FILM · 2010 · USA
Predators
38 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (38)
- #001
The "hunting dogs" are based on one of the creature skulls seen in the trophy case aboard the Predator ship near the end of Predator 2 (1990).
- #002
Hanzo is missing two fingers on his left hand. The yakuza traditionally sever fingers starting with the left pinky because those fingers play a vital role in controlling a Japanese sword, and losing them significantly hampers a duelist. For Hanzo to still fight in close combat despite losing his fingers, he must be a formidable swordsman.
- #003
The film's basic premise was conceived in 1994, while Robert Rodriguez was working on Desperado (1995). He submitted a draft of the script to 20th Century Fox, but they turned it down because the required budget was too large. Fifteen years later the studio decided to move forward with his script; the final result was an updated version of it.
- #004
The plant Edwin (Topher Grace) identifies as "Archaefructus liaoningensis" has in fact been extinct for several million years; its origins date back to the Cretaceous Period. Angiosperm fossils found in China are thought to be about one hundred and twenty-five million years old, making it the oldest known flowering plant in the world. In an earlier draft of the script, Edwin emphasizes the plant's origin and ultimately presents it as another inexplicable oddity before they realize where they are.
- #005
While shooting a fight scene, Oleg Taktarov struck his face on the Steadicam camera and started bleeding. He insisted that filming continue in order to add impact to the scene.
- #006
Nimród Antal chose Adrien Brody specifically for the lead role: "It was hard to find a balance. When we cast Adrien, there were a lot of people, What? But at the same time, if we had cast a Vin Diesel or an Arnold type in this role, we would have been attacked for doing it. So we decided early in the casting process to go in a very different direction, but it turned out great." He also felt the soldiers should be portrayed not as hulking men like Arnold Schwarzenegger but as lean, tough guys.
- #007
Adrien Brody put on twenty-five kilos of muscle for his role.
- #008
Laurence Fishburne shot for only two days.
- #009
Louis Ozawa insisted that Hanzo fight using Kendo rather than Kung Fu, as is the case in most Hollywood films, because the character is a martial arts practitioner.
- #010
The pool with the overhanging rock where the group lands after jumping off the cliff was found during location scouting in Texas. By the time the scene was shot a few months later, however, the temperature had dropped considerably and water had begun flowing from the rock. Not only did the actors have to be submerged in freezing cold water, but the noise from the waterfall made it impossible to record usable dialogue.
- #011
Oleg Taktarov dubbed his own voice in the Russian version.
- #012
The original script included small roles for Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Michael Harrigan (Danny Glover), the heroes of previous Predator films. In the end, however, these appearances were cut.
- #013
One of the production team's tasks was to look only at the original Predator (1987) as a reference point.
- #014
Although all the main locations were shot in Hawaii, sixty percent of the film was shot in Texas in order to qualify for a tax rebate.
- #015
The classic Predator from the original Predator (1987) appears for the first time in more than twenty years.
- #016
It was decided to shoot the film at Robert Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios rather than at 20th Century Fox so that Rodriguez would have creative control over the project.
- #017
According to Robert Rodriguez in the DVD commentary, Walton Goggins had taken on the role of Stans, but Rodriguez felt the character resembled Hudson from Aliens (1986) too closely. Rodriguez then rewrote the role and asked director Nimród Antal to rewrite it as well. Antal, however, insisted that Goggins could still take the role and arranged a meeting between Goggins, Rodriguez and himself. In a very short time, Rodriguez was convinced that Walton was the right person for the role.
- #018
According to the production of Predators, the teeth on Tracker's mask actually belong to the Predator hounds.
- #019
The Insectoid Alien that appears (at around fifty minutes) is a nod to the original design from the first film, in which the Predator was played by Jean-Claude Van Damme. The creature was redesigned into its current form after Van Damme left.
- #020
Berserker is the only Predator in the film who demands a trophy from someone he kills.
- #021
Asked where he drew inspiration for how to make a Predator film, Robert Rodriguez said he took inspiration from Predator (1987) for what to do and from Predator 2 (1990), Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) for what not to do. He added that he drew no inspiration whatsoever from the Predator comic books.
