In Shane Black’s The Predator from earlier this year there were tons of references and call backs to the original installment led by Arnold Schwarzenegger mainly for the numerous fans of the series. One of the more hardcore and less noticeable to the average viewer easter eggs was recently confirmed by the film’s cinematographer on twitter.
In a certain Halloween sequence in The Predator, a child is shown in a costume of a giant red lobster creature. This has been noted, and now confirmed in a quote tweet from Larry Fong, as a reference to an infamous story about production on the original Predator. The original suit for the difficult design of the Predator alien was a hot mess, and appeared to look like a giant, sulking and deformed lobster beast with a arm cannon. Action star Jean-Claude Van Damme was to play the Predator and footage was shot with the original suit which showed how truly awful it was along with the fact that it was difficult to operate in. After this, Van Damme was fired from the role and a new design was ordered along with the hiring of Kevin Peter Hall.
Even with it being a bit of a disappointing film, The Predator has completed some overdue fan service for fans of the film series with this being one of the most hilarious and deeply seeded visual treats for viewers.
Fun fact: a few of us were intent on having a JCVD Easter egg. Finally I called our costume designer Tish Monaghan and asked if she could make a little version for the halloween sequence. She nailed it! https://t.co/gSpqSwMeiR
— Larry Fong (@larryfong) December 27, 2018