Prey director Dan Trachtenberg has revealed that there was a potential Predator Easter egg that wasn't used for fear it would have gone "too far".
The new prequel movie – out on Disney+ in the UK this Friday (August 5) – sees Amber Midthunder play a young Comanche woman who dreams of being a hunter and ends up in a deadly battle with the Predator.
Even though it's set in 1719, it's not a surprise that Prey has plenty of references to Predator and its sequels. But for Trachtenberg, he was careful not to overload the movie with Easter eggs that could take the viewer out of the experience.
"There were lots of jokes on set about maybe we call a horse Chopper or the fur trappers say let's go chop… I think that would have been a little too far," he told Digital Spy.
"Frankly, there was no Easter egg – maybe except for one in particular – that we had the preconceived notion of trying to jam it in. We really were embracing the lore that was present and telling a story that is somewhat similar to the story of the original film in its structure.
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"That led us through encountering little obvious moments where Easter eggs would arise. There was never any moment where we were like, 'We've got to put this in the movie'. I think that can hamper the intention."
The other main element for Trachtenberg was ensuring that Prey was authentic to its setting and the culture of the Comanche tribe, including having a Comanche producer in Jhane Myers.
But even before Myers came on board the project, the director was working on ensuring the script written by Patrick Aison was authentic.
"After we wrote the initial draft of the movie, we found a woman named Juanita Pahdopony and her nephew Dustin Tahmahkera to help consult and advise us on the writing of the screenplay, who's a Comanche culture bearer herself," he noted.
"She unfortunately passed away in the years we continued to develop the movie. Right away we made sure as we were iterating on draft upon draft that the authenticity, the specifics that come out of being authentic were infused with the movie."
Prey is released on Disney+ in the UK and on Hulu in the US on Friday, August 5.
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Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
