The latest installment of the Predator franchise, simply titled ‘The Predator’, is going to reference its predecessors, says star of the film Keegan-Michael Key.
Keegan-Michael Key, who is known for ‘Parks & Rec’ and for being one half of ‘Key & Peele’ – the other half being Jordan Peele, renowned writer-director of hit horror ‘Get Out’ – spoke to Slashfilm about the long awaited sci fi horror.
He said that the film contains “some great referential stuff – not just to the original movie, but to ‘Predator 2’ and every other movie in the franchise, including the Alien vs. Predator franchise. It pulls pieces from all of the movies.
“The way [director-writer Shane Black] references the movies is really clever, especially if you’re a huge ‘Predator’ fan, and I’m a huuuuuge fan of this universe.”
The actor also spoke about how the group of veterans that his character belongs to, known as ‘the Loonies’, act as a reference to the 1987 movie in its reversal of the original’s ideas: “Fred Dekker, the writer, said he wanted to flip everything from the first movie.
“In the first movie there’s this sense of this extremely capable, cocksure team and we’re the exact opposite. We’re people who doubt the veracity of our own existence and how we move through it. We’re broken, we’re scared, and we’re thrust into this position."
Key also indicated his character, whose name is Coyle, would be providing some comic relief as “he tells jokes to get through life.” Shane Black allowed Key to have input into the script: “Shane will very often ask me, “If this was a sketch, what would you do here?” It’s been extremely collaborative and fluid in the most creative way.”
Sounds like there’s plenty to be excited about!
'The Predator' is released in cinemas on 14 September.