Shane Black Talks The Predator

When I learned about a Predator reboot my first thought was “just leave the franchise alone”, then something changed, Shane Black joined the project as co-writer and director and my interest in Predator was rekindled. In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Shane Black discussed that he intends to fully honour the original movie and the R-Rating was a condition of him directing the movie.

“I made it a condition of directing The Predator that it has to be the same rating as the first one, which was R. We probably could have gotten more money to do it as PG-13. But I actually think that although that seems like good logic, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. I don’t think the fans want a PG-13 Predator. Before Deadpool everyone was saying exactly the opposite. It’s only been recently that this sort of thing has become more palatable to the decision makers.”

In a separate interview, Shane Black also revealed that the traditional Predator look will undergo something of a makeover.

“It’s not to ‘improve,’ it’s make it fun, make it different, make it organically different. So what’s the extension of it that makes sense, that’s exciting? There have been a lot of changes to Stan’s design over the years. These different Predator movies have done different things. Ultimately it’s not about design to me, it’s about the story you want to tell. There are people who are always going to agonise over Iron Man, what colour his suit is. Maybe this weapon does a new thing, but if the story is not good I don’t give a sh*t what colour the suit is. In The Predator we’re doing a lot of upgrades to what you would consider to be the traditional Predator technology and look, but hopefully the story is what’s going to drag people in, not just the attention to the minutiae.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger is rumoured to be reprising his iconic role as Dutch for a cameo or possibly more, production is due to start later this year and The Predator is set to resume hunting on March 2, 2018.