Predator: Wildlands | Director promises brutal action in new film

In August 2024, Disney invited us to visit the set of Predator: Wildlands and experience has made it clear that the project is peculiar. A feeling that became even stronger when the group of journalists were able to talk to the director Then Trachtenberg (Rua Cloverfield, 10), who got excited when saying how excited he is to show this brutal action film to his own mother.

It is no exaggeration to say that the director is one of those largely responsible for the new era of Predator on the screens. He commanded the praised The Predator: The Hunt (2022)which arrived by surprise on streaming by the now extinct Star+a platform incorporated by Disney+ in Brazil, and proved that there is still appetite for the franchise. The filmmaker said that, when he received the invitation to return to the saga, he decided to avoid a common sin in sequels:

“I realized that a lot of times, people do something cool and the sequel is just a continuation of that cool thing, not something cool on its own merits, you know? So I thought, ‘OK, if I’m going to do another one, what hasn’t been done yet?’ one. How to make the public root for the creature?’

With this idea in mind, he met with the screenwriter Patrick Aisonwith whom he had worked in The Predator: The Huntto tell Dek’s story. Part of the alien Yautja race, he is despised as the smallest and weakest of his pack. Any similarity with the previous film is not a mere coincidence:

“I’ve always had a lot of affection for underdog stories, The Predator: The Hunt That was it, and I think Dek’s story is still that of an underdog. He was involved in a traumatic event at the beginning of the film and uses adventure to deal with it. So right off the bat, you’re thrown into an emotionally and physically intense situation with this guy, and I think that puts you in his shoes.”

Trachtenberg explains that the protagonist is the typical “silent protagonist”, citing the “chatty protagonist and silent sidekick” dynamic of Westerns. For him, in Predator: Wildlandsthe audience connects “to the silent”.

After this intense beginning, Dek lands on an alien planet known for being the home of the Kalisk, an “unkillable beast”, which he decides to hunt to prove himself to his own family. For this dive into the science fiction adventure, the director cited inspiration from the classic The Mysterious Island (1961)which adapts the book by Jules Verneand highlighted the importance of filming in New Zealand: “There’s a unique forest landscape, a strange combination of wild parts, forests, woodlands and redwoods. It’s breathtaking, and a big motivation for me is feeling like we’re in the wild, but in the future.”

Conan + Mission: Impossible = New Predator?

“Part of the fun is that (the project) would be unusual and challenging from concept”says the director. And one of the great challenges of elevating the monster to the role of hero was giving him a relatable personality without losing his brutal and deadly characteristics. The solution then was to target a character played by Arnold Schwarzeneggerprecisely the good guy from the first Predator:

“For some reason, I always made a phone call from Predator com CONAN, O BARBARAby thinking about what their culture is like, the way they behave. They are characters with many curses and few words, but they say a lot. And there’s something about the structure of these worlds that are brutal fantasy, with a bit of pirates, that is different from The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Avatar or any other science fiction film. There’s something about that Conan vibe that felt right for Predator when we were developing (Savage Lands).”

Furthermore, Dek will also need to earn our sympathy. And for this, Trachtenberg took another inspiration from his sleeve:

“Another one of those things that I love about films and that connects you to the characters is seeing them try. It’s the secret sauce of the Mission: Impossible franchise. Because he’s not James Bond, who handles everything elegantly, Tom Cruise is always falling. The funny thing is that he always messes up and then becomes incredible, you know? He fails a lot, but then he overcomes himself spectacularly.”

A Predator and an android walk into a bar…

If you have already seen any publicity material for Predator: Wildlandswhether trailer or poster, you must have noticed that the protagonist is not alone on his journey. An idea that Trachtenberg says he was initially against. Happy with the idea of ​​making the film with the monster as the protagonist, he didn’t want to include anything that would distract from it.

However, when he saw that a journey partner would be needed, he decided to cheat the “no humans” rule into the story and make this companion an android. An idea that reminded the team that the Predator franchise shares its universe with Alien, which made the character belong to the evil Weyland-Yutani corporation.

The result was the creation of Thia, a synthetic android played by Elle Fanning (Maleficent), who will play the loudmouth part of the duo formed with the Predator. A dynamic that, of course, is inspired by another cinema classic. “My pitch is that it would be Chewbacca and C3PO: The Movie”joked Tratchtenberg.

During the set visit, we discover that Thia is one of the androids that Weyland-Yutani sent to the planet that the Predator accidentally crash lands on. It turns out that the place is so hostile that she ends up cut in half and needs to be carried by Dek. An idea that proved to be a greater challenge than the director expected:

“A normal walking and talking scene, without big stunts or anything special, was incredibly complicated and time-consuming. It’s tied to wires, you know? Throughout the recording we found different styles of equipment to make it easier, until the last time we just had them on their backs and walking, and it looked great. But that was a challenge that I didn’t really pay attention to. I was like ‘let’s figure it out, it’ll all work out and look cool’.”

However, there are obstacles that elevate the project. One example is the issue of communication, as Dek speaks the Yautja language. The way for him and Thia to talk was relatively simple – a universal translator – but the notion that Predator is quieter helped create the identity of the film as a whole:

“With all the challenges of being limited in language and ability to communicate, we’re doing things much more visually to say what he’s saying. The cinematic part needs to do the job. Everything is leveled by that limitation.”

A fierce action movie to watch with mom

Despite the appetite for telling a very different story from The Predator: The Huntdirector Dan Trachtenberg made a point of keeping an ingredient of his in Wildlands: the desire to share the work with her own mother. “I was really excited, like ‘this is it! My mom is going to see this!’ and she loved it, because it’s her job (laughs).”

However, more than just the natural desire to share a passion project with a loved one, this desire came from a great lesson about cinema that he learned at a young age:

“I have a vivid childhood memory of being excited to show her Terminator 2 and realizing she didn’t need to see the first movie. Terminator 2 is about fathers and sons while also being badass and awesome. That’s how I took my mom to see a cool action movie. I was thinking, ‘Oh, there’s another mechanism to this. It’s very story-focused.'”

A lesson he applied to the previous film and now repeats in the new project:

“And yet, The Predator: The Hunt is full of decapitations and fights. So I was really encouraged to believe that there is a way to keep making these films that are affectionate in essence and at the same time are incredibly fierce and action-oriented and all those things that you would expect from the Predator franchise. And still be beautiful.”

After a quick chat with the press, Trachtenberg had to return to his duties as a director. However, after saying goodbye, he made a point of returning quickly to thank us for our presence:

“I’m so happy to have you guys here. In my mind, set visits are about big movies, so it’s really exciting. Like, ‘Oh my God, am I making a movie that people want to come see?’. It’s really cool to have you guys here and I wish I had more to show you, but that’s it. Thank you so much for stopping by.”

A quick demonstration of all the education that Mrs. Trachtenberg certainly must have given it away. With that, it’s hard not to hope that she likes her son’s new film.