Why James Cameron Is Thanked in the ‘Predator: Badlands’ Credits

James Cameron has never made a Predator movie, but he’s oddly tiptoed all around it. He, of course, directed one of the best sequels ever with Aliens, a franchise that has been connected to Predator for a while. With The Terminator, he helped make Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starred in the first Predator, one of the biggest stars ever. And, while Predator: Badlands was filming in New Zealand, Cameron was also in the country making his own Disney creature movie, Avatar: Fire and Ash. So when Cameron gets thanked in the credits of this week’s Predator: Badlands, it isn’t exactly a surprise, but the truth of it goes much deeper than all of that.

Speaking to io9 in Los Angeles this week, Badlands director Dan Trachtenberg explained why he thanked Cameron in the credits. “I consider myself very lucky that we were making movies at the same company,” Trachtenberg said. “We collaborate with the same executives, and he saw Prey and loved it. So when we were heading down to New Zealand to shoot, he invited me down to Wellington to hang out on [the Avatar 3] set and in his edit bay. And I divulged all my anxiety about making this movie and the methodology that we were doing, which was going to be very new for the franchise and certainly very new to me.”

Trachtenberg is primarily referring to the fact that Badlands flips the Predator franchise on its head by making a Yautja, the killer species at the center of the franchise, a hero. He is probably also referring to the fact that the character’s face was completely created using CGI based on the facial expressions of its actor, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi. It’s a process Cameron is very well-versed in.

“Then we reconvened for dinner, and we drove separately,” Trachtenberg continues. “And when he sat down, he said, ‘I was thinking about what you’re doing on the way over here and I think it’s going to work.’ And that was insane. He put so much wind in my sails to bring back up to Auckland and tell the whole crew.”

But that encouragement wasn’t the only reason Trachtenberg decided to thank Cameron in the credits. After filming ended, he turned to the Oscar-winning director one more time.

“Then, just a few months ago, we had a cut movie of the movie that was almost done, not quite, and I wanted to get his input before we put the finishing touches on,” Trachtenberg said. “And he wrote a note back that said, ‘I have to be honest, when I first heard about what you’re doing, I didn’t think it was going to work, but holy crap, it really worked.’ I don’t know if he didn’t remember the first thing or if he just knows exactly what someone in my shoes needs to hear when they hear it. So it was just amazing.”

We think lots of people are going to have Cameron’s reaction to Predator: Badlands when it hits theaters later this week. Check back for more from Trachtenberg and on the film soon.

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