Thus far, much of the ballyhoo regarding 20th Century Fox’s reboot of the Predator film series has been directed towards how the upcoming science fiction pic will differ from previous franchise installments.
Earlier this month, director and co-writer Shane Black, who had a supporting role in the original 1987 film, explained that his reimagining would both reinvent the series and honor what’s come before. Then, just last week, stuntman Brian A. Prince (Black Panther), who’ll be inhabiting the skin of an extraterrestrial killing machine in The Predator clarified that his monster is “a lot more mobile” when compared to what we’ve seen in the past.
But fear not, dear fans, as Black cleared the air today and explained that although his effort will be a unique breed, it won’t wander too far off the beaten path, delivering all the “genre sh*t” we’ve come to expect from the franchise.
While chatting with Collider, the filmmaker disclosed that his upcoming movie will “ultimately be a thriller” and won’t incorporate comedic elements, saying “it’s not gonna be a comedy. It’s an R-rated movie, and it’s supposed to be a kind of harrowing experience.”
Furthermore, Black divulged that he and co-writer Fred Dekker attempted to “stuff as much genre into one pack as we can…spies, romance, mystery…so you can literally unpack different facets of the movie.” According to the director, “if you bought a comic book that just said, ‘Genre Sh-t’ and started reading it, it could very well be this movie.”
Conversely, speaking strictly from a technical standpoint, Black acknowledged that despite advancements in CGI, he was wary of being overly reliant on VFX. Therefore, his new film will instead draw from what made the original Predator so appealing.
“I think there was a great deal of nostalgia and also a desire to do a kind of old-school thriller in the form of The Predator, because I think the reason there’s a lasting quality that the original movie has is due in part to the fact that it was made before it was so easy to just do a bunch of CGI effects and before video games had taken hold as well. Obviously we’ve kept up on visual effects and technology and we’re big fans-but let’s try to do an old-school kind of real hearty and heartfelt kind of war movie surrounding this story.”
The Predator is currently slated for a September 14th release stateside later this year and will star Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Trevante Rhodes, Keegan-Michael Key, Jacob Tremblay and Sterling K. Brown.
