From Stan Winston’s Magic to CGI Mayhem: Why Our Favorite Practical Predators Just Vanished—Is the Future Really Digital or Just Dinos in Disguise?
Added on November 7, 2025 inEntertainment News Cards, Movie News Cards
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If you’ve ever wondered how the cosmic dance of planets might influence the way a monstrous alien hunter evolves on screen, well, today’s your lucky day to ponder that! Just like Mercury retrograde loves to throw a wrench into our tech, the Predator franchise has navigated its own wild ride through practical effects and CGI chaos since 1987. From a mysterious jungle shadow to a fully revealed nightmare with mandibles that would make even a Leo roar in admiration, the Predator’s visual journey reads like a stellar saga of Hollywood magic adapting with the times. And considering the Predator’s debut under the sign of fiery Aries — battleground-ready and fierce — it’s only fitting that the creature’s costume itself underwent a transformative metamorphosis worthy of a cosmic makeover. So, how did this ugly muthaf*cka become a practical effects masterpiece, steadily blending the art of physical suits with digital wizardry over decades? Buckle up and let’s dive into this sci-fi icon’s evolution through the lens of artistry, technology, and a pinch of star-powered serendipity. LEARN MORE
“You’re one ugly muthaf*cka.”
Since his 1987 debut, this ugly muthaf*cka has become one of cinema’s coolest and most appealing sci-fi creatures (Predator: Badlands hits theaters this weekend). For much of the original Predator, the alien creature was cloaked in invisible armor, only implying its hulking shape. As the movie went on, more and more of the mysterious creature was unveiled until finally, it’s shown in full glory during the finale when star Arnold Schwarzenegger goes mano-a-mano with the titular monster.
The original movie made a huge moment out of the reveal as the creature slowly unhooks parts of the suit. Then, he pulls the mask off and while you have a vague idea of the look of its face from the shape of its mask, there’s no shortage of awe that comes from seeing it for the first time. Then, it screams, and you are fully immersed in the existence of one of the most iconic movie aliens of all time. Today, we take a look at the evolution of the Predator costumes and how they went from practical Stan Winston creations to CGI hybrid effects.
Our story begins on the production of John McTiernan’s classic film. Since a great deal of the scenes don’t involve the Predator in the flesh, the cast and crew had already started principal photography on the movie in the jungles of Mexico before the suit even got there. The creature effects team at Boss Film Studios, under Richard Edlund, had been late on delivering the creature, so there had been a growing anticipation. When the costume finally arrived, the crew unpackaged a version that featured long extensor legs, a dog-like head, and a single eye. The first reactions out of McTiernan and his crew was panic. None of them thought they can make this costume work.
The costume was worn by a pre-fame Jean-Claude Van Damme, who had been vocal about his displeasure in working on the film. He was particularly disgruntled with the “invisible mode” variation of the suit, which was a big red costume that was meant to be chroma-keyed out from the background plates. However, to Van Damme, it resembled a big, cheesy lobster creature that he thought was going to be the final incarnation of the monster and he felt ridiculous. Additionally, the initial suit proved to be unworkable on location in the jungle and the mechanical limitations caused delays.
McTiernan sent the shots he took back to the studio to show them that the Predator’s effects weren’t working. They agreed. Luckily, star Arnold Schwarzenegger had a friend in creature crator, Stan Winston, after working with him on The Terminator and recommended he be brought on. Producer Joel Silver contacted Winston and the special effects maestro quickly went to work on a new design from scratch. Winston revealed that he drew inspiration from a painting of a Rasta-style warrior in producer Joel Silver’s office, which provided the silhouette of dread-locks and warrior stature.
Winston recalled that on a flight with director James Cameron, he was sketching designs when Cameron suggested, “I always wanted to see something with mandibles.” That suggestion became one of the Predator’s most distinctive features. The creature suit was built in a very tight timeframe: only about eight weeks to design and fabricate the new version in the filming hiatus. Van Damme would not continue his work on the project and his starpath was to be written elsewhere.
Crucially, the suit needed to function on location in a jungle, for a tall actor to move, fight, climb, and wear under hot conditions. The role would go to 7-foot-plus Kevin Peter Hall. The method for filming the suit in invisible cloak mode stayed pretty much the same, except it would now be done with the newer design. Another fun practical detail: the Predator’s glowing green blood was achieved by mixing glow-stick fluid with lubricant gel. As for the head and facial mechanics, the Winston studio built servo-driven cable actuators for the mandibles, cheeks, and brows, allowing the actor inside the suit and puppeteers to bring subtle movement to an otherwise very heavy costume. History was made as the original Predator suit was a triumph of practical effects: wearable, expressive and effective.
1990 saw the return of the alien hunter in Predator 2. This time, John McTiernan and Arnold Schwarzenegger would not be returning and Stephen Hopkins came in to helm the sequel. Luckily, a foundation for the costume had been solidly built and the setting would go from the harsh location of the jungle to the city of Los Angeles. The crew on the costume and creature effects team would expand upon the original design. Stan Winston Studio created new suits, with additional detail—such as spiny ridges on the skull plate, new mask designs and updated weaponry attachments such as shoulder-cannons and a bladed disc. The crew opted to use a material called WED Clay on the Predator heads to expedite the speed of production. Multiple suits were built for both acting and stunt shots.
