Backstage with ‘Predator’ Prequel stars Amber Midthunder & Dakota Beavers

Set 300 years before the original Predator, ‘Prey’ tells the story of Naru (Amber Midthunder), a Comanche warrior who tries to protect her tribe from the alien Predator. Naru along with her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers) must protect her tribe while battling an advanced alien hunter who hunts humans for sport and trophies.

The stars of this Predator prequel sat down to speak with Dave Morales about this unique take on the Predator franchise. To watch the full interview, click on the link below.

Amber Midthunder

Prey: Amber Midthunder as Naru,Image: 20th Century Studios

Breaking the model of a typical action film, ‘Prey’ stars a female Native American protagonist. One point that Amber Midthunder is very proud of she tells Dave Morales.

“The goal for Dan and I was to be able to create a character like this but you don’t know until you hear… the response to be so positive and so amazing it fills my heart,” said Midthunder.

The positive reviews aren’t the only thing that Midthunder found surprising about the film as she learned quickly while shooting some of those intense action scenes.

“The physicality was a part of it that I weirdly enough did not expect. I somehow knew that this was an action movie but I think this type of action was different than any action that I had done before because it was just so real,” joked Midthunder.

She added, “We were just out there in the woods running up and down hills, the river sequence we were there for a week and this was glacial runoff water from the mountains in Canada…there was not a day that I showed up to work that there was not some kind of incredible hill for me to climb up but it was the adventure of a lifetime, it was so much fun.”

Prey: Amber Midthunder as Naru, Image: 20th Century Studios

Another interesting feature about ‘Prey’ is its dialogue. For the first time ever viewers are able to watch the film in English or with full Comanche dialogue. Midthunder tells Morales what that process was like stating that  “We’ve dubbed the whole film in Comanche so that is now an option that people will be able to have on release day the first time they ever see it you can watch it in English or you can watch it in full Comanche and every actor does their own dubbing.”

Midthunder goes on to say “So it’s not the voice of some other random person when you hear me talk it’s me when you hear Dakota when you hear anybody else it’s them. We’re the first film to ever do that upon release which is very exciting.”

She also explains that the decision to incorporate both dialogues came later on while shooting. “We did our test auditions in English and the same scene in Comanche because at that point they also didn’t know if the movie was going to be shot in Comanche or in English so we were kind of like test guinea pigs,” laughed Midthunder.

“Ultimately they decided to shoot in English but it was always thought of trying to incorporate on the fly how much Comanche can we get in there. Saying well what is the word for this? What is the word for that? Maybe we can add some Comanche here? So it was always very present which obviously made Jane super essential and helpful to have around,” she told Morales.

Dakota Beavers

Prey: Dakota Beavers as Taabe, Image: 20th Century Studios

 Newcomer Dakota Beavers describes what it was like showing up to film his first feature film.  “I couldn’t believe whenever I got there, how many people are involved with shooting a feature film like this, and to be number two on that project it just blows my mind every day. You look at this casting call and there’s like 400 people on that thing and then you see your name and the second and you’re like holy crap this is the wild man I couldn’t believe it!” he told Morales.

While Beavers was aware of the Predator franchise he had never dived deep into the series. “I hadn’t really dove into the franchise in general but once I realized what I was auditioning for (I didn’t really know what I was auditioning for until I went to L.A. to do the screen reading) I was just so fired up,” commented Beavers.

Prey: Amber Midthunder & Dakota Beavers, Image: 20th Century Studios

Like his costar, Beavers explained what the auditioning process was like having to record both English and Comanche dialogue. “We recorded a dub of it, originally they were talking about shooting the entire movie in Comanche. I auditioned in English and Comanche and then they decided to shoot the English version and then dub it with all the original actors in Comanche,” noted Beavers.

Beavers added, “Which I thought was really great not only because I’m kind of a language buff, I enjoy looking at languages and learning more about them but also having that there for the preservation of the language and for the younger generation to kind of go there and learn more in a fun way. A feature film with all this action, blood, and gore I think it’s just nice to have that there for other people.”

Prey starring Amber Midthunder and Dakota Beavers is streaming now on Hulu.

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