Predator 5 Director Explains Importance Of Prey's Indigenous Lead Actor
BY
BRANDON LOUIS
PUBLISHED JUN 07, 2022
Exclusive: Prey director Dan Trachtenberg explains the importance of the upcoming Predator movie's casting of an indigenous actor in the lead role.
Prey director Dan Trachtenberg explains the importance of the upcoming
Predator movie's casting of an indigenous actor in a lead role. The horror-thriller will be a prequel to the long-running franchise that first began with the
1987 action classic Predator. The original John McTiernan film proved immensely popular with fans and spawned a franchise of five main films and two crossovers with the
Alien series:
Alien vs. Predator and
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem.
Prey originally began development in secret during the production of the franchise's previous film,
The Predator (2018), which was written and directed by
Iron Man 3's Shane Black.
Known for her role as Kerry Loudermilk on
Legion, Sioux actor Amber Midthunder stars as Naru, a young Comanche warrior in 18th-century North America. When an alien hunter threatens her tribe, Naru must stalk and kill the Predator to protect her people. She is joined by Stormee Kipp, Michelle Thrush, Julian Black Antelope, Dakota Beavers, and Dane DiLiegro, a 6'9" former professional basketball player who will play the role of the Predator. The first
full Prey movie trailer released today, showing what looks to be a tense battle between Naru and her extraterrestrial pursuer.
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Prey Pays Off The Original Predator Movie's Demon Tease
In an exclusive interview with
Screen Rant, Trachtenberg explains the importance of having an indigenous actor in the lead role of
Prey. The director expresses a desire to have a protagonist unlike anything the franchise had ever seen, as well as a character than is not typical of a Hollywood film. Read what Tractenberg says below:
I thought that if I'm going to make a movie that is this visual - a story told through action - there had to be an emotional experience to have as well. I thought if I could make this an underdog story, that could give it this sports movie engine driving it. Then, I realized, 'Wow, wouldn't it be great if the experience of watching the movie were similar to the experience the character goes through?' Who is a protagonist that we've never seen in movies before? That's when we realized we've never had a Native American or really an indigenous culture that has been at the lead of a big movie like this. The Comanche were the fiercest warriors of the time, and I think all indigenous cultures - but the Comanche even more so - have always been portrayed as the sidekick or the villain of a movie.
That's where I honed in on the Comanche and pitched the movie to Fox, and they absolutely loved it. When the time came to actually get it going, we started hunting for a producer - pun not intended! And then, lo and behold, I found Jhane [Meyers]. As soon as we started speaking, I thought 'Oh, she is Naru! She is the main character of this movie!' She had done some projects with Disney in the past, and that's how there was some connection.
Trachtenberg rightly observes that Comanche, as well as other indigenous tribes, have rarely led a major Hollywood motion picture, or even been portrayed in a positive light. Through this story, the director recognized that there was an opportunity for representation that members of the indigenous community are rarely given. His partnership with Jhane Meyers is notable, as she is a prominent member of the Comanche nation that has served as a consultant and producer on productions such as
The Magnificent 7 (2016),
Wind River, and the Taylor Sheridan
Yellowstone prequel series 1883.
Positive Comanche representation in Hollywood is few and far between. One of the most famous films featuring Comanche is
Comanche (1956), which has the tribe as both villains and sidekicks.
The Lone Ranger's Tonto is one of the more well-known Comanche characters in Hollywood history, but he is relegated to serving the titular hero and his missions, rarely getting a moment to command his own narrative. Trachtenberg understands that he has a chance to create a film that allows for greater representation in the Native American community by casting an indigenous lead actor in a positive indigenous role. Audiences can see Midthunder as Naru
when Prey debuts on Hulu this summer.