← Last Podcast On The Left
Last Podcast On The Left
Predator Badlands: An Interview with Dan Trachtenberg
00:37:43
Hot off the presses Eddie sits down with the director of 10 Cloverfield Lane, Prey, Predator: Killer of Killers, the new hit installment in the Predator Franchise (in theaters now), Predator: Badlands - Dan Trachtenberg joins the show to discuss the hit new film that gives us a new angle on the Predator, taking the reigns of one of his favorite childhood blockbusters, a possible peek into the future of the franchise, Yautja Lore, Alien vs. Predator, and much, much more....
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- [00:00]
Dan Trachtenberg
Oh, hey, welcome to gift wrapping.
- [00:02]
Ed Larson
Whoa.
- [00:02]
T-Mobile Advertiser
So is Saldana.
- [00:03]
T-Mobile Employee
Hey, can you wrap these please?
- [00:05]
Dan Trachtenberg
Wow, iPhone 17s.
- [00:07]
T-Mobile Employee
You splurged at T Mobile. You can get four iPhone 17s on them. The new center stage front camera is amazing for group selfies. It's the perfect gift for everyone.
- [00:15]
Ed Larson
I'm the worst. I only got my mom a robe.
- [00:17]
T-Mobile Employee
Well, it's better than socks.
- [00:19]
Dan Trachtenberg
So I have to trade in my old phone, right?
- [00:21]
T-Mobile Employee
No AT T Mobile. There's no trade ins needed when you switch. Keep your old phone or give it as a gift.
- [00:26]
Ed Larson
Incredible.
- [00:27]
T-Mobile Employee
In fact, wrap up my old phone too for my aunt Rosa.
- [00:30]
Dan Trachtenberg
Forget that.
- [00:30]
T-Mobile Employee
Aunt Liz will be jealous.
- [00:32]
Dan Trachtenberg
Sounds like my family drama.
- [00:33]
T-Mobile Employee
Oh, I got it. I'll give it to my abuela. I'll take reindeer paper with. Hey, where are you going?
- [00:37]
Ed Larson
To T Mobile.
- [00:38]
T-Mobile Advertiser
The holidays are better. AT T Mobile get four iPhone 17s on us. No trade in needed when you switch plus four lines for just 25 bucks a line. And now T Mobile is available in US cellular stores with 24 monthly bill credits and 4 eligible board ins on essentials for well qualified customers bought or pay plus taxes, fees and $35 device connection charge credits ended up balance due.
- [00:55]
Dan Trachtenberg
If you pay off earlier.
- [00:56]
T-Mobile Advertiser
Cancel contact US Finance Agreement. 256 gigabytes. $830 required. Visit t mobile.com tis the season of.
- [01:01]
Walmart Advertiser
Gifting and holes to deck and the who's in who? Louisville were in love with new tech. Where can we find Sonos and Samsung and Nintendo? They shouted. Would they find it in one place? This they questioned and doubted when suddenly a who yelled Walmart's the place to start. And D2 added headphones, TVs and games to their carts. With Walmart, their shopping was done in a flurry. They cried out, who knew? And ordered their gifts in a hurry. Shop the latest tech gifts in the Walmart app.
- [01:35]
Ed Larson
All right. Hi. Hello everybody. Thank you for coming on and listening to us. Yes. This last podcast on the left interview series Ham Style. I am Ed Larson, your hambassador and and joining me today is the visionary director, storyteller, writer, all kinds of amazing stuff. I can't wait to talk to this guy. I'm going to stop blabbering so he can get in here. Everyone, welcome Dan Trachtenberg.
- [02:03]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yeah.
- [02:04]
Ed Larson
All right. All right. Yeah. All right. I'm on in. Yeah, big time. What's going on, Dan? How you doing?
- [02:09]
Dan Trachtenberg
I'm good. I'm stoked to be here.
- [02:11]
Ed Larson
Yeah? Yeah. You feeling good after this Badlands?
- [02:15]
Dan Trachtenberg
I'm feeling good. Yeah. We made a really crazy movie and. And people ended up liking it, which is a big sigh of relief, I bet, man.
- [02:29]
Ed Larson
I bet. Because, you know, everyone loves the Predator franchise, and you have just, like, taken it. Is it your. Do you. But does it belong to you now? Like, are you John Favreau of Predator? Is that what's happened?
- [02:41]
Dan Trachtenberg
I've made three very unique, very different movies inside the franchise. And we'll see. We'll see what happens next.
- [02:51]
Ed Larson
I say. I say they're very. You call it very unique, but I feel like they all, like, involve teamwork. Like, I feel like they're all like. Like, it's like. It's like if you. The only way to win, whether you know you're on, no matter what side you're on, is teamwork. And. And so I've noticed that's a common theme for you. Is that something. Were you a team player? Did you play sports? Like, where does this come from?
