“If it bleeds, we can kill it.” It was a rumble in the jungle between a muscle-bound paramilitary team and one ugly alien.Predatoropened in theaters in 1987 and has been a fan favorite among moviegoers. The film launched a successful franchise that recently had new life breathed into it with 2022’sPrey. The Predator has been featured in comic books and video games and has been a merchandising cash cow that it is hard to believe it all started with a simple movie.
Update July 25, 2025: In honor of the news ofPreygetting released on Blu-Ray, this article has been updated with even more facts about the Predator movie that started it all.
Like all classic films,Predatoris filled with some incredible behind-the-scenes stories. Cover yourself in mud, ‘cause we’re talking aboutPredator. Here we’ll take a look at 15 things you never knew aboutPredator.
Call Me the Hunter.
The firstPredatorwas originally calledHunteruntil after production was completed. In the DVD commentary, director John McTiernan saysPredatorwas originally pitched as Rocky vs. Alien, ‘though he personally saw it as more like King Kong. In the 2001 short documentaryIf It Bleeds We Can Kill It: The Making of Predator, brothers Jim, and John Thomas said they got their script idea from a joke aboutRocky IV. The gag was that Rocky had no one left to fight, so he might as well fight an alien.
The Crew Came to be at Arnold’s Request
Do you know how we know Arnold is a good chap? The original film’s script had a single one-on-one chase with the Predator and a single soldier fighting it off to the death in the jungle. Schwarzenegger didn’t like the idea, so he asked for a rewrite so the creature was hunting a crew of soldiers; this led to the rest of the cast members getting their jobs.
Related:Predator: Every Movie in the Franchise, Ranked by Rotten Tomatoes
Ever notice the great chemistry among the cast? It’s because Arnold also wanted this film to be his own version of “The Magnificent Seven,” so he contributed a lot to promote the cast’s camaraderie by creating workout routines and doing things together during the shooting.
The Cigar Chomping Crew
In the film, we see Arnold smoking a cigar before being briefed about the mission. Jesse Venture also indulges in tobacco in the film, although he chews it. In real life, Schwarzenegger kept offering co-star Carl Weathers cigars which he kept refusing as he avoided smoking since his NFL days. Weathers would eventually cave in, making Arnold gift him a very expensive box of fine Cuban cigars. Weathers would jokingly tell the anecdote years later, shaming Schwarzenegger for hooking him on such a costly vice.
The Fantastic Weapons of Dutch Crew
Although the Predator is using a lot of out-of-this-world technology to fight the military rescue team that came looking for survivors, these hardened soldiers are using a lot of gear that is not practical at all in the real world. The M134 Mini Gun used by Jesse Venture in this film is not a real weapon any soldier can use, as this gun is only meant to be used in a tripod attached to the side of a chopper or in a mobile unit.
The weapon alone weighs well over a hundred pounds and can fire up to 6000 rounds a minute, making it impossible for any human to use, as depicted in the film. Also, the big-ass machete used by Dutch? No soldier can carry something that big around without hurting himself. The weapon was designed to be used in the scene where Arnold improvises the line “Stick around” and gets rid of it.
A Third Predator Governor?
Predatorfamously stars two actors who went on to become governors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, who governed the great state of California as a Republican, and former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura, who won the Minnesota governor’s race as a Reform Party candidate. The late Sonny Landham, who played Billy, made a run for the Governor gig in Kentucky but failed to win the Republican party’s nomination.
Honestly, it is amazing that this 1980s action sci-fi horror film resulted in two governors. If we had a nickel for every time a cast member became a governor, we’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.
The Original Predator.
The original Predator design was much lankier and insect-like. A red suit was created, one that could be turned invisible with the creature’s cloaking device in post-production. The man in the suit was a young actor who’d just recently arrived in Hollywood from Brussels:Jean-Claude Van Damme. As special effects specialist Steve Johnson explained in an interview, Van Damme was angry when he learned his character wouldn’t get to demonstrate his martial arts abilities against Arnold and worse, he’d be invisible.
The original Predator design would later be reused in 2010’sPredatorsas one of the many aliens that the Predator is hunting on their homeworld.
What happened to JCVD?
There are a number of different accounts throughout the Hollywood Reporter’s Oral History, published to mark the movie’s 30-year anniversary in 2017 when it comes to the Muscles from Brussels leaving Predator and that first suit, which has also been described as looking like a cockroach, a chicken, and a duck.
The explanations for Van Damme’s dismissal and/or quitting range from: Van Damme complained too much; he broke the creature’s head; he was too short to seem intimidating against the heroes; he was tossed out simply because the entire design was tossed out; he passed out in the suit too often; and finally, good old-fashioned “creative differences.”
The New Predator.
The director hated the original suit design anyway and halted production so a new one could be created. Arnold hit up his palStan Winston, the legendary effects creatorwho’d worked onThe Terminator. Their pal James Cameron actually suggested the mandibles. Kevin Peter Hall, 7’ 2" ballet dancer, and actor, replaced the 5’ 9" Van Damme, braving the sweltering heat in the new 200-pound suit. Hall, who had just finished filming the title role of Harry inHarry and the Hendersons, actually had a small cameo outside of the Predator suit as part of the chopper rescue crew.
Shane Black
Lethal Weaponwriter and futureThe Predatorwriter/director Shane Black plays Rick Hawkins. Producers later admitted they cast him more for his writing skills, hoping he’d be available for on-set script punch-ups. In that 2017 Oral History published by the Hollywood Reporter, producer John Davis said Black refused to do any rewrites. “So he was the first person we killed. He got killed seven minutes into the movie.” Black did work on his script forThe Last Boy Scoutwhile he was there.
Optimus Prime
He isn’t credited, but the actor who provided the voice for The Predator was none other than Peter Cullen, akaOptimus Prime, in theTransformerscartoons, movies, games, and theme park rides. Cullen’s other voice work includes voicing Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh franchise.
