Even if you are not a film buff, you’ve probably heard that action legend Jean-Claude Van Damme was initially supposed to play the titular alien in the original Predator film. So, what happened?
According to John McTiernan, director of the 1987 original, the answer is far less dramatic than one might have thought. It seems the blame rests solely on the shoulders of Van Damme’s agent at the time. Speaking to Cinemablend, this is what the director had to say:
“We never shot anything with him. It was a complete screw up with his agent, trying to hustle him into a job and didn’t know what the movie was. It’s silly. It was really silly.“
It sounds like actors inclusion was doomed from the start. However, Van Damme has stated in the past that he didn’t want to play a part that covered his face so completely, so perhaps he wasn’t too heartbroken?
A brand new Predator reboot, directed by Shane Black (who starred as Hawkins in the original movie) is set for release in February 2018, and features a cast that includes Boyd Holbrook (Logan), Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight), Thomas Jane (The Punisher), Augusto Aguilera (The Fifth Man), Jacob Tremblay (Room) Sterling K. Brown (This is Us, The People v. O.J. Simpson), Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele), Olivia Munn (X-Men: Apocalypse), Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones), Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck), Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica) and Jake Busey (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series).
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Originally published June 14, 2017. Updated November 28, 2019.
