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Trivia / Predator 2

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  • B-Team Sequel: John McTiernan was unable to return as director, as he was busy with The Hunt for Red October.
  • Cameo Prop: One of the trophies aboard the Predator's ship is a Xenomorph skull. That the two species inhabit the same universe would later become canon.
  • Deleted Role: Elpidia Carrillo, who played Anna in the first film, has her name listed in the sequel's credits, yet doesn't seem to appear in the actual film. Look carefully during the scene inside Peter Keyes' mobile headquarters, and you will spot her. When Keyes describes how the creature activated a self-destruct device in the first film, you can briefly spot Anna on one of the video screens. Carrillo filmed a debriefing scene, in which she talks to the camera and describes the events of the first film, but it was cut.
  • Deleted Scene:
    • Most of the Hard Core television news segments seen throughout the film were originally considerably longer, featuring more footage of Pope both in the studio and on location. One segment singles out Harrigan as a "cowboy cop".
    • The scene at the bar where Harrigan and Jerry discuss the disappearance of Vega's mistress was originally considerably longer, taking place during a birthday party being thrown for Leona. The scene was to begin with Leona complaining to her husband Rick that she is suffering from a mystery illness — designed to tie into the revelation that she is pregnant later in the movie. It would then have moved on to Harrigan and Captain Pilgrim discussing the recent killings at the bar, with Pilgrim attempting to warn Harrigan off pursuing the case and incurring Keyes' ire.
    • Danny's funeral was originally seen, with several officers from the department in attendance. Afterwards, Tony Pope again confronted Harrigan for an interview, leading Captain Pilgrim to assault him and throw him away. Harrigan then intentionally backs into Pope's van as he pulls away in his car, damaging it.
    • A scene was shot where the Predator actually enters the taxidermist shop Harrigan is briefly seen looking into after calling Leona and Jerry from the public telephone booth. Inside the shop, the Predator — unseen thanks to its cloaking tech — was to admire the various stuffed trophies on display.
    • After discovering the slaughterhouse link, Harrigan, Leona, and Jerry check out the city's slaughterhouses, finding that one has recently been closed down due to alleged health violations. They immediately suspect Keyes' involvement. As they discuss this turn of events, they are unaware that the Predator is watching them from a nearby rooftop.
    • The sequence where Harrigan chases the City Hunter across the rooftops in his car was originally supposed to be considerably longer, with considerably more footage of the Predator actually leaping across the rooftops and Harrigan watching it from below.
  • Lying Creator: In a pre-release interview with Fangoria Magazine, director Stephen Hopkins and screenwriter John Thomas flatly and mockingly denied that more Predators would show up at the end.
  • Orphaned Reference: Originally, when Harrigan arrived at the scene of the subway massacre, Heinemann begged him to help him deal with the press, who were furious at the LAPD's apparent inability to stop the killer terrorizing the city, and the fact that Keyes' team, whom Heinemann had ensured the police force bowed to, has now disappeared, leaving the police strung out to dry. Harrigan refused, blowing Heinemann off and leaving him to face the press alone. The short scene was supposed to tie into the fact that Heinemann and Harrigan had once been close friends, before Heinemann was promoted and "abandoned" Harrigan; however, that back story was also cut from the finished film. Evidence of this sequence can be seen in the final film — when Harrigan arrives outside the subway, Heinemann is visible for a split second attempting to stop him before the camera switches to Harrigan running for the subway entrance.
  • Production Posse:
    • The film features a lot of the same people who worked on the Lethal Weapon films.
    • Director Stephen Hopkins carried over key crew members from A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, including cinematographer Peter Levy, special effects artist R. Christopher Biggs, and makeup effects artists Howard Berger, Greg Nicotero, and Robert Kurtzman.
  • Prop Recycling: One of the Predators at the end of the film has its chest armor reused from The Vindicator.
  • Stunt Casting: The reason why the movie cost as much as it did is because Kevin Peter Hall (who played the Predator) convinced the producers to hire members of the Los Angeles Lakers to portray the other Predators, partly because he knew that Danny Glover was a Lakers fan.
