Filmsane

Yeah… You’ve read that right. There will be a new Predator movie this year, and the one and only Shane Black is directing it. Which means that Hawkins is back (his time behind the camera), and i can hardly wait to be honest. Last year i watched Predator for the first time ever, and although i didn’t expect to love it, i actually did. It was everything i hoped an Arnold action packed movie will be. Scary, silly and full of muscle.

But why am i so excited about the upcoming fifth installment of the Predator film franchise and the long awaited trailer? Because of many things to be honest. The cast (i’m a huge fan of Keegan Michael Key, Boyd Holbrook, Sterling K. Brown and Jakob Tremblay), but above else because i’m an enormous fan of Shane Black.

This will be Black’s fourth directorial attempt (after Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys) and again… I loved every single one of them. I have no doubt that he will do a marvelous job behind the camera once again, but trust me… Every self-proclaimed Shane Black fan is in for the script. He’s master of action, and can write buddy movies like no other. Oh and his sense of humor is on point.

But what about his other projects leading up to the Predator? Yes, Black has some amazing projects in his long and illustrious career, and here are some of my picks.

Predator (1987)

Director: John McTiernan
Cast:Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Kevin Peter Hall…
Fun fact about the movie: Shane Black hated the glasses he was given to wear as Hawkins. He wanted to wear authentic military-issue ballistic glasses, worn by actual troops in the field, but John McTiernan wanted him to look as geeky as possible.

The Monster Squad (1987)

Director: Fred Dekker
Cast:Andre Gower, Robby Kiger, Stephen Macht….
Fun fact about the movie:According to Director Fred Dekker, Shane Black’s first draft of the screenplay was so huge that the opening of the film featured Van Helsing accompanied by zeppelins and hundreds of men on horseback storming Dracula’s castle. Dekker stated that this sequence would have cost more than the final budget of the film.

Lethal Weapon (1987)

Director: Richard Donner
Cast: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey….
Fun fact about the movie: Mel Gibson was only thirty when the movie was filmed, although his character Riggs was supposed to be thirty-eight.

Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

Director: Richard Donner
Cast: Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci….
Fun fact about the movie: During production, Richard Donner was shocked when Mel Gibson confided that he was drinking five pints of beer for breakfast. Despite his alcohol problems, Gibson was known for his professionalism and punctuality.

The Last Boy Scout (1991)

Director: Tony Scott
Cast: Bruce Willis, Damon Wayans, Chelsea Field…
Fun fact about the movie: With this film, Shane Black became the first writer to sell a spec script for one million dollars. According to Time magazine, he was originally offered 2.25 million dollars by Carolco Pictures, but decided to go with Warner Brothers for the lower (but record-setting) bid of 1.75 million dollars, so that he could work with Joel Silver, who had also produced his script for Lethal Weapon (1987). This record stood for 67 days until Carolco purchased a screenplay by Joe Eszterhas, which became Basic Instinct (1992), for three million dollars.

The Last Action Hero (1993)

Director:John McTiernan
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney…
Fun fact about the movie: Arnold Schwarzenegger thought the script was one of the best he’d ever read. He especially liked all of the elements of comedy, action, drama, and satire in it.

The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

Director: Renny Harlin
Stars: Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Yvonne Zima….
Fun fact about the movie: Shane Black became the first writer to sell a script for four million dollars. He later admitted that this caused a lot of envy among his fellow screenwriters, as well as accusations of commercialism. He voluntarily retired from the blockbuster industry for almost a decade as a result.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Director: Shane Black
Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan…
Fun fact about the movie: Shane Black had been suffering from writer’s block. It ultimately took him over a year and a half to write the script for this film. He then had enormous trouble trying to sell it. His former cachet, as being the highest paid screenwriter, meant nothing when he was shopping his screenplay around. Eventually, he took it to Producer Joel Silver, who gave him his first break back in 1987 when he bought Lethal Weapon.

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Director: Shane Black
Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Guy Pearce, Gwyneth Paltrow…
Fun fact about the movie:The only Iron Man film not to feature any songs by AC/DC.

The Nice Guys (2016)

Director: Shane Black
Stars: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice…
Fun fact about the movie: First reunion of Russell Crowe and Kim Basinger since L.A. Confidential (1997) and also second time that Crowe and Ty Simpkins are together in a movie, the first being The Next Three Days (2010).