages to crush the creature under a trap’s counterweight. As the creature lies dying, it activates a self-destruct device while laughing maniacally in Billy’s voice. Dutch takes cover just before the device explodes. He is rescued by Philips and Anna in the helicopter, beaten and dispirited.

Cast

• Arnold Schwarzenegger as Major Alan ‘Dutch’ Schaefer, a Vietnam veteran and mercenary leader.
• Carl Weathers as George Dillon, Dutch’s war buddy and a CIA operative.
• Elpidia Carrillo as Anna Gonsalves, a female insurgent.
• Bill Duke as Sergeant Mac Eliot, Blain’s friend.
• Richard Chaves as Jorge ‘Poncho’ Ramírez, an explosives expert.
• Jesse Ventura as Blain Cooper, a commando who fights with a minigun.
• Sonny Landham as Billy Sole, a tracker and scout.
• Shane Black as Rick Hawkins, a radioman.
• R.G. Armstrong as Major General Homer L. Philips.
• Kevin Peter Hall as The Predator/Helicopter Pilot.
• Peter Cullen supplies the Predator’s voice.
  • Credited as providing vocals (noted as ‘Vocalisations By’) in the staff roll.
  • His name shows up much later than the rest of the cast.
• Jake Busey as Sean Hayes.
• Sven-Ole Thorsen as Soviet military adviser (in an uncredited role).

Production

Development

Following the release of Rocky IV, a joke circulated in Hollywood that since Rocky Balboa had run out of earthly opponents, he would have to fight an alien if a fifth film were to be made.

Screenwriters Jim and John Thomas took the inspiration from the joke and wrote a screenplay based on it. The Thomas script for Predator was originally titled Hunter. The original idea, centered around the idea of “what it is to be hunted,” centred around a band of alien hunters of various species seeking various targets, which was eventually streamlined to one extraterrestrial hunting the most dangerous species, humans, and the “most dangerous man,” a combat soldier.

Additionally, the setting was chosen as Central America for having constant special forces operations during that period.

The script was picked up by 20th Century Fox in 1985, and turned over to producer Joel Silver who, based on his experience with Commando (1985), decided to turn the science fiction pulp storyline into a big-budget film. Silver enlisted his former boss Lawrence Gordon as co-producer and John McTiernan was hired as director for his first studio film. New Zealand director Geoff Murphy was also considered to direct.

Casting

Silver and Gordon first approached Arnold Schwarzenegger with the lead role. Arnold Schwarzenegger had previously starred in Commando (1985), on which Silver had served as producer. To play the elite band of soldiers, both Silver and Gordon, with co-producer John Davis, searched for other larger-than-life men of action. Carl Weathers, who had been memorable as boxer Apollo Creed in the Rocky films, was their first choice to play Dillon while professional wrestler and former Navy UDT Jesse Ventura was hired for his formidable physique as Blain, co-starring with Schwarzenegger the same year in The Running Man. Also cast were Sonny Landham, Richard Chaves, and Bill Duke, who co-starred alongside Schwarzenegger in Commando.

Jean-Claude Van Damme was originally cast as the Predator with the intent that the physical action star would use his martial arts skills to make the Predator an agile, ninja-like hunter. But when the 5’9″ Van Damme was compared to Schwarzenegger, Weathers, and Ventura – actors over 6 feet tall and known for their bodybuilding regimens – it became apparent a more physically imposing man was needed to make the creature appear threatening. Additionally, it was reported that Van Damme constantly complained about the monster suit being too hot and caused him to pass out. He allegedly had also repeatedly voiced reservations about only appearing on camera in the suit. Additionally, the original design for the Predator was felt to be too cumbersome and difficult to manage in the jungle and, even with a more imposing actor, did not provoke enough fear. Van Damme was removed from the film and replaced by the 7’4″ Kevin Peter Hall.