  • Troubled Production: In particular, the scene where Harrigan meets King Willie. The alley the scene was filmed in was in a rough neighborhood, with disgruntled residents throwing feces at the film crew due to the noise they were making. They even discovered an actual dead body in the very real garbage you see in the scene.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • The film originally received an NC-17 rating for its violence and gore, causing the film to have to be recut several times to secure an R rating. Fans have long wanted the NC-17 cut to be released, but it never has been. Known edited scenes include Keyes' death (where it was indeed showed that the smart disc sliced him in two, leaving his upper body stuck on a pillar while his legs fell) and a longer version of the Columbian drug lord's heart being cut and ripped out.
    • Keyes was originally going to be Dutch (once again played by Arnold Schwarzenegger), and Anna (Elpidia Carrillo) was originally going to appear again. Her face is even seen on the screen while Keyes shows Harrigan videos of the jungle from which the first film took place, and she filmed a scene which was ultimately cut. Schwarzenegger turned it down, however, because he didn't like the thought of Dutch becoming a villain.
    • The original story line of the film was to have taken place in New York City, but Jim and John Thomas quickly changed it to Los Angeles because of budget concerns. The scene where the Predator raises the skull during the lighting storm was to originally have taken place atop the Chrysler Building. One early version of the script evolved into the popular comic Predator: Concrete Jungle, set in New York City and starring Dutch's unnamed elder brother.
    • At one point, Patrick Swayze was approached to star in the film, but was unable because he was injured during the filming of Road House (1989).
    • Stephen Hopkins wanted John Lithgow for Keyes, but producer Joel Silver insisted on Gary Busey.
    • The studio kept pushing for Steven Seagal as the lead, which Hopkins declined to do.
    • King Willie's Jamaican gang was originally written to be Rastafarian, but the studio insisted their religion be changed to Voodoo, on the logic that viewers would be unfamiliar with Rastafari. In spite of this, their characterization and dialogue remains largely unchanged.
    • The final scene with the flintlock was meant to announce a third film set in an earlier era without modern weapons. While this premise was explored in several following comics (1718, Rite of Passage, The Pride at Nghasa, etc), it wasn't until the fifth standalone Predator film three decades later, Prey, that a mainline film finally took place in the past.
    • A small subplot around Leona's pregnancy got cut. She is established to be married, but her and Harrigan had sex once a few weeks earlier when both were drunk at a party. This explains why Harrigan reacts to the news that Leona is pregnant with a "Holy shit!" expression on his face.
    • In early versions of the script, Ramon Vega is not killed in his apartment, but instead abducted by the Jamaicans and taken to a closed art gallery. It is here that they plan to ritualistically murder him, but the Predator attacks before they can carry out the killing. When the cops later arrive, it is Vega they find alive and traumatized, not his mistress.
    • In early versions of the script, Vega's mistress actually makes it to the hospital, leading to a scene where Jerry attempts to find and question her. Entering the building, he talks to several members of the hospital staff, trying to locate the witness, and eventually realizes she has been smuggled out of a back entrance. He gives chase, arriving just in time to see two of Keyes' men loading her stretcher into an unmarked van. He discreetly jumps on the back of the van as it leaves and rides it to his parked car before jumping off and getting behind the wheel to continue his pursuit.
    • The script features an additional brief scene in which Jerry captures the footage of Keyes and his men abducting Vega's mistress in their helicopter, having followed the van the woman was taken away in from the hospital to a remote helipad.
    • The scene where the City Hunter scales the Eastern Columbia Building and attracts a bolt of lighting with its Combistick in a victory celebration originally took place far earlier in the film, and the Predator was to be holding Danny's skull and spine at the time. The scene was ultimately moved later in the film, with the skull now belonging to Jerry.
    • Originally, the City Hunter was to be watching Harrigan and Jerry from a rooftop when the former is picked up by King Willie's people, leading to a sequence where the creature pursues Sweet and the other Jamaicans as they drive Harrigan across town. At one point during the chase, the Predator bounds across a queue of cars waiting at a traffic signal, bending their metal roofs with its weight. A similar scene appears in the film, but it takes place much later, when Harrigan is chasing the creature following the subway massacre.
