It’s pretty well-known thatJean-Claude Van Dammeoriginally portrayed the titular character in 1987’sPredator, but there hasn’t been too many good images of what he looked like while on the set in Mexico. There’s some video footage from the set ofPredator, but a recent image gives us our best look yet at the original design for the alien hunter, and it’s not very cool at all. Van Damme was famously fired from the movie for wanting to add some kickboxing to the killer alien, and was reportedly not very happy about the way that the suit looked either.
As far as thelook of iconic villainsgo, thePredatorand its titular character are tough to beat. The same can be said for theAlienfranchise as well. However, both franchises did not start that way. BothPredatorandAlienstarted off not looking very cool at all, and in the case ofPredator, Jean-Claude Van Damme was in the original ill-fated suit. In the recently released picture from the set, the costume looks like a weird dog head on a reptile’s body, far from the menacing alien that ended up in the final cut. Some people are calling Van-Damme’s take on the hunter a ‘space roach’.
Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed in his autobiography that they wereattempting to make the movie on a real tight budget, to play off of the suspense of the stealthy alien. To create the alien, a company called Boss Film Creature Shot was hired on to design the now laughable monster wannabe. Jean-Claude Van Damme hated it, and was under the impression that he was going be wearing a leotard and makeup, which would have allowed him to utilize some of his kickboxing moves.
Jean-Claude Van Damme was sadly mistaken. Instead, they put him in aheavy suit that covered his entire body. For the stealth scenes, the suit was all red to go against the green jungle and Van Damme absolutely hated that as well, saying he looked more like a superhero. Van Damme was totally unaware that his whole body would not be seen after thinking thatPredatorwas going to be his breakout film. To make matters worse, director John McTiernan, along with the cast and crew, didn’t see thePredatorsuit until it was shipped down to the set. “It looked like a guy in a lizard suit with the head of a duck,” according to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
After sometest footage was shotforPredator, John McTiernan was able to secure more funding and able to hire Stan Winston to get the iconic alien that we all know today. Jean-Claude Van Damme was fired for complaining too much and wanting to add some kickboxing to the character, which led to him being replaced by Kevin Peter Hall who was an imposing 7' 3," compared to Van Damme at 5' 9". In the end, it all worked out for the best for all involved. Shane Black, who played Rick Hawkins in the original movie now has a reboot coming out later this year and Jean-Claude Van Damme has a respectable career in the line of work that he always aspired to. You can check out the terrible originalPredatorcostume below, thanks to the Stan Winston School YouTube channel.