Filming

Commitments by Schwarzenegger delayed the start of filming by several months. The delay gave Silver enough time to secure a minor rewrite from screenwriter David Peoples. Principal photography eventually began in the jungles of Palenque, Mexico, near Villahermosa, Tabasco, during the last week of March 1986, but most of the film was shot in Mismaloya, Mexico. Much of the material dealing with the unit’s deployment in the jungle was completed in a few short weeks and both Silver and Gordon were pleased by the dailies provided by McTiernan. On Friday 25 April, production halted so that Schwarzenegger could get to his wedding on time, flying to Hyannis Port in a Learjet chartered by Silver. Schwarzenegger was married on 26 April 1986, to Maria Shriver, and honeymooned for only three days while the second unit completed additional lensing. The production resumed filming on 12 May and ended in late June 1986.

Both McTiernan and Schwarzenegger lost 25 pounds during the film. Schwarzenegger’s weight loss was a professional choice while McTiernan lost the weight because he avoided the food in Mexico due to health concerns. Unlike McTiernan, most of the cast and crew suffered from traveller’s diarrhoea since the Mexican hotel in which they were living had problems with its water purification. In an interview, Carl Weathers said the actors would secretly wake up as early as 3:00 a.m. to work out before the day’s shooting. Weathers also stated that he would act as if his physique was naturally given to him and would work out only after the other actors were nowhere to be seen.

According to Schwarzenegger, filming was physically demanding. The actor – and former bodybuilder – shipped gym equipment to Mexico and trained intensively every day before shooting began, usually with his co-stars. Screenwriter Jim Thomas was impressed with the training regimen and said: “I think that phrase ‘manly men’ was coined [during the production of Predator]”. Among other tasks, Schwarzenegger had to swim in very cold water and spent three weeks covered in mud for the climactic battle with the alien. In addition, cast and crew endured very cold temperatures in the Mexican jungle that required heat lamps to be on all of the time. Cast and crew filmed on rough terrain that, according to the actor, was never flat, “always on a hill. We stood all day long on a hill, one leg down, one leg up. It was terrible.” Schwarzenegger also faced the challenge of working with Kevin Peter Hall, who could not see in the Predator suit. The actor recalled that “when he’s supposed to slap me around and stay far from my face, all of a sudden, whap! There is this hand with claws on it!” Hall stated in an interview that his experience on the film “wasn’t a movie, it was a survival story for all of us.” For example, in the scene where the Predator chases Dutch, the water was foul, stagnant and full of leeches. Hall could not see out of the mask and had to rehearse his scenes with it off and memorise where everything was. The outfit was difficult to wear because it was heavy and affected his balance.

Visual Effects

The original Predator creature was created by Richard Edlund of Boss Film Studios and was a disproportionate, ungainly creature with large yellow eyes and a dog-like head, and nowhere near as agile as necessary for what the filmmakers had intended. After a call was put out for a new alien creature costume, creature effects artist Rick Baker put in a bid, but ultimately McTiernan consulted Stan Winston. Winston had previously worked with Schwarzenegger as a visual effects artist on the 1984 film The Terminator. While on a plane ride to Fox studios alongside Aliens director James Cameron, Winston sketched monster ideas. Cameron suggested he had always wanted to see a creature with mandibles, which became part of the Predator’s iconic look.

R/Greenberg Associates created the film’s optical effects, including the alien’s ability to become invisible, its thermal vision point of view, its glowing blood, and the electrical spark effects.

The invisibility effect 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.

For the thermal vision, infrared film could not be used because it did not register in the range of body temperature wavelengths. The filmmakers used an Inframetrics thermal video scanner because it gave good heat images of objects and people. The glowing blood was achieved by green liquid from glow sticks mixed with personal lubricant for texture. The electrical sparks were rotoscoped animation using white paper pins registered on portable light tables to black-and-white prints of the film frames. The drawings were composited by the optical crew for the finished effects. Additional visual effects, mainly for the opening title sequence of the Predator arriving on Earth, were supplied by Dream Quest Images (later Oscar-winners for their work on The Abyss and Total Recall). The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

Music

The score was composed by Alan Silvestri, who was coming off the huge success of Back to the Future in 1985. Predator was his first major action movie and the score is full of his familiar genre characteristics: heavy horn blasts, staccato string rhythms, and undulating timpani rolls that highlight the action and suspense. Little Richard’s song “Long Tall Sally” is featured in the helicopter en route to the jungle. Mac also recites a few lines from the song as he’s chasing the Predator after it escapes from their booby trap. Silvestri returned for the sequel, making him the only composer to have scored more than one film in either the Alien or Predator series.

