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So far, Dan Trachtenberg’s success rate with the Predator franchise has been ridiculously good. In fact, between Prey, claret-covered animation Predator: Killer of Killers, and Predator: Badlands, we’d say it’s been damn near flawless. Even so, it turns out that in the case of Trachtenberg’s latest outing with the Yautja who made one the hero of the movie, things weren’t perfect on the first try.
In an interview with Screen Rant, Weta FX's VFX Supervisor Sheldon Stopsack and Animation Supervisor Karl Rapley revealed that for the film’s final showdown between Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) and his father, Njohrr (Reuben de Jong), the initial scrap looked very different and was over a lot quicker.
“Dek arrives, his father's there, there was a quick exchange of blows, and Dek basically throws some sand from the ground, which reveals Father's cloak,” recalled Rapley. “Then they just cross over, Father turns around, and his arm falls off. And it was cool!”
However, after test screenings that showed the final battle, Trachtenberg realized that things needed to be turned up a notch. From there, the Weta team decided to make the father and even more imposing threat, but one that Dek could overcome thanks to what he’d learned during his time away from home. “We were playing with the gags of the ship and the sand, like the jets kicking up the sand and revealing the cloak that way. While prevising that, we gave it some really wide shots to feel like this Western sundown moment. It was great; I loved that challenge.”
Trachtenberg was fully on board with the new direction the battle was heading as well, pushing for more sand in the scrap. By doing so, it leaned into the iconic cloak that Predators are known for, and what was Dek’s real trophy by the end of the film.
“It's an aesthetic that I admire Dan for choosing because there are people that often say, ‘I want to see my protagonist and antagonist. I want to see the clarity. I need to see the fight,’" explained Stopsack. “And Dan was like, "Nah, I don't want to see them. I just want to see silhouettes. I just want to go all in on the mess.”
The result is undoubtedly stunning and just part of what makes Predator: Badlands the fun outing it was considered to be. If you missed it in theaters, don’t fret. Check out our guess as to when we think it’ll be heading to streaming.
