10 Horror Movies That Made It Up As They Went Along (But Were Awesome Anyway)
5. Predator
Predator had a deeply tumultuous production, mainly because of the Predator itself. Initially, the extra-terrestrial was played by a pre-fame Jean-Claude Van Damme in a godawful costume. Due to Van Damme's short stature, he was replaced with 7ft 2 stuntman, Kevin Peter Hall. And because the original costume looked like a duck (according to Arnold Schwarzenegger), a new outfit was fashioned for Hall.
If you thought that was the end of the production problems, they were only getting started! Although the Predator was meant to be armed with two swords and a spear gun, this idea was scrapped since these weapons kept catching on Hall's costume. Instead, the Predator was giving his distinctive wrist blades and shoulder cannon.
Even when filming wrapped, the production fell prey to a small but pivotal issue. You see, Peter Cullen, who's best-known for voicing Optimus Prime, provided the vocals for the titular villain. But on the day of recording, he lost his voice!
Because he was unable to shout, Cullen made the Predator communicate with clicking sounds, which he based on a dying horseshoe crab. Although the voice director hated Cullen's performance at first, he changed his mind when he heard how intimidating the clicking sounded on the boom mic.
So, if you ever wondered how we got such an iconic movie monster as the Predator, the short answer is dumb luck.