The lights were low, and the atmosphere was electric as the host stepped on to the stage after MCM London Comic Con’s Predator: Badlands panel began with a big Predator self-destruct bang following the screening of a highlight reel showing footage from Predator, Predator 2, Predators and Prey for the busy auditorium buried in level 0 of ExCel London.
It doesn’t feel like we normally get these kinds of panels or events for films on this side of the pond, so it was something of a treat for me when MCM announced this panel. I made the journey down to London to meet up with fellow Alien vs. Predator Galaxy staff member Dachande, and following a screening of the recent International Trailer, writer/director Dan Trachtenberg, new synthetic actress Elle Fanning and our first Predator protagonist actor Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi took to the stage to talk about Predator: Badlands!
The first question posed to Dan Trachtenberg was regarding the impact he has had on the Predator franchise following his revitalization of the series with the success of Prey, and how Predator: Badlands felt like a departure from Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers. Dan reiterated the point he’d made previously about follow-ups to Prey not being about “what could we make, but what should we make?”
He also discussed the concept of removing humans from the narrative, and instead focusing on just a Predator and a synthetic character, and how that led him down the path of tying into the Alien franchise with Weyland-Yutani, which was soon followed by the idea of the silhouette of Thia strapped to Dek’s back becoming a strong focus of the identity of Predator: Badlands.
The man behind Dek himself, Dimitrius, spoke to how Dek was the undersized underdog going against all odds who was out to prove to himself and his clan that despite his size and disadvantages, he’s the “biggest and baddest Predator there is.”
Speaking of Thia and her performance in the film, Elle Fanning responded to the host’s comment that he thought Thia was going to become a fan favourite synthetic character, saying that she was pleased at joining the list of actors who had portrayed a synthetic in the Alien films despite her “work[ing] for the company.”
She’s very different of a synth that you’ve seen before. Our film is set furthest into the future you’ve seen, so that also means she is kind of the most advanced android that we’ve seen so far, that also gives her a lot of empathy and human-like emotion so she’s very accessible, I think, to the audience and has quite a spunky, kind of fun personality. She’s quite of funny at times which might be unexpected to see in a Predator film – that you’ll laugh – but I love her personality. And she’s also broken, and I think her personality, because she is broken, it informs a lot of her empathy and how she navigates on the planet.
Discussing the dynamic between the two characters, Dimitrius elaborated that:
They’re such contrasting characters, but I think that’s what makes it so interesting – the relationship. Even the funny moments. We’re not playing the joke. It’s just so outrageous what’s going on, it just can’t but be funny. Those little moments. Like going with Elle through the valleys, over the mountains, on my back. It was such a funny experience that we went through.
The trio also discussed the relationship between Dek and Thia, re-iterating that they spent a lot of the production literally attached to each other and discussing the various effects that were used throughout the production to achieve the visual of half Thia strapped to Dek’s back, as well as the physical and performance challenges it entailed. Elle recalled one particular shot in which Dek picked up Thia and threw her over his back like a backpack, and she had suggested to Dan that they could achieve it without wire-work.
Considering the challenge of filming Predator: Badlands, Dan spoke about how he had pitched the idea to 20th Century Studio on it being done simply and affordable, but how it turned into something “treacherous,” but hugely satisfying in the end.
Maybe we build a bust of the Predator? Or we be close-up on the Thia character, and she’d be hauling him in some shots, just to avoid some of the challenges that we’d face. That quickly went away, like day 1 of prep. I’m very much a couch-related person. I love spending a lot of time on one and dreaming of things…I’m not really an outdoorsy-type, but this movie was very much an adventure for the cast and crew. We were putting on hip-waders and trudging through eel-infested waters. Dimitrius was doing it in a suit that absorbs water. It was ridiculous. It was really, sometimes, as treacherous as it is in the movie. It was for us too. But really more satisfying in the end that we had to go through so much danger to capture some awesome things.
Dimitirus revealed that he had never done suit work before taking on the role of Dek, and his preparation involved a lot of training to get used to performing inside the Predator suit, specifying that it was “out of [his] comfort zone.” While trying to get into the headspace of an intergalactic alien big game hunter, Dimitrius found inspiration in not just the previous film performances, but also in the Dark Horse comics.
While talking about learning the Predator language, Dimitrius revealed that following his first call with Britton Watkins, despite the false confidence he was presenting to the production, his first response was that he didn’t know if he could do the language!
It was rough, but at the end of it, very rewarding. I’ve got the language for life now. After you watch the film guys, go learn the language, we can converse. I’m the only one that can speak it right now, so I’m feeling a little lonely!
The panel moved on to taking questions from the fans, and discussing the Dark Horse comics, it was noted the similar appearance that Dek shared with the fan-favourite Broken Tusk. Dan was asked if he would like to see Machiko Noguchi on the big screen, and if he would like to be the man adapting those characters.
I think she’s a very cool character, as is Broken Tusk. I think we are drawing on so much inspiration from all the characters of the comics, I don’t know that we would ever…or at least, my iteration of things which there will be someone after me, [as] there were people before [me]. I don’t know that I’d be as interested doing direct reimagining of issues of comics and characters from them. But we are certainly drawing so much inspiration from the comics, especially with this film and Killer of Killers as well, more-so than we have ever before in any of the movies.
Revisiting the scenes that involved eel infested waters, Dimitrius and Elle were asked if there were any standout memories from their time filming Predator: Badlands. Elle joked that Dan hadn’t informed them of their special co-stars for that particular part of the production, but Dan had been assured the eels weren’t dangerous or electric. Dimitrius also joked about the eels being scared of the Predator.