- [03:15]
Dan Trachtenberg
I didn't play sports. I'm funny. I love sports movies. I love underdog stories. And Killer of Killers and Badlands certainly do involve, like, found families and the notion of being stronger together. But. But the underdog story is certainly a through line in all three of the movies. Yeah, I just find it to be something. An emotional fulcrum for the Predator series where the main character of the franchise, the antagonist in every film besides Prey, is looking for the most worst worthy hunting, something that. That, you know, is deemed the alpha. And so that's a. That's a wonderful counterpoint to a story where characters are trying already to prove themselves as worthy to their clan, family, or even, you know, to themselves.
- [04:29]
Ed Larson
It's interesting because in Prey, like, it's like he was looking for what was worthy, but he had to fight Naru. Like, I think that was, like, the coolest thing ever. Like, it's like it wasn't even about his fight anymore. It's about her fight.
- [04:44]
Dan Trachtenberg
The whole movie. He doesn't see her as a threat. The entire time, she keeps saying, I'm. I'm a badass. And he keeps saying, I don't even see you as that, you know? And it's not really until the end that she does become a threat, that in the final moments, he sees her as worthy. And then it's too late, man.
- [05:05]
Ed Larson
So, yeah, I gotta ask. I wanna. We're gonna get into it in a little bit. I want to, like, ask you a bunch of, like, Predator yakja lore, you know? Like, I. Because I feel like, you know, Better than anyone right now. And I don't know, was there like. Like a. Like a silmarillion that you had to, like, work off of, or do you get to kind of, like, you know, make it up as you go?
- [05:25]
Dan Trachtenberg
No, the truth of the matter is I don't know more than anyone. There are people that know the lore from ancillary material far more than I do, and I know a certain amount, that's for sure. But the funny thing about this franchise is there's no Gene Roddenberry. There's no George Lucas. And the movies were all very episodic and lean and mean. So the background of the Yautja species, the Predator species, was really explored in comics and novels. And when I signed on to do the first movie, when I signed on to do Prey, I was like, all right, give me the goods. Show me the Bible. Let me know what's up. I'm ready to give me the list of weapons. And it did not exist. The studio did not have anything of that nature. It wasn't until I linked up with Alec Gillis and Tom Woodward at the time, Adi. They worked with Stan Winston on the first 87 movie and had been with the franchise for most of its run. And Alien as well. They've worked on several Alien movies, so Alec is the closest proximity to what's in the films. Having some sort of a bible and put together a whole packet of weapons and armor and designs, species designs that were explored, either used in their films or almost used and abandoned or whatever. So I could just see everything that was out there and really discern what the design language truly is for the franchise. But from there, I am using my own narrative instincts, just like the. The people who wrote the comics and the novels did, to create the canon that people that all of us fans and the Internet then devour. So I'm kind of half running on the lore that has existed and kind of taking what I find to be the most compelling and the most narratively rich and then forming my own sort of canon with the movies, as I'm.
- [07:49]
Ed Larson
Putting forth now, your last three movies, I mean, to me, best three since the original. And do you take the other Predator movies, like the Predator and Predators, like, does that exist in your world?
- [08:04]
Dan Trachtenberg
They do. I mean, I've certainly taken elements. I think every Predator movie has had awesome sequences, awesome bits in them. I don't know that I've loved every single movie holistically. But the aesthetic of our cloaking device that started with Prey for me and was in the animated Film and Badland Killer Killers and Badlands, that came more from the 2018 Predator than any other installment of the franchise. And even the notion of the cloaking device being something inside the gauntlet, a little ball, you know, key fob that goes in the gauntlet that's revealed at the end of Badlands, that came from the 2018 as well.
- [08:58]
Ed Larson
Okay.
- [09:00]
Dan Trachtenberg
And a lot of our weapons are. You know, we call the net ball came from the net gun that was in Predator 2. And. And the AVP and. And. And the combi stick that seems so synonymous with the franchise. Isn't in the first movie. So. So yeah, I've kind of taken elements from. From all of them.
- [09:28]
Ed Larson
So they're all canon then? We would assume for the. I guess you don't get to make that decision.
- [09:33]
Dan Trachtenberg
I don't make a decision. Anything. As soon as a movie has something that. That references narratively something from another film, then I think it's canonized. Then at least those are canonized. You know, until someone changes it later. You know, it's like whatever the movies say means that that's true.
- [09:54]
Ed Larson
When did the name yacht job here. Because I didn't. I never heard it before your movies. But then, you know, I probably just missed it, you know, because I've only seen the movie. Oh, it's never been in the movies.
- [10:07]
Dan Trachtenberg
Never been in the movies. It was in. It was, I believe is an AVP novel that indeed the term yautja, that I think is meant to be pronounced yautja, but yautja just had a little bit more of a ring to it. It's like Jif and gif. Yeah.
- [10:27]
Ed Larson
Yeah. No one likes those GIF people. You know.
- [10:33]
Dan Trachtenberg
At this point, I can't even remember how I first. In terms of gif and Jif. I feel like I always thought it was Gif, and then I was horrified when I. When I learned that it was Jif. And now I can't even remember which one was the first that I, you know, learned.
