Fans of the “Predator” series will no doubt know that not only was the original design of the iconic extraterrestrial monster lacking in the terrifying department—the original head look had yellow eyes and lacked the famous mandible mouth—but no less than the Muscles from Brussels himself was tipped to be the man inside the rubber suit. Of course, the match-up between Jean-Claude Van Damme and Arnold Schwarzenegger never came to be and an interview with FX legend Steve Johnson that surfaced online gives us some insight on how we missed on what could have been a momentous event in 80s pop culture.
Running over three minutes long, “The Story Behind The ‘Original’ Predator” shows some behind-the-scenes footage of Van Damme running around a Mexican jungle in a silly red foam suit—it was used to create the famous cloaking effect—with Johnson explaining just how disappointed and angry Van Damme was upon realizing that he was going to be a glorified stunt man. Eventually, Van Damme was dismissed from the film—due to both his unhappiness and the production’s need to have a more physically imposing challenge for Schwarzenegger and his elite special forces team—and McTiernan turned to Stan Winston to create a new design for the monster.
The rest, as they say, is history. You can watch the interview below, which includes some of the original concept art, and watch “Predator” again and dream about what could have been. [via JoBlo]