    • The script features a humorous scene where Harrigan tries to crack a joke with the Jamaicans who take him to meet with King Willie. After getting out of the car, he tells them, "You know, I don't like reggae... I love it," referring to their loud music and paraphrasing the 10cc song "Dreadlock Holiday". The men are unamused though, one of them responding, "That's dread, mon," to which the Jamaicans burst out laughing.
    • The script contains a scene set the morning after King Willie is slain in which Harrigan is having breakfast in a diner. After finishing, he heads outside and walks along the bustling street, unaware some of Keyes' agents are watching him from a surveillance van parked nearby. As the scene continues, it becomes clear they are not the only ones following Harrigan — the Predator is also stalking him, discreetly following him through the crowd, concealed by its cloaking tech. As it moves through the passersby, the creature bumps into two men, triggering a verbal argument when each blames the other for walking into him.
    • In early drafts of the script, the Predator leaves a clump of King Willie's hair for Harrigan to find in the graveyard, not Danny's necklace.
    • The script contains a scene where Harrigan meets with Leona and Jerry at Dr. Edwards' lab so that they can discuss the case. Jerry informs Harrigan that King Willie's body has been found, and warns him the killer is clearly toying with him. He goes on to tell Harrigan that Keyes' men came to check out the King Willie murder scene but showed little interest — suggesting they are already close to finding what they are after. The three detectives then go to see Edwards, who informs them of the samples linking the killer to a slaughterhouse. While a similar scene is included in the finished film, it is reworked such that Harrigan is not physically present present, instead talking with Leona, Jerry, and Edwards from a public phonebooth.
    • The script includes a scene set in Harrigan's apartment, which he shares with an alley cat that occasionally climbs in through the window looking for food. After giving the cat some leftover takeout, he accesses a hidden armory concealed behind a bookshelf that is full of contraband heavy weapons. He selects several (including the Colt Commando he uses during his final showdown with the City Hunter) and loads them before falling asleep on the couch. This scene would have helped to explain where Harrigan gets a military-grade assault rifle and grenade launcher to use against the City Hunter, something that is never explained in the film.
    • The subplot surrounding Leona's pregnancy was originally more extensive, and among the related scenes that were removed was one at Alvarado Precinct in which she reveals to Jerry that she has discovered she is six weeks pregnant. Learning of her condition, Jerry suddenly loses the cocky, brazen attitude and becomes genuinely sympathetic and caring, amusing Leona. He suggests she take the night off and go home to her husband, but she reaffirms her determination to see the case through in memory of Danny.
    • It was originally planned to show the Predator following Leona and Jerry onto the metro, passing through the crowd of commuters in the station. Several people notice the ripple of the City Hunter's camouflage as it moves by, but pass it off as a trick of the light. This scene would have made it clear the creature is specifically targeting the detectives when it attacks the train, something that is less explicit in the finished film.
    • Originally, Keyes stayed in the OWLF command center to oversee the capture operation, while the team in the slaughterhouse was led by an unnamed agent. As such, Keyes survived the battle with the Predator, and it was he who confronted Harrigan at the end of the film after the Predator hunting party leaves Earth. Later revisions of the script had Keyes lead the capture team personally, while Garber was created to assume his role in the final act of the film.
    • During the warehouse battle, the Predator was to mimic Keyes' voice to try and lure Harrigan into an ambush, almost succeeding until it also mimics Leona, whom Harrigan knows is not present.
    • During the confrontation between Harrigan and the City Hunter on the roof of the slaughterhouse, the Predator was to escape by leaping across the street to an adjacent rooftop. Unable to make the 40-foot jump himself, Harrigan instead used a power line as a zip wire to cross to the next building and continue his pursuit.
  • Word of Saint Paul: According to Gary Busey in an interview, Keyes and the C.I.A. had been setting up C.I.A.-commissioned missions in the jungles on the Predator, which Dutch had been involved in, after the events of the first film, but they had lost Dutch, which explains why he didn't appear in the sequel.

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