That was probably the most memorable [scene to film]. It was such a hard day, just being in the water pretty much the whole time. Limited crew were allowed in there…all the rigs that we had, the lines we had to do…it was so loud. And we’re trying to talk to each other, I’m speaking another language. The whole crew had to be rafted in. It was one of those days were you could tell “okay, this crew will get it done.”
I feel like the hard days are the days where you can judge “is everyone getting after it? Is everyone trying to help each other out to help make this film?” I feel that was what Dan was really good at doing – creating a culture where everyone brought into the vision. We brought into what we were making and everyone wanted to do their part to get amongst it and make some magic.
Dan was also asked about filming in New Zealand, to which he talked about how shooting became somewhat fluid around the locations available to them, rather than strictly adhering to the storyboards. He also spoke about how pleased he was the film was getting an IMAX release, but not necessarily for the visuals, rather for Sarah Schachner and Benjamin Wallfisch’s score.
The sound of this movie will hopefully be just south of making your ears bleed, but almost make them bleed – bleed green. The sound design is incredible. The score for this is particularly beautiful. [Sarah and Ben] wrote a really iconic, modern, but also classic, adventure score that is badass and beautiful. I’m almost most excited for people to hear the movie as much as see it.
As MCM London Comic Con’s Predator: Badlands panel was starting to wrap up, a question was posed to all the guests about who they would love to see the Predator go up against – but it can’t be the Xenomorph. Dimitrius suggested Thanos, while Elle considered Maleficent or Ellen Ripley herself. Dan re-iterated his previous responses to this question – Lobo or Judge Dredd (to the cheers of the UK natives).
One of the final questions to Predator: Badlands writer/director Dan Trachtenberg was what was the film’s hardest visual effect to achieve.
Oh, boy. So many, guys. So many. But probably getting the face right for Dimitrius, for Dek, because if you think about the kind of faces you’ve seen perform and give emotional performances in our favourite movies, they’re very humanoid. Two eyes, nose, mouth. As much as people will say the eyes are a window to your soul, really the mouth does so much work in feeling like you can understand how someone is feeling, even if you don’t know the words they’re speaking.
Finding the way in which the mandibles…there was a period when we were developing that we were gonna keep him in the mask the whole time, and there was a moment where we were maybe going to break the mask and have him be in half a mask the whole way through. And at the last second, it really felt wrong. It felt like that was cheating the premise. The movie is about a monster, and we’re gonna get you to feel what that creature is feeling, and I didn’t want to make him look less like a monster. So really digging into find the correct way to animate those mandibles so they feel like they’re speaking the language, and they’re doing what Dimitrius was driving underneath it all was really challenging, but I think now that we’re done [it was worth] every ounce of hardship.
If you’d like to watch the full panel for yourself, you can check out the entire video of what we recorded at MCM London Comic Con below!
The event had also promised a special preview of footage from the film, and as Dan teased the impending preview, the lights suddenly shut off as the Predator’s iconic tri-targeting laser shone over the stage as the Father Predator stepped imposingly out in front of the assembled Predator fans. I can’t lie, I just love this kind of performance at events like this. I had a blast seeing Joel Ezra Hebneronce don his Predator suit again and brandish his sword to the gathered crowd of Predator fans eagerly awaiting their first real taste of the film.
As the Father Predator and the rest of the guests disappeared off the stage, the preview began. I had expected it to be the same footage that AvP Galaxy’s RidgeTop had seen at San Diego Comic Con, and it turned out to be a more final version of that footage, as well as an extra 5 minutes.
I won’t recap the opening footage – you can go check out RidgeTop’s description here – but it was in a more finished state with no animatics. Spoilers follow!! And instead of finishing when Dek’s ship left the surface of Yautja Prime, we see the ship approaching Genna. A planet surrounded by a thick ring of planetary debris, the rocks slam into the Predator vessel as Dek is roused from consciousness.
He quickly moves to the pilot seat as the ship continues to be buffeted by the rings. Unable to stabilise his descent, Dek ejects from the doomed craft as it plummets to the surface of the planet of death. The hostility of Genna is quickly made apparent as a large avian lower-case predator quickly swooped in to attack Dek. A protective shield appeared, but Dek was knocked to the surface of the planet, as we’ve seen in the final trailer. The footage then proceeded to show the clip that has also been released showing Dek fighting the plant creature, disrupting his gear-up scene.
As Dek made his climb to what safety he could find on the planet of death, he looked out over the vast landscape, seeing more creatures circling in the air and a very Dune-esque worm-like creature moving down a mountain in the distance. And after 20 minutes of intense Predator action, the title card smashed on the screen as the preview ended and the lights returned. MCM had one final treat for the Predator fans in attendance. Beneath the seats were 8 tickets to the UK premiere of Predator: Badlands the following day.
Following the panel, Dachande and I headed back into the convention, where we came across a number of Alien and Predator cosplayers on our way to the Predator: Badlands experience!
The MCM London Comic Con Predator: Badlands experience was a stripped down version of the one that RidgeTop had already done at San Diego Comic Con. Hidden inside the booth was the trophy room onboard Kwei’s craft, and appearing before Dachande and myself once again was the Father Predator himself. Unfortunately, there was no-one to translate his speech this time, but we had a good opportunity to photograph Joel in his suit and listen to more of the Predator language.
I had a blast at the event. As I mentioned before, I don’t feel like we really get these kinds of events in the UK so it was a thrill to get to experience this – even if it was a smaller scale to what was put on in the States – and it was a joy to listen to Dan, Dimitrius and Elle talk about their own experiences making Predator: Badlands. Thankfully, there’s not long left to wait until we get to experience the film for ourselves! This is Corporal Hicks, getting to the choppa!