According to , Fox’s The Predator is about to add yet another cast member: Thomas Jane. The one-time Frank Castle’s role is not yet known at this time. Production is slated to begin next month up in Vancouver, so we’re starting to get these casting notices for the project more and more often.
Thomas Jane is probably best known for his roles as the titular antihero in The Punisher (2004) and the lead in The Mist. He has also appeared in numerous other films such as Face/Off, Boogie Nights, Deep Blue Sea, Dreamcatcher, The Tripper, etc. and TV shows such as HBO’s “Hung” and current Syfy critically-lauded “The Expanse“. While his career has seen a lot of ups and downs, I’ve always liked Tom Jane, so it’s nice to see him score a role in a project of this size.
Jane joins a cast that already includes Sterling K. Brown as a government stooge, Olivia Munn as a scientist, and trio of ex-Marines played by Boyd Holbrook, Keegan-Micheal Key, and Trevante Jones. Arnold Schwarzenegger is rumored to be reprising his role as Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer from the 1987 original film in some capacity, but nothing has been confirmed on that front at this time. Little is known about the film’s plot or tone, aside from the fact that it is expected to carry an ensemble cast and be far more epic in scale than any previous entry in the franchise.
A change of pace is a good thing for the Predator series. The original remains an undisputed classic in my eyes and Predator 2 an underrated follow-up, but the three films since have left something to be desired. I’m not immune to some of the charms of Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, but they are both bad movies. Sometimes entertaining, but still bad. As for 2010’s Predators, while it was fun to see a more traditional Predator film for the first time in decades, it hews a bit too close to the original. As a result, it often comes off like a pale imitation, instead of regularly charting new territory. I’m hoping that trend can be bucked here.
The Shane Black-directed, Fred Dekker-scripted film arrives in theaters on February 9th, 2018.