- [10:47]
Ed Larson
I just look at it as something that makes me dumber. The. Love it so. So yautja, you. I heard. Now you tell me if I'm wrong, because I heard all kinds of things, and everyone here likes to think that they're the smartest person and knows everything. I heard you wanted to call the most recent movie Yakja. And. And then they were like, you're an idiot. Don't do that.
- [11:12]
Dan Trachtenberg
No one knows what my friends were like that. My friends. We were playing a game. I had. I had kind of like A weekend with, with my, my friends at, at Palm Springs and we were playing a like, Password style game and I put in the thing yautja and nobody knew what the heck the word was. And everyone was making fun of it and I was like, I think I'm gonna call my next movie that. And they were like, don't do that. But I, yeah, I wanted to call, you know, I thought the movie would teach us, the movie would make it a cool thing. And it just didn't. Didn't get to stay around.
- [11:51]
Ed Larson
Well, I think you officially made it a thing, man, because it's. I'm in. You know, I always wanted. I'm sick. I hate that we call it Predator. I hate that we call it Alien. I know it's a xenomorph, you know, but like, if there ever is another Alien versus Predator movie, I hope it's Xenoverse Xenomorph versus Yakja. You know, I think, I think that'd be a better thing also. I got to say, a gripe. It's got nothing to do with you, but the Alien vs. Predator movies, like, we don't need humans in this. In this movie. Like, to me, the humans ruin the whole thing. There should have been one word of English in that whole movie. It should have just been clicks and screams, you know?
- [12:30]
Dan Trachtenberg
You know, well, that's certainly an Inception point for Badlands because that was the fear. If I, if I put any humans in the movie, it then would be what AVP is. It would just be humans and a yautja teaming up. As opposed to. No, no, the protagon. The main character is the yautja.
- [12:50]
Ed Larson
Yeah, but there's still like the sense of humans, you know, there's still like the company. I know it's a robot, you know, and like, and stuff like that, you know, but there still is like the stench humans. Would you ever want to make one without. With like, just like nothing. Just yak jaw.
- [13:04]
Dan Trachtenberg
Love it. I love Gandhi. Tarakovsky's Primal, you know, that was also a big inspiration and, and I love that kind of storytelling that is just very visceral and, and visual.
- [13:19]
Ed Larson
Does their planet have a name?
- [13:21]
Dan Trachtenberg
It's referred to as Yautja prime. Which, which, which we put in the movie. Okay there. But yeah, Yautja Prime, Yakjo Prime.
- [13:29]
Ed Larson
Do they have like a government? Like, you know, like, like what? Like, they're obviously very technologically advanced. Yeah, you know, like, like it's like, there's got to be like, yuck jawed nerds. You Know who's making all this shit.
- [13:42]
Dan Trachtenberg
I see that. So there's two interesting answers to that. One, I see them as very nomadic and very tribal. I would think of them a little bit more like the Dothraki in Game of Thrones. Barbarians. And so as much as those have government or the wildlings, you know. You know, I don't know that they're in. I don't know. They're voting with constitutions and all those things. It may be something that feels a little bit more ancient, but in the lore, in the comics I have, I've. Yeah, I don't. We'll see how much any of this would be included theatrically, though. But I'm very interested in it that it is. The origin of the species is they were actually enslaved by a more intelligent race called the Amengi. And then there was a big overthrow, and they stole all the technology of the Amengi, and that's how they got all of their stuff. And in. In Badlands, in the beginning. In. In. In the. Within the first few shots, when we're following the hover. The hover bike, it go. It passes by some broken Ameni statues. So. Oh, yeah.
- [15:06]
Ed Larson
Very cool. Very cool. I. Man, this is also a cool event when. Sorry. So you're working. You're like. You're making all these movies. You're making the Predator movies. Like, all right. Yakja. They Obviously, they have to procreate, but do they love.
- [15:24]
Dan Trachtenberg
I absolutely think any. Any creature that is that passionate, you know, that is that angry, I think also loves as well. So.
- [15:40]
Ed Larson
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Because we saw a little bit of love. I don't want to get too deep into it because I don't want to spoil anything because everyone has to go out and see Badlands in the theater. Prey and killer killers were incredible, but I was a little disappointed they weren't in the theater. And so go see Predator Badlands in the theater. There is no experience like it. It's gonna be. You're gonna be so happy about it. Now, the thing everyone's talking about, is that an ID for Hunter Harvester skull? Or is that a War of the World skull? Or you don't. You're like, yeah, I don't.
- [16:16]
Dan Trachtenberg
Wore the Worlds is not owned by Disney and 20th Century Studios.
- [16:20]
Ed Larson
Okay, there we go.
- [16:21]
Dan Trachtenberg
Independence Day is.
- [16:22]
Ed Larson
Independence Day is. All right. All right. Oh, that's very. Okay. Interesting. Interesting. I like this. Now, are there any other Easter eggs that no one's pointed out yet that. Because I'm sure you're reading What? Everyone's bitching.
