Predator (1987): did a Rocky IV joke really inspire it?

Predator (1987), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers, began life as a joke that brothers Jim and John Thomas overheard about Rocky having nobody left to fight. With a body count of 69 humans, one scorpion, one boar and one predator, I think it's one of the best action movies of all time. Going back to it made me open my eyes to how much it changed things.

Here is how it came together, the details hidden in the jungle, and a theory that might make you see the ending in a different light.

Predator started as a Rocky IV joke and an Aliens in the Jungle pitch

The idea came from a joke that brothers Jim and John Thomas overheard. People were mocking Rocky IV, saying that after beating the Russians there was no one left for Rocky Balboa to fight. The punchline was that he could take on ET or some aliens. The brothers started thinking about a man against an alien, but instead of Rocky they looked to Rambo and imagined a battle in a Vietnam type environment.

Aliens paved the way too, and the writers were reportedly inspired by it. They loved the idea of soldiers being picked off by an extraterrestrial, and the script was even nicknamed Aliens in the Jungle when it was pitched. As first time writers they couldn't get anyone to read it, but they managed to slip it under the door of a Fox executive, who took an interest in the concept.

There are many rumors that the film was only greenlit because of Aliens, the idea being that studios wanted similar properties while Alien 3 was years away. But Predator was greenlit in 1985 and put into production a year before Aliens came out. Whether that success pushed it further along is up for debate. It was first called Hunter, a name changed because of the 80s TV show Hunter. That first draft centered on a group of alien hunters of various species on what was basically a safari trip to Earth, before it was reworked to a single hunter stalking man. The one target was originally a Native American character, who might have even inspired Prey, before that role became Arnold's and the character morphed into Billy.

Why Fox gave Shane Black an acting role in Predator

Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Brian De Palma, Richard Donner, John Milius, John Carpenter and Renny Harlin were all listed as potential directors. Scott and Cameron were obvious picks after their success with the Xenomorphs. They all passed, and I'm so glad they went with John McTiernan. He was the brains behind Die Hard and deserves to be on the Mount Rushmore of 80s action classics.

Shane Black was asked to punch up the script but was reluctant, so Fox offered him an acting role as one of the soldiers. The thinking was that, bored between takes in Mexico, he'd end up working on the script in his downtime. He never rewrote it to the extent they wanted, but he ad libbed some of his jokes and suggested some of the film's most memorable lines, so they got their money's worth.

Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted The Magnificent Seven with aliens

It could easily have been one man versus an alien, but it was Arnold who pushed for an ensemble. He wanted to make The Magnificent Seven with aliens and got Joel Silver involved. Apparently he was the on set leader as well as the star, and reportedly had time for everyone from extras to directors. He had script notes, was very involved in pre production and even had his trademark cigar smoking written in. He wanted to create an unforgettable hero.

Carl Weathers came aboard early, which nicely ties back to the Rocky joke that inspired it all. Weathers was intimidated by Arnold's physique. He said Arnold had a gym installed in the hotel and they worked out every morning at 4:30, so Weathers got up at 3 a.m., only for Arnold to get up even earlier. Most of the cast were extremely competitive, which resulted in some of the best physiques on film.

Jesse Ventura was delighted when wardrobe told him his arms were bigger than Arnold's, and suggested an arm measuring contest for a bottle of champagne. He lost, because Arnold had told wardrobe to say his arms were bigger. Arnold also dropped weight for the role because he felt you'd need to be lean and agile in the jungle, like a special forces soldier.

Ventura told a podcast he would try to get booked on the California date of the then WWF so he could secretly meet his agent. Joel Silver took one look at him and said, "Yep, that's him." He read one line and was cast an hour later. That line was reportedly the one about chewing tobacco making you a "sexual tyrannosaurus." As an old school wrestling fan, I know just how perfect he is as Blain.

