Director Selected for ‘Predators’

Published by Jeff Leins on: July 2nd, 2009

After a few rumored choices on a short list of directors, producer Robert Rodriguez has selected his pick to film Predators.  Fox and Rodriguez have narrowed the position down to Nimrod Antal (Vacancy).  (If you’re wondering about the first name, it’s Hungarian.)

In an interview with AICN, Rodriguez said he didn’t base his decision on the hotel thriller but on Antal’s upcoming heist movie Armored, which stars Laurence Fishburne, Milo Ventimiglia (from “Heroes”), Matt Dillon, and Jean Reno.  Antal’s ability to handle the cast and action while making it look “effortless” is what Rodriguez was looking for in telling this “character driven action movie.”  He even compared the relatively new director to Quentin Tarantino.

While Antal will be managing the shot-by-shot arrangements, Rodriguez’s position will be very “hands on” as the production gets underway here in Austin, Texas.  Fox has agreed to film it at Troublemaker Studios, RR’s setup away from Hollywood and it sounds like his original treatment from 1994 is the framework for the new script (Alex Litvak is writing an updated draft that doesn’t include Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character).

The “new take” on the franchise will involve another team of commandos, only this time they’re pitted versus multiple predators.  The team becomes stranded on a Predator planet and discovers “unspeakable horrors.”  Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to elaborate how much will change from his original script.  Fox has already announced a July 7, 2010 release date for Predators.