- [16:35]
Dan Trachtenberg
I think I just dropped a big one with the. The Mengi statues.
- [16:40]
Ed Larson
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. I love a scoop. I love a scoop. Cougar gave us a scoop. It really helps out the. All right, so we're gonna Alien versus Predator. Are we doing more of these? Does it matter? I mean, the company's obviously going on. The Alien movies are killing it. Romulus was awesome. Alien, Earth. People are loving that. Are you in? Fede Alvarez? Are you guys getting lunch all the time? Do you check in with each other?
- [17:10]
Dan Trachtenberg
We were getting lunch before we even knew we would ever make a Predator or Alien movie. I've known Fede for. For a bit.
- [17:19]
Ed Larson
That's awesome.
- [17:20]
Dan Trachtenberg
And. And massive. Massive fan of his. And. And yeah. So. So we'll just have to see how you know where the. Where the narrative takes us.
- [17:33]
Ed Larson
I love it because you're such an original storyteller, but you love using. It's what seems like other people's stories to tell your stories and. Which is. It's like a new concept in the world. Like, I was looking through everything you've ever done. It's almost like you. No, you didn't, like, create any of it. It wasn't like any. It was all existing stories that you came in, like, gave a badass angle to. By the way, 10 Cloverfield Lane is one of my favorite movies. I. When I. I was like. I was like, whoa. When they. When I found out the new Predator movies were being done by the 10 Cloverfield Lane guy, I was like, let's do this. I can't.
- [18:09]
Dan Trachtenberg
That's awesome, man.
- [18:10]
Ed Larson
I thought Goodman deserved an Oscar for that movie or at least nominated. He was incredible. I was like, was that, like. That was a tour de force. And I don't want to jump too far into this from that, but, like, I. Was he doing different takes of each scene, like. Because that's something I heard.
- [18:27]
Dan Trachtenberg
And it was.
- [18:28]
Ed Larson
Oh, man. And you just, like, in terms of your.
- [18:30]
Dan Trachtenberg
I think you're asking, like, was he wildly different in different take that. Yeah.
- [18:34]
Ed Larson
Because I never knew what Goodman I was going to get, like, when he showed up on screen.
- [18:38]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yes. That's very much a part of. It was pushing him in wildly different directions from take to take. And then we could really mess with people when we were cutting the movie together.
- [18:51]
Ed Larson
All right, all right. Going back. Going back to. To the. The Fox and Disney. I. I did some lookups and see where we could, like, maybe have some more. I'm going to pitch at you.
- [19:02]
Dan Trachtenberg
All right, all right.
- [19:03]
Ed Larson
I. I'm gonna pitch at you. Is all right. We could talk about it and you could say yes or no. And, like, you know, it's a. Like, is that. So it has to be owned by Fox or Disney, right. In order for you to even think about including it. So they're like, here's your list. You know, what are we doing here?
- [19:19]
Dan Trachtenberg
Okay, well, they're not saying that, but. But you are.
- [19:22]
Ed Larson
I'm saying that. I'm saying. I'm saying lots of things. Thank you for pointing that out, because I don't want to get you in trouble. But I speak wildly, like, and so just know that anything I say, people at home, I'm talking to you right now. Anything I say is I'm saying it. You know, anything Dan says, he's saying it. You know, I lie a lot, so. Predator verse. Lake placid crocodile. I got it. I mean, I really think this is, like. This could be amazing. This is. I mean, it's definitely like a huge being. I feel like the Predator would probably kill it pretty fast.
- [19:55]
Dan Trachtenberg
I think so. But that's. I love. I love. I want to see it.
- [19:59]
Ed Larson
Yeah. A bunch of these, you know, how about that? Here's a. Here's an interesting one. The Omen. Predator versus Satan. Like, is there God? Like, is there God on. On. On Yakja Prime? Like, does, like, do they have Satan? Do they. You know, like, do they have. Really.
- [20:17]
Dan Trachtenberg
I don't think they believe in earthly.
- [20:21]
Ed Larson
Hey, I don't believe in. But, you know, like, it doesn't mean it's not there, you know, so it's interesting. All right, so the Omen. Probably not. Probably not going to see Predator versus Satan, then here's one I really feel like would be a legitimately amazing fight. The bone Tomahawk monster. Bone Tomahawk was a. Was a fox. Was a fox. You've seen Bone Tomahawk, right?
- [20:44]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yeah. The Kurt Russell. Yeah. Craig Zoller. Yeah. Yeah.
- [20:48]
Ed Larson
Was wild. Yeah. And, you know, they. They. They fight against indigenous people. You know, we see this, you know, so I feel like that could be a good fight. Was that interested? That looks like I piqued your interest a little bit on that one.
- [21:00]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yes, but. But I think I feel like we'. We saw the Predator come down in that century and, you know already.
- [21:10]
Ed Larson
So can the Predator time travel? Is that what's going on here?
