Dan Trachtenberg put Prey stars through bootcamp
Dan Trachtenberg put the cast of 'Prey' through their paces with a bootcamp.
The 41-year-old director has helmed the latest movie in the 'Predator' franchise – a prequel to the four previous movies – and wanted to put the emphasis on action by putting stars such as Amber Midthunder through physical preparation to make sure they could cope as Comanche warriors.
Dan told SFX magazine: "I always think the 'Predator', 'Alien' and 'Terminator' movies, despite having different directors, all feel like they're of their own little genre.
"I think it's in large part, mainly thinking of 'Aliens' over 'Alien', the action-horror mash-up, but with a real hankering for the military aspects feeling more authentic than not.
"There's always this authentic blend of where you're rooted in the real world, then the introduction of the sci-fi element, that (John) McTiernan and (James) Cameron were so deft at."
The filmmaker continued: "I sort of wanted to take the same approach and be as authentic as we possibly could in a totally different way, in a more Terrence Malick way.
"In our movie, we put the cast through bootcamp to make sure they could function as a unit. The Comanche were sort of the SEAL Team Six of the era, they were the most fierce warriors at the time. So they learned how to move through the forest as a unit and communicate with each other non-verbally."
Meanwhile, Amber revealed that she had to study hard to master the Comanche language for her role as the warrior Naru.
Asked about the skills she needed for 'Prey', the 25-year-old actress said: "The Comanche language, which is not easy. I'm familiar with my Lakota language, and they are not all the same.
"So learning and becoming familiar with the Comanche language and very, very cool getting to learn it. It is a really hard language. There's a lot of vowels so your mouth is open for a long time and it's very specific."
Read the full interview with the cast and crew of 'Prey' in the new issue of SFX magazine, which is out now.
