How “Colossus” Inspired “Predator: Badlands”

“Predator Badlands” director Dan Trachtenberg has spoken with Bloody Disgusting about his new film and has gone into more details about it.

The lead Predator, called Dek, he describes as the runt of the alien hunter litter and the story sees him choosing to fight on a ‘Death Planet’ called Kalisk to prove his worth to his father and clan.

Dek works alongside Thia (Elle Fanning), a synthetic. The pair’s relationship is said to be heavily inspired by the highly acclaimed 2005 video game “Shadow of the Colossus”.

That game follows a man trying to revive his cursed love by destroying the colossi – sixteen massive beings spread across a vast and forbidden land. Trachtenberg says:

“As inspired as I am by movies, I’ve been very inspired by video games [like] Shadow of the Colossus, where you have a protagonist paired with someone else who provides color and connection.

There’s a thing with a horse in Shadow of the Colossus that’s devastating when you play the game. And so [Predator: Badlands] was a little bit inspired by that in terms of wanting to see the Predator with someone else, this character who’s the opposite of him.

He’s very laconic, [Fanning] is not. She’s capable in ways that he is not. Physically, she’s got a real thing that I’m so excited for you guys to see. But I want to let eventually some of that speak for itself.”

That’s just one influence though as the film is packed with plenty of others: “There’s a Frank Frazetta, Conan the Barbarian, Spartan thing … but also you think of The Book of Eli or Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior … Shane, [very] western, very Clint Eastwood-y.”.

Summing up his film, he calls it “a big, crazy swing, and I think that’s what drives butts into seats” as opposed to just another recyclable redo, adding that: “If you want the ‘same old Predator experience,’ you can hit play on Predator or Prey or any other, whichever one is your fit.”

“Predator: Badlands” opens November 7th. Trachtenberg’s animated anthology “Predator: Killer of Killers” hits Hulu in June.

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