- [21:14]
Dan Trachtenberg
No, no, no, no.
- [21:15]
Ed Larson
They're.
- [21:16]
Dan Trachtenberg
They've just been around for quite a bit, and then.
- [21:18]
Ed Larson
So when they. When they got Naru Is her name right?
- [21:21]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yeah, yeah.
- [21:23]
Ed Larson
So at the end of Killer for Killers. Can we talk about this? Yeah, okay, cool. The end of Killer for Killers. We see.
- [21:30]
Dan Trachtenberg
You know, unless you haven't seen killer killers. Go watch. Come back.
- [21:34]
Ed Larson
Come back. Yeah, stop for a second. But at the very end of Killer for Killers, phenomenal cartoon available on Hulu. We. You tease that. You see Nauru, and then we see Murdaugh, and then we see.
- [21:49]
Dan Trachtenberg
Mike Harrigan and Dutch.
- [21:52]
Ed Larson
And so. Yeah, so they have, like. They freeze bodies. Is that what they're doing up there?
- [21:58]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yeah, cryo.
- [21:59]
Ed Larson
They do cryo and they just hold it for centuries.
- [22:02]
Dan Trachtenberg
That's right. That's right. You got it.
- [22:04]
Ed Larson
All right. And so are there. So are there any other centuries? Does he come back every century or. No, because, I mean, Predator 2 and Predator 1, I mean, he was back like that. That might have been weeks apart.
- [22:14]
Dan Trachtenberg
That's true. You're right. You're right. You're right. I stand correct. I don't think it was weeks apart. It was. It was 10 years. It was a decade apart.
- [22:22]
Ed Larson
Oh, okay. Okay.
- [22:23]
Dan Trachtenberg
So you're right. Bone, Tomahawk and Predator. You've won.
- [22:27]
Ed Larson
You win.
- [22:29]
Dan Trachtenberg
I give up.
- [22:30]
Ed Larson
I love Lore. I love Lore. All right, the fly. I don't think the fly probably wouldn't, but. But you get. You. You stick the Predator in a fly machine.
- [22:40]
Dan Trachtenberg
Oh, wow.
- [22:45]
Ed Larson
Who knows what's going to happen?
- [22:46]
Dan Trachtenberg
Who knows what's going to happen? Yeah. That is gnarly, dude. That is gnarly.
- [22:52]
Ed Larson
Yeah, I know they've done, like, comics and stuff like that, but, like, is there any, like, Marvel X Men? I know that Archies fought the Predator at some point, apparently.
- [23:04]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yeah. They've done so many of those in the comics, for sure.
- [23:07]
Ed Larson
Yeah. But it is. Disney even hinted that they're like, just stay out of it. Stay away from our Marvel.
- [23:13]
Dan Trachtenberg
Disney hasn't brought up any of those kinds of things. I mean, they're. They're. Once again, they're not. They're. They're kind of been looking to me as to, you know, where things could go Predator wise and. Yeah.
- [23:27]
Ed Larson
So you're the Predator guy now.
- [23:30]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yeah. And unless, you know, someone else comes in. Someone else. Awesome. And you know, I mean, after your.
- [23:37]
Ed Larson
Trio, dude, to me, it's you. If they take it from you, I'm pissed at this point, you know, so you're. You're running with this so much, and it's. It's very impressive. So what Cloverfield. The cloverfield's not in the same. It's not Allowed, right?
- [23:51]
Dan Trachtenberg
No, that's paramount.
- [23:52]
Ed Larson
That's Paramount. All right, how about this? TV. All right, TV's another question. To Catch a Predator starring Predator. Forget Chris Hansen.
- [24:05]
Dan Trachtenberg
There's a. There's something on YouTube.
- [24:08]
Ed Larson
I thought it was my idea that has.
- [24:11]
Dan Trachtenberg
It's like a five minute long, crazy sketch that's pretty wild.
- [24:16]
Ed Larson
Just a Predator throwing his voice as a little girl.
- [24:18]
Dan Trachtenberg
It's weird. Yeah.
- [24:24]
Ed Larson
Yeah, that'd be great. How about Predator Yakja comes to Earth. All right, Gets caught. It's like it gets noticed. You know, it gets caught on camera. Starts realizing people love the idea that there's an alien on Earth. Predator starts to become a celebrity. All right, Predator is now like. He's like.
- [24:49]
Dan Trachtenberg
He's like, oh, I'm into it. I'm into it.
- [24:51]
Ed Larson
Yeah. He's like, okay. I. I think this is. This is cool. This is cool. I'm like, you know, it's almost like a running man type of situation. Then the Predator, because he's an alien, it came from. People start worshiping him like he's a God.
- [25:07]
Dan Trachtenberg
Okay.
- [25:08]
Ed Larson
You know, kind of like Columbus or Cortez or something like that. You know, predators being worshiped as a God can change. Mimic people's voices. Starts preaching, becomes a. A mega church pastor. Starts stealing money from the community. Is still a predator, just in a different way.