- #022
The script Robert Rodriguez initially rejected had the Predators riding motorcycles and drinking alien beer while watching matches in a Colosseum-like arena. Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger), who was captured in the first film and forced to fight in the arena as a gladiator against Predators and other alien creatures, had a major role. Because of the high costs and Schwarzenegger's tenure as Governor of California, it was rewritten to have the captured soldiers dropped into an alien game preserve, though the film was initially to feature 200 Predators. Nimród Antal, a big fan of the series, found this unreasonable and thought that if a single Predator was a dangerous threat in the previous films, dealing with hundreds would not give the human characters a reasonable chance of survival. It was scaled down to three Predators, and another core idea carried through from start to finish was the killing of six of the eight human characters. Rodriguez later offered Schwarzenegger a cameo in which Dutch (in full Predator gear) emerges from a ship containing several Predators and praises the survivors for their victory, but unfortunately Schwarzenegger could not do it.
- #023
Robert Rodriguez was initially considered to direct, but within a few days of that rumor surfacing he confirmed he would only write and produce the film.
- #024
An indication that the Predators have used their hunting grounds for a very long time: when they first arrive at the Predator camp (just before seeing the classic Predator on the totem pole), there is a Neanderthal skull on the ground next to a human skull as a trophy. The Neanderthal subspecies died out forty thousand years ago.
- #025
According to Robert Rodriguez, the title of Predators serves a double meaning, describing both the alien hunters and the human characters they target: "They could very well kill each other off, even if there were no Predators!"
- #026
The song playing over the credits is Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally," the song the main characters of Predator (1987) listen to in the helicopter before being dropped into the forest for their mission.
- #027
The original plan was to alter the 20th Century Fox logo so that, mid-fanfare, it turned into heat vision (as seen from the Predators' point of view). The studio rejected the idea.
- #028
Hanzo speaks in only one scene and has a total of three lines of dialogue.
- #029
While preparing for her role, Alice Braga read a sniper's manual and carried a fourteen-kilogram sniper rifle with her during the shoot.
- #030
The only characters who say their names in the film are Royce, Isabelle, Nikolai and Noland. The names of Stans, Mombasa, Cuchillo, Edwin and Hanzo are never revealed (although Stans introduces himself in a deleted scene). The DVD subtitles identify all the characters.
- #031
Hanzo's name is a reference to Hattori Hanzo, the legendary Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period (1467–1573 AD). Hattori Hanzo is also the name of Shin'ichi Chiba's character in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), written and directed by Robert Rodriguez's close friend Quentin Tarantino.
- #032
Stans's prison jumpsuit indicates that he is an inmate at San Quentin State Prison in California, which has the largest death row in the United States.
- #033
The man whose parachute fails to open is wearing a pixel-gray Army Combat Uniform, meaning he is most likely a soldier in the United States Army. The same applies to the unidentified man later found with his chest torn open: Nikolai reads from the man's notebook that he was due to be deployed to Afghanistan.
- #034
The film was shot in fifty-three days.
- #035
At the point where Noland (Laurence Fishburne) is introduced, you hear the lines "Over here" and "Turn around." These lines are spoken by Bill Duke to Carl Weathers in the first Predator film. The lines are either a nod to the original film or represent the Predator's ability to record and relay sounds and data among themselves in real time, since the first Predator could not do this on its own.
- #036
Unlike the other Predators, who pursue honor and trophies, in the original script the Super Predators hunt for DNA, which they use to genetically modify themselves into stronger hunters. This was later cut from the film, in which the Super Predators still hunt to improve themselves but also hunt their normal brethren for sport because of an internal feud. The idea of Predators hunting for DNA was revived in the sequel The Predator (2018).
- #037
Nikolai was initially to be armed with a Russian GShG-7.62 four-barreled rotary machine gun, since that would be more fitting for a Russian Spetsnaz operator. Because the production team could not obtain one, they used an American M134 Minigun instead.
- #038
Hanzo's final fight with the Falconer Predator is a tribute to the scene in the original film in which Billy challenges the Jungle Hunter to a one-on-one knife fight. Unlike the original scene, however, the fight is shown, and Hanzo wins at the cost of his own life.
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