The prequel to Dan Trachtenberg’s ‘Predator’ saga, ‘Predator: Prey’ (Prey, 2022) has taken social media by storm since its debut on August 5 on Disney+, and has since become the original film or release biggest TV show in Hulu history. All eyes are on Amber Midthunder but there hasn’t been much talk of Dane DiLiegro, the man under all that Predator makeup and prosthetics.
From basketball to monsters
DiLiegro is two meters and four centimeters tall and before Hollywood he played basketball at the University of New Hampshire and then for eight years professionally in Europe. His path to film began when he answered an ad in his hometown of Boston to be an extra in a movie. His first job was in the Korean Netflix series ‘Sweet Home’, where he played a mutant human who destroys everything in his path. He had never acted before.
DiLiegro would go on to play a creature in ‘American Horror Story’ and later he would assume the role of Predator in the last of the franchise. In Variety he has told that:
“I’m studying the work of creature master Doug Jones, and his monsters in Guillermo del Toro projects like ‘Hellboy’ and ‘Pan’s Labyrinth.’ People don’t realize there’s a lot of nuance to playing a monster. With every move, your body tells a story. Someday, I hope to play a human too.”
In another interview on Bloody-disgusting, the actor claims that the director I wanted the new monster in ‘Predator: Prey’ to be very different to others in the saga:
“Dan told me he wanted me to bring a balletic grace to this character. They were moving away from the traditional Predator ballet a bit, hmm. Well. I was thinking of a panther, something feline, softer, that’s very in tune with the forest. Feral was another word used, primitive, something very instinctive and very in tune with nature.
He could run through the trees naturally because he’s done it a million times, and he’s one with the forest and the forest. I tried to incorporate all those feelings and emotions; fast forward to me running around the ADI studio, turning corners, jumping on tables, doing sneaky little things, and running across the parking lot.”
Dilegro explains the difficulties of this “feline” concept of the predator:
“I had to lose 25 pounds to play this character. They wanted a lean, dynamic, more animalistic Predator. You know you are looking at a wild cat; Wild cats are not very chubby. I’m usually bigger, more muscular. I had to get away from that. I trained for two months parkour. I had to learn the basics because guys as big as me don’t do parkour. I trained in martial arts for two months.
I trained my neck. I partnered with a company called Iron Neck and strengthened my neck because the Predator’s head sits on top of my head and it’s a lot of weight on the neck. In addition to all the acting, I did all the stunts and motion capture. I ended up standing around the set all day, talking to the stunt coordinator, and it was the stunt coordinator who said, ‘Dude, you’re into monster movies.’”