- [25:32]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yes. Thematically, I like this. I love a good thematic story. So. All right, all right, I'm with Predator.
- [25:42]
Ed Larson
Captured by the US government in the 1960s. Okay? He slipped up, he made a mistake, and he's captured. He's captured by the US Government. They start running tests on him. Alec Dulles shows up. He's like, all right, what do we. We gotta. This thing we got to use.
- [25:56]
Dan Trachtenberg
Who shows up?
- [25:58]
Ed Larson
Alan Dulles, the head of the CIA in the 1960s.
- [26:01]
Dan Trachtenberg
Okay, great.
- [26:01]
Ed Larson
Yeah, yeah.
- [26:02]
Dan Trachtenberg
That's common knowledge. We're all supposed to know that.
- [26:04]
Ed Larson
My fans. My fans know this. All right, so he says, rob did.
- [26:08]
Dan Trachtenberg
Rob know that?
- [26:09]
Ed Larson
Yeah, Rob knows it. Yeah, Rob knows it. Yeah, we. He. He would actually. If he said he didn't, we'd have to fire him.
- [26:14]
Walmart Advertiser
But the.
- [26:15]
Ed Larson
So. So it's so Alan Dulles gets a hold of him and he's like, all right, let's send the Predator through MK Ultra training.
- [26:23]
Dan Trachtenberg
All right?
- [26:24]
Ed Larson
They're gonna send him. You're gonna make him a weapon of the US Government. All right? The Predator is now. He now works for us.
- [26:32]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yes.
- [26:32]
Ed Larson
It's like him and Reggie Jackson from Naked Gun and, you know, it's like, so it's like he's. He's out there. He, the Predator, full invisible second shooter on the grassy knoll.
- [26:46]
Dan Trachtenberg
Oh, well, we would never know.
- [26:48]
Ed Larson
We never know. We never know. We never know. But we would know if we made the movie and showed.
- [26:53]
Dan Trachtenberg
Right.
- [26:54]
Ed Larson
You know, But I feel like that could be. Because it doesn't make sense how the head blows up, you know, but if the Predator was on the grassy knoll and the head would blow up behind, that way you would know it'll be.
- [27:03]
Dan Trachtenberg
I think we'd see the three dots, though.
- [27:06]
Ed Larson
Oh, but do you. Would you see the three dots on the Zabruder? I mean, that's a shitty camera. Let's face it.
- [27:11]
Dan Trachtenberg
It's a shitty camera. It's true. Yeah. Yeah.
- [27:15]
Ed Larson
I think we could test this. We can go out to Dallas. We'll get you as a brutal camera.
- [27:20]
Dan Trachtenberg
Like when James Cameron tested the. Like the door with two people on it to see if it worked. We'll go test to see if the Pruder. If his Super 8 camera could pick up the. You know. Yeah.
- [27:31]
Ed Larson
Are you going full Cameron, by the way? It's like, full, like. Is this Predator for life? This. Is this what you're. Is this Avatar for life?
- [27:40]
Dan Trachtenberg
You know, I don't think so, but it's been. But it's been what? The only reason why I've done the three movies so far is. Is because I'm. I'm telling wildly original stories that I'd want to do anyway, and I can do them with. Within this. This franchise. So. And with this character that's made everything so much more rich and cool. So that's the only reason why I've done even these. Yeah. But no, I'm excited to do lots of. As I did before, and I've done a little bit in TV and Cloverfielding as well, you know, and.
- [28:22]
Ed Larson
Yeah. Cloverfield Black Mirror you're involved in. You had the boys, it looks like right now. On IMDb it says there's a Waterworld thing going on.
- [28:31]
Dan Trachtenberg
No, no.
- [28:32]
Ed Larson
Update that shit.
- [28:34]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yeah. That is not true.
- [28:37]
Ed Larson
Yeah. Okay, good. Yeah.
- [28:38]
Dan Trachtenberg
Because that's not. I do love Waterworld. I do love Waterworld very much.
- [28:41]
Ed Larson
You know, it's a great movie. I mean, it's a bad movie, but it's. It's great.
- [28:44]
Dan Trachtenberg
I would argue not even a bad movie. I think it's worth post Fury Road per Post being invigorated by what that movie was. Take another look at Water World. We just were not ready to see Kevin Costner drink his own pee at the Time. But now we are now, now.
- [29:04]
Ed Larson
And now that we've seen. What's his name? Who's the Bill Gates. We've seen Bill Gates drink his own pee in his documentary. So now it's.
- [29:12]
Dan Trachtenberg
I missed that.
- [29:13]
Ed Larson
Oh yeah, yeah. You know, he brought, he brought a machine out to Africa. He was drinking poo poo water. It was a great time.
- [29:18]
Dan Trachtenberg
Wow.
- [29:19]
Ed Larson
So have you hung out and talked to Arnold at all like.