In 2003, Varèse Sarabande released the soundtrack album as part of its limited release CD Club collection; the album also includes the Elliot Goldenthal arrangement of the 20th Century Fox fanfare used on Alien 03.

In 2010, the same year Predators featured an adaptation of Silvestri’s score by John Debney, Intrada Records released the album in a 3000-copy limited edition with remastered sound, many cues combined and renamed, and most notably (as with Intrada’s release of Basil Poledouris’s score for RoboCop) presenting the original end credits music as recorded (the film versions are mixed differently). This release is notable for having sold out within a day.

In 2018, Henry Jackman adapted and composed Silvestri’s themes in the score of the film, The Predator.

Release

Box Office

Released on 12 June 1987, Predator was #1 at the US box office in its opening weekend with a gross of $12 million, which was second to only Beverly Hills Cop II for the calendar year 1987. The film grossed $98,267,558, of which $59,735,548 was from the US & Canadian box office. $38,532,010 was made overseas.

Legacy

In 2013, NECA released action figure collectables of Major Dutch and the Predator. That same year, Predator was converted into 3D for a Blu-ray release. The Predator makes an appearance in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands, in a bonus mission called “The Hunt”.

The line “Get to the choppa” was subsequently associated with Arnold Schwarzenegger, especially when Schwarzenegger said the line again in some of his later appearances, including The New Celebrity Apprentice and advertisements for the mobile video game Mobile Strike.

In February 2020, it had been announced that Dark Horse is adapting the film’s unused 1984 script that was written by James E. Thomas and John C. Thomas into a five-issue comic book miniseries, entitled Predator: The Original Screenplay, as part of what’s called 20th Century Fox Uncovered.

Home Media

Predator was released on DVD on 26 December 2000, The film was later released on Blu-Ray on 15 April 2008. Predator was released on Blu-Ray 3D on 17 December 2013. Predator was released on 4K UHD Blu-Ray on 07 August 2018.

Sequel and Franchise

The success of Predator led 20th Century Fox to finance three direct sequels over the next thirty-one years, each by different directors, starting with Predator 02 released in 1990.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has not reprised his role as Dutch Schaefer in the subsequent sequels; he had been made offers to return, but declined on all of these occasions.

The success of Predator resulted in numerous novels, comic books, video games, toys, and other media and merchandise. A number of these began appearing under the Alien vs. Predator title, which brought the Predator creatures together with the creatures of the Alien films, and a film series followed with Alien vs. Predator in 2004 and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem in 2007.

Trivia

• On a budget of $15-18 million the film grossed $98.3 million at the box office.

Crossover

The Alien vs. Predator franchise combines the continuities of the Alien franchise with the Predator franchise and consists of two films as well as various series of comics, books, and video games.

Predator Series

• Films:
  • Predator (1987).
  • Predator 02 (1990).
  • Predators (2010).
  • The Predator (2018).

• Short Films:
  • Moments of Extraction (2010).
  • Crucified (2010).
  • Predator vs. Colonial Marines (2016).
  • The Predator Holiday Special (2018).

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s): John McTiernan.
• Producer(s): Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver, and John Davis.
• Writer(s): Jom Thomas and John Thomas.
• Music: Alan Silvestri.
• Cinematography: Donald McAlpine.
• Editor(s): John F. Link and Mark Helfrich.
• Production: Lawrence Gordon Productions, Silver Pictures, and Davis Entertainment.
• Distributor(s): 20th Century Fox.
• Release Date: 12 June 1987.
• Running Time: 107 minutes.
• Rating: 15.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

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