{"id":46539,"date":"2022-08-16T02:05:48","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T02:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/predator-35-years-later-how-hollywood-created-hit-action-franchise\/"},"modified":"2022-08-16T02:05:48","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T02:05:48","slug":"predator-35-years-later-how-hollywood-created-hit-action-franchise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/predator-35-years-later-how-hollywood-created-hit-action-franchise\/","title":{"rendered":"Predator 35 Years Later: How Hollywood Created Hit Action Franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"
In 1987, a hyper-advanced alien species known as the \u201cYautja\u201d descended upon an elite military squad in Guatemala. Thanks to its memorable performances, quotable dialogue and inventive action set pieces, \u201cPredator\u201d became an American action movie staple. The film has spawned four sequels, including the new Hulu movie \u201cPrey,\u201d and two spinoffs. Yet, the mega franchise all started with a piece of paper underneath a door.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Thomas brothers snuck the script onto the Fox lot and under somebody’s door,\u201d says John Davis, who has produced all seven \u201cPredator\u201d movies. \u201cWe got there on Monday, and there was this script. I was an executive at the time, and I had been working with Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was a really good friend of mine. We were always both trying to figure out how we could work together. And so I’m the executive on this movie at Fox, and what happened is I became a producer. I auditioned to become a producer. And Arnold says, ‘Well, you’re becoming a producer now. You need to actually produce this movie and come to the jungle with me. Let’s go make this.’\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first-time producer, finding himself on the set of \u201cPredator\u201d was an unforgettable experience. While the jungle was a bit different than the Fox offices Davis had known, things on set were made a little easier thanks to Schwarzenegger, who brought a private chef with him to the jungle every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’d be in the jungle, and his chef would make like, smoked salmon on toast,\u201d Davis explains. \u201cI’m thinking, ‘This is crazy cool! I should do this the rest of my life!’ You hang out with all these people in the jungle all day, and you’re making this movie and you’re doing these cool action scenes. And you’re figuring out how to crash a helicopter and you’re sweating with all these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
And sweat they did. The producer recalls getting knocks on his door at 5:30 am for morning workouts with Schwarzenegger and company, and, after one five-hour workout session that left Davis nearly unable to move, he concluded that he was \u201cnot going to survive this entire movie.\u201d Thanks to some fake sleeping antics, though, Davis did in fact survive the shoot. Still, 35 years later, Davis recalls the difficulty getting the movie to the big screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ran out of money, so we didn’t shoot the end,\u201d Davis remembers. \u201cAnd then a new head of the studio, Leonard Goldberg, came in. And he saw three quarters of the movie and he said ‘Okay, it’s pretty good. Why don’t you guys just go finish it.’ And I met [John] McTiernan somehow. I saw one movie he had done before and I said, ‘This is the guy to direct this movie.’\u201d<\/p>\n
With John McTiernan on board, the movie was coming together. McTiernan, the revered helmer behind \u201cDie Hard\u201d and \u201cThe Hunt for Red October,\u201d brought together an all-star cast of macho men, including Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Kevin Peter Hall, Shane Black, Bill Duke, Sonny Landham and Jesse ventura<\/p>\n
\u201c[McTiernan] never read any actors. His process was, ‘I can tell in a conversation,’ \u201dDavis explains. \u201cThat conversation would enlighten him to whether or not the actor was right for the movie. And at the end of the day, we had two governors in the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, \u201cPredator’s\u201d manly-men made the film an action classic with bulging muscles and countless deaths. Thanks in large part to McTiernan’s intense directing and Schwarzenegger’s legendary performance, \u201cPredator\u201d has cemented itself into the action movie hall of fame. And, of course, having an outstandingly deadly and mysterious alien assuredly helped the film’s cool-ness factor.<\/p>\n