- [29:23]
Dan Trachtenberg
I did, I did, I did. You know, we, we, we got his approval for show his image and killer of killers. Yeah. And he's been, been, been a big fan of what we've been doing, so. Hell yeah, it's been great. Yes.
- [29:39]
Ed Larson
So if, if Arnold ever came back, obviously it would have to be in the, in the cartoon version or in the animated version because he's so old and we see him as a young Dutch. Have you guys is any interest in that or is it just like you like to with our heads a little bit?
- [29:59]
Dan Trachtenberg
No, I mean, I, I, I, the, the, the ending of Killer Killers to me was a door opening for more stories for all of those characters and any character that's, that survived in the franchise and more stories can be told about how they end up there. More stories can be told for the next second after that and even far later. So it's really an open door now.
- [30:29]
Ed Larson
Yeah. And you did such a great job with getting rid of the R rating. And, and so I, it's, and I've.
- [30:37]
Dan Trachtenberg
Never said that I very much indulged in the R rating for a killer Killers and prey even, you know, so.
- [30:43]
Ed Larson
Yeah, it's true, it's true. But for the new one, Badlands.
- [30:46]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yeah.
- [30:47]
Ed Larson
I mean for all intents and purposes it's an R rated film. But, but it is a PG13 because. I guess because all the blood isn't red. Is that really what it is?
- [30:57]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's creatures and robots, you know, so we were able to do all the kinds of things that we normally do in a Predator movie. It just happens slightly different. But you're, you're, you're seeing a lot of crazy stuff.
- [31:10]
Ed Larson
Yeah, no, it was awesome. I fucking love the movie. So, but the, when you were a kid, I was reading on your Wikipedia page, I went, I did a quick little, little perusals. You weren't allowed to watch R rated movies. You weren't even allowed to watch like PG13 movies.
- [31:25]
Dan Trachtenberg
Not until I was like 12, you know. PG13.
- [31:29]
Ed Larson
Yeah, man, they let me see all that. I saw Predator, like the moment it Came out. It was awesome. The, My dad. As soon as it came on hbo, my dad's like, we're watching this tonight. Your mother's gone. But it, you were. You. It said that you, like, created, like, plots to these movies that you weren't allowed to see in your head.
- [31:49]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yeah, I mean, I would, I mean, the, the Pride or Predator even. I want Rambo. What year did Rambo 3 come out? Maybe it wasn't prior to predator.
- [32:00]
Ed Larson
Might have been 89 or something like that.
- [32:02]
Dan Trachtenberg
So Brambo. The first audio cassettes I ever purchased, I bought two the same day, but it was the soundtrack to Nightmare on Elm Street 4 and the soundtrack to Rambo 3. And I would listen to Rambo 3 every morning on the ride to camp and just picture the movie in my head. And that really fueled everything. And the same thing goes for Predator. As much as I hated my mom for not letting me watch all those movies when I was a kid, I have her to thank for sort of nurturing this, my imagination to really grow and come up with my own stories. And for Predator, I, I, I had. There was a video game magazine called Game Pro back in the day, and they had a contest to, like, design a level and they would feature it in the magazine. And I designed a Predator level and. And sent it, sent it in and did not win the contest.
- [33:06]
Ed Larson
It's still cool to do. It's a great thought exercise.
- [33:09]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yeah.
- [33:09]
Ed Larson
You know, and so what was your Predator movie that you created in your brain?
- [33:14]
Dan Trachtenberg
The, the. No, I, I mean, I, I guess I could say. Because the thing that stuck with me when I first heard of Predator was some friends of mine described the movie moment for moment. But they said that there's this awesome scene where Billy, the Native American tracker, cut his. Cut his own chest with his knife and then fought the Predator on a bridge over a waterfall. And I was like, that sounds so badass. And I imagine this crazy, awesome, epic battle. The movie. He cuts his chest and then we hear scream, and that's it. So Prey, in many ways, is the, like me fulfilling what my imagination craved. You know, way back then, Naru's brother.
- [34:14]
Ed Larson
In Prey, he gets the same scar now that I'm thinking, now that I.
- [34:18]
Dan Trachtenberg
Hear you guys, you are not. A lot of people have picked up eyeballs. We were insist. We were insistent on. And that blocking didn't quite make sense. Like, we, we kind of created that scene to happen in a certain way so that he would get that. And I remember directing the actors to like, no, no, no. You have to hold it. Like you have to cut him exactly in this direction. In this way. Yeah, yeah.
- [34:47]
Ed Larson
Man. Those French fur trappers, they've never been represented well on film. They've never. They've never. No one's ever been like, you know what? These guys were great. Now you're talking about. You made a Predator game, you know, to, you know, just for fun or when you were younger, you also worked on the Hellboy 2 alternate reality game. Any predator, I feel like, hasn't really gotten his video game yet.
- [35:13]
Walmart Advertiser
Any.
- [35:14]
Ed Larson
Have you thought about that at all?
