Prey star Amber Midthunder talks about the practical effects used to bring The Predator to life in the new hit film. Prey was released on Hulu on August 5, becoming the fifth film in the Predator franchise. It received critical acclaim for its action, cinematography, performances, and Comanche representation, with many calling it the best Predator film since the original. It also broke the record for the most watched premiere in Hulu's history.
Prey follows a Comanche warrior (Midthunder) who must protect her tribe from the highly evolved alien known as The Predator (Dane DiLiegro) that hunts humans for sport. With the film set in 1719, Prey gets away from the established canon of the Predator franchise to create a more stand-alone story. Director Dan Trachtenberg has discussed a sequel to Prey, which is now more likely given the film's wide success.
While on The Empire Film Podcast, Midthunder talked about the practical effects used for The Predator, saying it helped bolster her performance. She says having DiLiegro in a costume that looked like The Predator was more immersive than acting with CGI, which usually doesn't give actors much to work with from a physical perspective. She also mentions how there was a certain texture to touching the costume that made her recoil away from it. Read her quote below:
I was mesmerized by like the artistry and the detail of the suit and the head and everything. Cause at the time, the mysticism of how that got onto a person's body didn't...like that veil had not been lifted you know? I just saw like a monster in front of me, and I was like 'wow.' And it's so neat cause it's like not acting to like a tennis ball on a stick I'm looking at a real The Predator in front of me you know? With the teeth and the eyes and like the skin color, and they put this like goop on him that like, when he touches me it's gross and like it's all very real.
Given how much simpler it is to use CGI in action films, it's very quickly become the default way to depict fights in movies, despite not having the same tangibility as practical effects. Midthunder received acclaim for her performance in Prey and her quote indicates that the practical effects added more depth to her acting. DiLigero also received positive notices for his physical performance, a performance that wouldn't have carried the same weight if it was all generated from computers.
Practical effects are becoming less and less common in mainstream movies nowadays, which is a shame because practical effects can add certain nuances that CGI never can, along with cool behind-the-scenes stories about how designers had to get creative to achieve desired effects. Trachtenberg's decision to depict The Predator with a practical costume is just one of the many smart decisions that help Prey stand out from the crowded and over-saturated action-adventure genre. In the end, Midthunder gives an action protagonist performance for the ages in Prey, aided by the larger-than-life performance of DiLiegro in his wildly creative Predator costume.
Source: The Empire Film Podcast