Script to Screen: “Predator”

From the 1987 movie Predator [written by Jim Thomas & John Thomas].

Setup: It’s down to Dutch versus the Hunter in the culmination of the Final Struggle.

Before he can recover, Schaefer follows with a karate kick to the 
chest, hurling the Hunter to the ground, his back exposed.

In a flash, Schaefer is standing over the Hunter, the bow drawn, 
poised, the blood from his open wound dripping onto the Hunter’s back.

The Hunter slowly rolls onto his back, REVEALING his face, his eyes 
bleached white in shock from the loss of blood. The Hunter’s body, 
rippled out of control, trying desperately to orientate itself to the 
environment.

SCHAEFER
(incredulous)
Who the hell are you…?

EXT. HUNTER’S POV OF SCHAEFER — NIGHT

Schaefer’s body, looms over him, MOTTLED and STREAKED from his exposed 
skin, blood oozing from the shoulder wound, his eyes like black sockets 
in his almost skull-like face. Seen from this perspective, Schaefer is 
a frightening, horrible visage.

THE HUNTER

Shudders, GASPING hungrily for air, struggling to speak. From his 
throat, Schaefer HEARS the feeble, distorted efforts of the Hunter, at 
first garbled, incomprehensible and then, slowly, chillingly, taking on 
the timbre and quality of his OWN VOICE.

HUNTER
(electronic; filtered)
Who… 
(improving)
… the hell… 
(nearly perfect)
… are… 
(perfect)
… You?

The Hunter’s strength seems to fade even more…

Then, suddenly, with the last of his diminishing strength, he lashes 
out with one arm, activating the lethal, razor sharp SPURS on his 
wrists.

The Hunter’s coiled leg kicks upward with incredible force, his 
terrible spur ripping into Schaefer’s thigh, hurling Schaefer into the 
air, flipping him over, sending him crashing to his back into the 
shallow pool of water, momentarily losing his bow. He flounders 
desperately in the water, searching for the bow. He finds it just as…

The Hunter rises slowly to his feet, GASPING desperately for breath. He 
inhales deeply, hungrily, gaining strength with each breath.

Schaefer looks from the pool to SEE the Hunter, raising his weapon to 
throw.

In one totally instinctual movement, Schaefer draws back on the arrow 
to its very tip and fires.

The arrow, with a deadly THUD, penetrates deeply into the Hunter’s 
neck. Another bloodcurdling SCREAM of RAGE as the Hunter clutches his 
throat, dropping his weapon. An instant later and the Hunter is gone.

Here is the scene from the movie:

http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=LUA3

Questions to ask to analyze the scene:

* What elements in the movie scene are the same as the script?

* What elements in the movie scene are different than the script?

* Regarding the differences, put yourself in the mindset of the filmmakers and speculate: Why did they make the changes they did?

* How did the changes improve the scene?

* Alternatively are there elements in the script, not present in the movie, that are better than the final version of the scene?

* Note each camera shot in the movie version. Which of them does the script suggest via sluglines or scene description?

* How does the script convey a sense of the scene’s tone, feel, and pace through scene description and dialogue?

* What ‘magic’ exists in the movie that is not indicated in the words of the script? How do you suppose that magic emerged?

I’ll see you in comments for a discussion of this scene from Predator.

One of the single best things you can do to learn the craft of screenwriting is to read the script while watching the movie. After all a screenplay is a blueprint to make a movie and it’s that magic of what happens between printed page and final print that can inform how you approach writing scenes. That is the purpose of Script to Screen, a weekly series on GITS where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it.

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