- [35:15]
Dan Trachtenberg
Yeah, it's just to say the Hellboy too, it was just. It was viral. It was one of the first commercial. Because I was a commercial director. It was just viral marketing for it. Arg. They used to call those, like, I.
- [35:24]
Ed Larson
Have no idea what.
- [35:25]
Dan Trachtenberg
They had a big one and. And where there's a link to a website and then numbers. And for Hellboy 2, it was like these found footage videos of trolls appearing in places. But predator. Yeah, no Predator. There's a very cool game now called Hunting Grounds that's like someone is the predator and then there's four soldiers and that predator gets to hunt down the other four people. The. There was a game that I missed sadly called Concrete Jungle that is the most similar to Badlands. And it was the kind of game that I love out of the Predator franchise, which is like a third person action adventure, open world game would be really cool.
- [36:20]
Ed Larson
And one last question about Dec from Badlands and I just wanted, how long has he been training that he's like. Because he's the runt. He's. It's about. It's about the runt of the litter. I don't think I'm giving anything away with that. And he goes on to like find what. The. What creature he wants to kill. But how long has he been training to become a failure like in his father's eyes?
- [36:47]
Dan Trachtenberg
I think he's. I think he is teenaged.
- [36:51]
Ed Larson
Okay. He's teenage. Yeah. He seemed like that a little bit. He definitely had that like, I'm gonna do anything I want kind of attitude.
- [36:58]
Dan Trachtenberg
So.
- [36:58]
Ed Larson
Yeah, that makes sense now. Yakja. Are they all dudes like the ones we've met anyway?
- [37:06]
Dan Trachtenberg
The ones we've met are all dudes. Yeah.
- [37:09]
Ed Larson
So they, they. They're very, I guess, misogynistic culture. Maybe they like the guys we haven't seen.
- [37:17]
Dan Trachtenberg
We haven't seen. We just haven't seen yet, you know? Oh yeah.
- [37:21]
Ed Larson
Oh yeah. No, we haven't seen yet. That's correct. What's gonna come. What comes next. So, so excited to see anything else you make. I can't wait to re. Watch Badlands. I'll probably go and see it in the theater again. I got my AMC stubs. I can go as much as.
- [37:37]
Dan Trachtenberg
Nice.
- [37:38]
Ed Larson
Yeah. You know, it was so good. I love seeing the theater. The la. I've liked every version of the Predator, but I feel like you have taken it to another level, and I. I can't wait to see what you're able to pull through in the. In the. In the future with this. Man, I can't wait to see. It's. Oh, and fluffernutter sandwiches. Love them, by the way.
- [37:58]
Dan Trachtenberg
Hey, where are you from originally?
- [38:00]
Ed Larson
I'm from Florida, but I'm all over the place. Yeah, we. We eat trash. Yeah, it doesn't matter, you know, but I saw you. But you made everyone eat them on one of your sets.
- [38:09]
Dan Trachtenberg
On every single set. And in New Zealand, they called them Nutty Fluffies.
- [38:13]
Ed Larson
Nutty Fluffy. So they have them out there?
- [38:15]
Dan Trachtenberg
No, no, I just. I. I told them how to make it, and they decided that that was called a Nutty Fluffy or they misheard me or something.
- [38:24]
Ed Larson
Well, check out your A1C. Make sure that everything's gonna be okay. I hope. I hope that we get to see some more Alien versus Predator. I love that your buddies would fade a Alvarez. Of course you are. Everything both of you are doing is incredible. Keep up the good work, Dan. It's been such a pleasure to meet you. And I can't wait for more. Buddy, you keep.
- [38:45]
Dan Trachtenberg
Thanks, dude.
- [38:45]
Ed Larson
Yeah.
- [38:46]
Dan Trachtenberg
Thank you for watching the movie.
- [38:47]
Ed Larson
Go see it in the theater. I'm sick of this just on Hulu stuff. No offense, Disney lady that's listening. But I want more theater. Predator. Let's do it. That's a hard sentence to say. That's the thing. Every time you talk about the Predator, you're like, oh, my God, am I going to get canceled? But you're like, no, I'm talking about the option.
- [39:04]
Dan Trachtenberg
All right, Dan, get out of here.
- [39:06]
Ed Larson
Go. You got your busy, man. Go do your work.
- [39:08]
Dan Trachtenberg
Thanks, dude. I appreciate it. Thanks, guys.
- [39:14]
Elena (Morbid Podcast Host)
Hey, weirdos. I'm Elena. And I'm Ash, and we are the hosts of Morbid Podcast. Each week, we dive into the dark and fascinating world of true crime, spooky history, and the unexplained. From infamous killers and unsolved mysteries to haunted places and strange legends. We cover it all with research, empathy, humor, and a few creative expletives. It's smart. It's spooky, and it's just the right amount of weird. Two new episodes drop every week, and there's even a bonus once a month. Find us wherever you listen to podcasts.
- [39:47]
Ed Larson
Yay.
- [39:48]
Dan Trachtenberg
Woo.
- [39:57]
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