The Predator shoot in Mexico was torturous

The cast were sent out a week before filming to train with military advisers. They found it brutal, but it made them bond. The hilly, rough terrain meant heavy equipment had to be carried, and even standing and sitting was difficult on the slopes. Most of the cast and crew got sick with traveler's diarrhea because the hotel had water filtration problems, and the heat and humidity got to them too.

The stagnant water in the water scenes was reportedly foul and full of leeches, and stuntmen and crew had to dig giant holes and improvise. The dense jungle also had to be cut back for the cinematography. It all paid off. As a kid I thought Arnold was the coolest dude ever, after my mom for some bizarre reason let me buy a triple pack of Predator, Terminator 2 and The Running Man.

The opening ship and Vietnam influences

The Aliens inspiration is clear from the opening shot of a ship drifting in from space, which also feels akin to The Thing. I've always wished this was cut so you didn't know what the Predator was. The creative team apparently wrestled with it, and I think without it you'd have no idea what's going on. McTiernan has said it was done in post production, so he doesn't remember making it. According to IMDb trivia, the Predator's skin was based on a koi fish, which fits the ship's scaled look.

Dutch and his crew then land in Guatemala in an all black Huey with no markings. The Huey became synonymous with Vietnam, and both Dutch and Dillon are Vietnam veterans. Our editor, Matt, raised a very interesting point: the cloak may have been inspired by Viet Cong soldiers who used the jungle to hide and stalk, with soldiers reporting them disappearing and reappearing thanks to tunnel networks. Full Metal Jacket came out the same year and Platoon the year before, so I think it would be difficult to deny those films influenced this one.

Dillon's story is also steeped in real parallels, which is a smart move by the writers. His mission to stop a Soviet backed invasion echoes the Nicaraguan revolution of 1979 and the Iran Contra affair. Then there is the handshake between Dutch and Dillon, one of the most epic ever, which launched countless memes and shows their friendly rivalry.

Easter eggs linking Predator to Commando, Die Hard and Stranger Things

Commando features the fictional country Val Verde, which also pops up here, and McTiernan's Die Hard 2 mentions it too, so technically they share a universe. McTiernan connects his films in small ways: John McClane brings his wife a teddy bear with a red bow in Die Hard, and Jack Ryan boards a plane with one at the end of The Hunt for Red October.

The man the team is looking for is Jim Hopper, the name of David Harbour's Stranger Things character. Hawkins is the name of that show's town, and Dutch's real name is Alan Schaefer. They might be reaches, but with that being an 80s based series, I think it's more than a coincidence.

Shane Black apparently hated Hawkins' glasses because he wanted authentic military issue ballistic ones, but McTiernan wanted him as geeky as possible. Hawkins was also originally supposed to wear a distinctive red beret. Bill Duke improvised Mac's shaving, and I see that and Blain's tobacco as habits the characters use when concentrating.

How the Predator mimics sounds in the jungle

Early on there are bird sounds, and one keeps repeating strangely. As we later learn, the Predator loves to mimic sounds, and the creative team laced the ambient audio with the creature's noise, audible just before the team finds the skinned bodies. That plays off how hunters mimic animals with things like duck calls. The Green Berets were killed and strung up as a calling card, which acts as an intimidation tactic.

When Mac is spooked by a wild boar at night, you can hear Billy's laugh while he's off screen. Billy then appears looking completely serious, and nobody is laughing. I think it's the Predator mocking Mac with the laugh it captured earlier. Later we hear a line of Mac's repeated, so I think the Predator might have been using it like a duck call to lure Dillon in.

IMDb trivia points out that each death ties to something the character does. Blain says he doesn't have time to bleed, and the plasma blast cauterizes his wound. Mac shaves until he bleeds and is shot in the head. Dillon loses the arm wrestle and later loses his arm. Poncho is hit by a log after asking Blain if he has time to duck. Even if it seems like a reach, it ties in nicely.

