The Predator, Shane Black’s wild, manic reboot of the Predator franchise, was not a good movie. But recently revealed concept art suggests it could have been a masterpiece. Oh, how the best ideas never come true. That’s right, there were nearly Predator monkeys.
As revealed on AvP Galaxy, thanks to info from concept artist Constantine Sekeris, several concepts for monkey/Predator hybrid creatures were cut from the film. These strange creatures, some with multiple limbs, are fascinating and creepy and actually really cool, at least from a concept art perspective. Here’s what Sekeris had to say about them (quoted from Instagram):
Today I’m sharing a Predator Hybrid Multi Limb Monkey creature. Production designer Martin Whist and Shane Black had notes exactly that of multi limb hybrid Predator monkey. Typically I spend some time exploring in sketch phase if I have the time with simple paper and pencil. For this creature I had to jump right into 3D and blast out something pretty quickly in a night or 2 after hours.
Early part of the script there were a lot of different hybrid creatures that Tully Summers and myself tackled. I’m not sure if 3D were in the ship in the pods or the Predator Scientists/Emmisaries were experimenting with different animals and mixing DNA. I think there were some initial quick ideas and wanted to see some quick options to explore if it was something to refine later. In the end all that was cut out of the final edit of the film. Regardless, was still fun tackling this as an exercise. Looking at it now with fresh eyes I would make the skin texture patterning a lot simpler and graphic.
Earlier drafts of the film apparently had a healthy focus on so-called “Menagerie” of hybrid creatures, though they’re largely absent from the final cut (except for the dogs!) for reasons that are tragic and likely lost to time.
Look, I’m not saying the problems with the script, direction, and Shane Black’s questionable decision making would have suddenly disappeared if this movie had Predator monkeys in it. But I am saying that the Planet of the Apes crossover would have been incredible.