How James Cameron Quietly Shaped Predator: Badlands

James Cameron gave Dan Trachtenberg a much-needed boost while he was making Predator: Badlands, and now we know exactly what that looked like. It also explains why Cameron gets a special thanks in the end credits.

Trachtenberg, the Primetime Emmy-nominated director (and yes, former podcast host), told Variety's Adam B. Vary that the two crossed paths in New Zealand during production. Trachtenberg was shooting Badlands in Auckland; Cameron was down in Wellington working on Avatar 3. Cameron invited him over to the Avatar set, Trachtenberg walked him through a key creative swing, and the rest is… a very cool bit of behind-the-scenes shop talk.

• Trachtenberg pitched Cameron on a hybrid Predator approach: put a performer in a full prosthetic suit, then let visual effects take over just the face.
• They met again for dinner. Cameron showed up with a quick verdict on that plan.
• Later, after Trachtenberg sent Cameron an almost-finished cut of Badlands, Cameron followed up with a longer note.
• Result: Cameron gets thanked in the credits, and Badlands is pulling strong reviews.

On that first dinner check-in, Cameron gave him the kind of fuel you want when you’re trying something risky:

'I was thinking about what you’re doing on the way over here. And I gotta tell you, I think it’s going to work.'

That wasn’t just polite small talk. After seeing a near-final version of the movie, Cameron sent a message that doubled down on the endorsement:

'I have to tell you, when I first heard about what you’re doing, I did not think it was going to work. But holy crap, you really pulled it off.'

So yeah, if you spot Cameron’s name in the Badlands credits, that’s why. And the early reception backs him up: Predator: Badlands is sitting at 85% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Not a bad capper to a gutsy practical-plus-VFX experiment that could’ve gone sideways but clearly didn’t.