Old Painless, Predator vision and the heat

Blain's minigun, Old Painless, was a handheld M134 originally mounted on helicopters, and it had to be slowed to a third of its fire rate because it was too fast for the cameras. Bill Duke explained the things that explode in the forest were wired, and resetting them took hours.

The Predator's vision here is thermal and infrared, which explains how it sees tripwires. Scientists believe this is how snakes view the world, which makes sense for a reptilian creature. Fisheye cameras were attempted but didn't work out. Since they only hunt in high temperatures, I do wonder whether they're cold blooded and need a climate like their own planet's.

Jean Claude Van Damme, Stan Winston and the Predator design

Kevin Peter Hall played the Predator, but Jean Claude Van Damme first wore the suit, hired for his agility. The massive suit made him too slow, and the original suit had the Predator looking like a giant lobster, even though it was supposed to be more in line with an insect that looked like it had a duck's head. It did help perfect the cloak. The suit was bright red, the opposite of the jungle green and blue sky, so it was easy to key out. The crew filmed one take with the suit and one without, shot the empty one with a wider lens, and dropped the red out to leave a bending outline.

Arnold recommended Stan Winston, who studied tarantulas and locusts and concepted the monster. Van Damme was recast due to his height, and the 7 foot 2 Hall was the right choice. As a thank you, McTiernan cast him as the helicopter pilot at the end. Sadly, he passed away in 1991 after contracting HIV from a blood transfusion, a month short of his 36th birthday. The mandibles were reportedly James Cameron's idea, and the headpiece was inspired by Rastafarians.

Peter Cullen, best known as Optimus Prime, voiced the creature. Voicing King Kong had made his throat bleed, so he initially refused, but relented after seeing the Predator's face, which reminded him of a dying horseshoe crab he saw on a beach as a boy. The blood was Mountain Dew mixed with KY jelly. It was originally supposed to be orange, but I like where they went with it, as it has a great luminous feel that leaps off the screen.

Billy's last stand and the deaths of Mac and Dillon

Mac goes out singing Long Tall Sally, desperate to avenge Blain. Rob A has done a fantastic analysis of this scene, and he points out how, as Dillon sneaks through the leaves, the camera stalks him, making us feel like it's hunting him. Dillon has been in denial the whole film, and Rob says Mac's stone cold dead eyes looking back represent the face of death. When his arm is blown off you can see the wire guiding the beam, though the severed arm still firing is a good effect.

Billy cuts his chest with a machete, and I always saw it as him using his hunting skills: Predators are usually attracted to blood, so if he cuts himself, he can be a target and save the others. Sonny Landham said in an interview that he was inspired by a story about a USC football player who smashed a bottle over his own head when 12 guys tried to beat him up. Landham also said the ending was originally like Predator 2's, with Arnold blowing up the ship. Arnold has said "Get to the chopper" is his favorite line from all his films.

Mud, traps and the Predator's self destruct

Covered in mud, Dutch becomes invisible to the Predator, just as its cloak is to us. Whether that works in real life is up for debate: Corridor Digital tried it and it apparently worked, but MythBusters couldn't get it to. Dutch builds traps, juxtaposed with the Predator preparing trophies, and one skull with a huge hole is Mac's. The final act is stripped down, with barely any dialogue, and I realized it could be a turning point in the genre.

I see the wrist nuke not as a final way to kill Dutch but as a kind of seppuku. A Reddit post argues that Predators have an honor culture like the Vikings. When Dutch hesitates, he might spare the alien and rob it of an honorable death, so it chooses a blaze of glory, setting a yield that gives Dutch time to escape. I take its use of Billy's laugh as a sign of respect, though laughs also mock, so it works either way.

Arnold married Maria Shriver during production, leaving on Friday and returning to work, and apparently his wife could tell he was distracted and told him to go make the movie. People often criticize his acting, but he put his heart and soul into this. That work ethic comes through, and what we get is a film that hits on every level, with a great supporting cast and an unforgettable villain.