The filming in urban settings required a different approach in costume articulation and actor movement; the suit had to perform in action scenes involving rooftops, rain, and water effects. Kevin Peter Hall would return to inhabit the otherworldly being. The practical suit remained the focus, though optical and visual effects were critical for the cloaking and thermal-vision scenes. The mix of suits, make-up and animatronics kept the Predator tangible and menacing.
The story of the sequel got to tease some of the Predator lore. Part of that is showing a Lost Tribe during the finale when multiple creature warriors are revealed to the main character, played here by Danny Glover. This meant that the crew at Stan Winston Studio got to have fun with more varying designs on different Predator chracters.
Interestingly, the Predator series wouldn’t reach trilogy status. While the franchise continued on in other mediums, like video games, books, graphic novels and toys, The Predator wouldn’t return to the big screen in fourteen years, until 2004’s big crossover — Alien vs Predator. Alien vs Predator was an original story, but the concept had been the subject of the Dark Horse Comics, a toyline and several video games.
In the time between Predator 2 and Alien vs Predator, a little film called Jurassic Park started a new revolution of special effects that would take over a lot of practical methods. And by 2004, while traditional movie suits were used, they would see some modern enhancements. Additionally, there would be a population of the Predator creatures for this installment. The production on the Paul W.S. Anderson film would credit Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr.’s company, Amalgamated Dynamics Inc. (or ADI), with redesigning multiple Predator suits (including “Scar Predator”), extending wrist-blades, and creating unique weathered masks for each Predator character. Luckily, even as CGI became more prevalent, the production teams often emphasised “people in suits” as being scarier and more physically dynamic over full-CG creatures. So, the traditional effects were used whenever they could be. The more fantastical elements, like invisibility, thermal vision and weapon effects, would see more of a transition to modern CGI tactics.
The hybrid of effects would continue with the sequel Aliens vs Predator: Requiem, and as time rolled on, sci-fi films were embracing CGI as an effort to replace practical effects more and more. By 2010, when Predators was released, the franchise had to adapt to modern filmmaking demands: bigger action, more character movement, location flexibility, and the scale afforded by digital tools. It’s made clear that the full-body animatronic suits and wearable costumes gradually gave way to hybrid approaches and full-CG replacements.
For example, in The Predator from 2018, the main Predator suit portrayed by Brian Prince was still a practical suit, but titan-sized variants (such as the “Upgrade” Predator) were fully CGI, with motion-capture actors performing reference on-set for animators to augment. Additionally, in invisible-Predator sequences or cloaking sequences, digital tools allowed for more complex interaction with environments: i.e. blood running over cloaked forms, elements that were difficult or impossible with pure analog. For example, back in Predator 2, a scene in a wet alley required tubes of compressed air and a white-suit stand-in to simulate splashes for the invisible Predator sequence.
In an age where a motion-capture actor can wear a body suit that would be fully replaced with something animated by computers, it’s a testament that throughout every production since the original, the crew have kept the practical suit as a benchmark that the visual-effects artists strove to maintain even as the medium changed.
So, where are we now? Unfortunately, the great Stan Winston passed away in 2008, but his company is still a Hollywood staple, even if they had to adapt to an ever-changing landscape of filmmaking. Dan Trachtenberg, whose credits include 10 Cloverfield Lane, has helmed the most current installments in the property with 2022’s Prey and the new Predator: Badlands. Special effects continue to evolve and even CGI methods have changed, but Trachtenberg took an interesting approach: a leaner, more feral version of the Predator. Prey was set 300 years earlier in Comanche territory. The costume was designed by ADI in collaboration with the production team of director Dan Trachtenberg. They built six full Predator suits and four heads.
The suit weighed approximately 80 pounds (about 36 kg) and was primarily built out of foam-latex; the actor (the 6’9 Dane DiLiegro) described the foam-latex as “essentially a sponge,” getting heavier as he sweated on location. The helmet precluded near-normal vision: DiLiegro could see through only two small slits in the neck piece. This required rehearsals and radio guidance for movement. Although the suit was practical, the film still used digital augmentation: a full digital Predator was used for invisible sequences, as well as CGI animals, cloth simulations and environmental enhancements. The production reportedly began by scanning the animatronic suit for reference, then building CG versions.
Although CGI has been an amazing tool for many movies, movie purists have shown their favor in practical effects over the uncanny valley look of CGI. A behind-the-scenes clip of Prey revealed the raw Predator suit and animatronics before digital finishing. Some viewers of the clip felt the bare-bones suit looked “better,” while the filmmakers noted CGI was used only for flourishes. Ultimately, Prey shows how the franchise returns to practical-first design, which is then augmented intelligently by CGI — rather than relying on full CGI from the start.
For Predator: Badlands, Trachtenberg has opted for a new angle on the lore and making a young Predator the protagonist of the film. There is no doubt many of the grand sci-fi elements are completely composed of CGI, but when it comes to this iconic alien creature, there’s just no beating a classic.
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