Prey director Dan Trachtenberg and stars Amber Midthunder and Dakota Beavers recently shared the hilarious way the director let them know they had been cast – or at least tried to.

Prey is a prequel to the Predator franchise, following Amber Midthunder’s Naru, a girl living in the Comanche nation in precolonial America. Naru dreams of being a hunter, but in pursuing that goal she ends up tracking the deadliest prey imaginable.

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While the difference in time sets Prey apart from most Predator movies, the film inevitably drops a few nods to the franchise’s other entries. Unfortunately, though, director Dan Trachtenberg’s first attempts to get some Predator references out of his cast didn’t go as planned.

‘Get To The Choppa!’

Recalling the casting process during the press conference for Prey, Dan Trachtenberg brought up the story of how he let Amber Midthunder and Dakota Beavers know they had got the roles of Naru and Taabe respectively.

While Trachtenberg had tried to nudge the actors into dropping a few Predator references when he got in touch to let them know they had been cast, his approach to the lines was apparently a little too convoluted for the actors to pick up on.

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While talking about his casting as Taabe, Dakota Beavers and the director recalled:

Beavers: “What was it you said? He Facetimed me and he said, do you have time… Is it you have time to bleed?”
Trachtenberg: “Yeah, maybe I said, what do you have time for or something like that.”
Beavers: “Oh, yeah. And I was like, I got time for anything, man. [Laughs] Obviously, I was supposed to…”
Trachtenberg: “I was like no, the proper response is I ain’t got time to bleed.”
Beavers: “I ain’t got time to bleed.”

Dan Trachtenberg didn’t have much more luck when it came to letting Amber Midthunder know she had been cast as Prey‘s protagonist, Naru. She and the director revealed he had tried to use a riddle to coax her into reciting one of Predator‘s most famous lines.

Midthunder: “I add a whole riddle. Dan, also FaceTimed me. And he said… What did you say? You were like if you had to get somewhere but you couldn’t use a car…”
Trachtenberg: “Or a plane.”
Midthunder: “Or a plane… Or a train, what would you do? And I think I said, hang glider. ‘Cause you were like by air. Oh, you said by air… And I was like, hang glider. And you’re like, no, it has an engine. I was like, a hang glider with an engine? And you were like, no, the answer was…”
Trachtenberg: “Get to the choppa! Yeah, yeah. Yeah.”

Unfortunately, it looks like the director’s approach to these classic Predator quotes was a little too long-winded for the actors to catch on. Fortunately, however, early reactions to Prey have been overwhelmingly positive. The stars were obviously feeling the Predator vibes more on set.

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Here is the synopsis for Prey:

Set in the Comanche Nation 300 years ago, “Prey” is the story of a young woman, Naru, a fierce and highly skilled warrior. She has been raised in the shadow of some of the most legendary hunters who roam the Great Plains, so when danger threatens her camp, she sets out to protect her people. The prey she stalks, and ultimately confronts, turns out to be a highly evolved alien predator with a technically advanced arsenal, resulting in a vicious and terrifying showdown between the two adversaries.

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg from a script written by Patrick Aison, Prey stars Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Stormee Kipp, Michelle Thrush, and Julian Black Antelope.

Prey will stream exclusively on Hulu on August 5, 2022. Stay tuned for all the latest news on the upcoming film and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.