It looks like Shane Black’s Predator reboot may have found its star in Benicio Del Toro, according to Variety. Seen recently in the film Sicario (and set to appear in Star Wars: Episode VIII), Del Toro as the lead looks promising once negotiations are final. The Predator is set up at 20th Century Fox, and both the studio and star have been keen to make the deal happen. The biggest stumbling block has been the actor’s schedule. Besides Star Wars, he has been announced to star in an adaptation of T.J. English’s The Corporation and will reprise his role of Alejandro in the Sicario sequel/spin-off Soldado.
For Black this will be his second time to tangle with Predator. The first time was in front of the camera in 1987’s Predator, the jungle-set action movie headlined by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers, and featured Shane Black in a supporting role as one of the commandos being stalked by an alien sporting some serious dreadlocks. Directed John McTiernan, the filmmaker would follow Predator with the Christmas classic Die Hard.
As creator of the Lethal Weapon franchise, Black knows how to keep things fresh, so don’t expect a retread of the ’80s action classic. His treatment for a reboot comes six years after the release of Robert Rodriguez’s Predators, the most recent attempt at bringing the stagnating franchise back to fruition (a series that also includes 1990’s Predator 2 and two crossover films with the Alien franchise – Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem).
While plot details are unknown, Fred Dekker (The Monster Squad), who shares co-writing duties with Black on the project, did drop some hints during an interview on the Movie Crypt Podcast.
“There’s a lot of great stuff in the Predator but it’s very simple. we know that story already. What’s behind the curtain? Why are they here? What are they doing? What’s the bigger picture of this?… I think these are questions you can answer, or at least explore, without defeating that sense of scariness.”
Fresh off this summer’s The Nice Guys, starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, Shane Black’s other directing credits include Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3. He’s in pre-production to make Doc Savage with Dwayne Johnson to star.
