'Predator Badlands', Production Designer, Ra Vincent

0:00Jawad MirThere's a lot of… ... Family and relationships elements in there, which is kinda weird that you get it even though these, none of these people are human beings

0:07Ra VincentIt's a lovely way to set up a story, right? You have a, kind of a small group of people on the stage. You really get to know them, and then you can kinda play the world around them instead of, you know, quite often we have in that sim… an ensemble cast that is just mind-blowing and we spend a lot of time kinda concentrating on their individual stories. We sorta get a little bit lost in the, in the, minutiae, you know? And it doesn't leave a lot of opportunity for big world creation and also…

0:41Jawad MirI think you're right, though, on Predator: Badlands, the, tonally it was, it was forced, crunched down into darkness, as a mechanism for controlling the amount of visual spectacular in the film. Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of Kingdom of Dreams podcast, the making of stories. I'm your host Jawad Mir. Today my guest is Rob Vincent, production designer of the latest film, Predator: Badlands. What an incredible piece of film that is. I wasn't expecting it in any way to be as amazing as it came up to be. Rob and I talked about the world creation of, Predator: Badlands and how the alien world and Predator world will interject his career, his upcoming film, Spaceballs 2, and a whole lot more. So without further ado, here is my conversation with Rob Vincent for production designing Predator: Badlands.

1:41Jawad MirThank you, man, for, joining. I appreciate it, to talk about Predator: Badlands. Really appreciate it.

1:50Ra VincentCool. I'm currently working on another title. We're, in the middle of a shoot at the moment in Sydney.

2:01Jawad MirWonderful. I won't ask you what it is unless you wanna tell me, and I appreciate you taking the time to speak to me about the film.

2:07Ra VincentI'm not even su… I'm not sure what sort of, blanket of secrecy is on this, but I'm working on Spaceballs. That's the number two version.

2:20Jawad MirAh, nice. Nice. That'd be cool. I mean, I was going through your IMDb and normally IMDb is not 100% correct, but, you know, to see you've sort of began your career with Fellowship of the Ring and then, King Kong and the Hobbits, you know, just to kinda like the whole Peter Jackson era in the early 2000. And to have you work on, and to see you work on Predator: Badlands is, for me it's interesting because it's kinda going back to the old ways of doing things, and obviously a title that's very much beloved and, you know, mishandled for several decades…

2:55Jawad Mir... And finally it's back properly.

2:58Ra Vincent100%. I mean, I was very fortunate in that I have a, background in fabrication and, sculpture and scenic painting. So s… I've kind of gone back to some of my old familiar ways, especially with, production design on, some of these big Hollywood blockbusters to try and kind of claw back a wee bit of the craftsmanship that, we're, we're so used to, d… which I think we fell in love with, you know, back when we were first looking at,.. When I was first looking at making the film industry my kind of, staple.

3:55Jawad MirYeah.

3:55Ra VincentBut yeah. You know, where there's always a temptation to default to, a visual effects spectacular and y…

4:05Jawad MirYeah

4:05Ra Vincent... And in some instances that borne out of possibly design laziness. But, other things come into play like timing and whether or not you have enough production budget during principal photography to lend the, that amount of kind of workforce labor to building physical environment. So you, I guess if we look at Predator: Badlands, there's a kind of a sweet spot between what we can confidently leave up to, com… computer enhanced set extension and what we would like to capture on camera. And, you know, I think Dan Trachtenberg's, approach favored something that he could look at.

5:08Ra VincentCertainly Jeff Cutter, I think, enjoys, seeing what he can see through a lens. And, you know, giving those guys something, giving them like 80% or 100% of the environment and the characters that they wanna film, doesn't leave a whole bunch of guesswork up to, our post-production visual effects team.

5:41Jawad MirYeah. And I mean, I've talked about this many times on this podcast, you know, whether it's with production designers or cinematographers or directors, is that there's no substitute for actual sets and props, not just because they look real, as important as that is, but the relationship of the actors with that environment clearly depicts... Like, you can tell right off the bat, you know, if they're in a real space or just a green screen room, essentially. And I actually watched Predator: Badlands seven hours ago, so I hadn't seen it until today.

6:21Jawad MirI was blown away by the story, by the twists, by the characters of, you know... The only thing that didn't really register with me much, and that's just my personal thing, it could be the projection, I just felt it was a little too dark throughout.

6:38Jawad Mir... And maybe that was just Dan's approach. But other than that, it was, like, amazingly executed i… you know, in terms of the twists and turns that come in. And similar to Killer of the Killers, which I'm not sure if you have seen, who Dan directed as well…

6:52Jawad Mir... It's very similar in terms of three characters and how their lives sort of interconnect. And essentially, it's like a family drama in a way. There's a lot of… ... Family and relationships elements in there, which is kind of weird that you f… you get it, even though these, none of these people are human beings. You know, you've been…

7:10Ra VincentI mean, it's a lovely, it's a lovely way to set up a story, right? You have a kind of a small group of people on the stage.

7:19Jawad MirYeah.

7:20Ra VincentYou really get to know them quite intimately, and then you can kind of play the world around them.

7:26Jawad MirYeah.

7:26Ra VincentRight? Instead of, you know, quite often we have in that scene an ensemble cast that is just mind-blowing and we spend a lot of time kind of concentrating on their individual stories. We sort of get a little bit lost in the, in the, minutiae, you know, and it doesn't leave a lot of opportunity for b… big world creation and setting the tone for a film.

7:52Jawad MirAbsolutely.

7:52Ra VincentI think you're right, though, and with Predator: Badlands, the, tonally it was, it was forced crunched down into darkness…

8:02Jawad MirYeah

8:02Ra Vincent... As a mechanism for controlling the amount of visual spectacular in the film. I mean, the environments that we went to were gorgeous. They were all locations in New Zealand. And, part of, part of kind of controlling the audience experience was to give them a focal point in the landscape, and some…

8:31Jawad MirYeah

8:31Ra Vincent... Of that meant kind of forcing the grade down or i… in some situations, Jeff would, make a call on what day is a good day to go to the beach, right? Most people would think, "Oh, go to the beach on a sunny day."

8:52Ra VincentNo. We picked our windows particularly for those big, moody gray skies, and actually went out in search of the bad weather. So, wintertime in New Zealand was, w… was a little bit of a struggle, but it was evident in the, in the tone that Dan and Jeff wanted to set, so.

9:17Jawad MirSure.

9:19Ra VincentSo we kind of sorted out. And it actually meant that with the concept art and the artists working towards this idea, they could plan for all of the scenery to have an element of kind of dark foreboding, which not only worked with the Ultra Prime environment, but also Gena and its sort of l… lush, kind of creepy, alien world vibe.

9:51Jawad MirYeah. No, it was, it was fantastic. And I think, I'm, I'm in the process of watching Alien Earth. I think I'm in, like, four episodes in. Obviously, this has a connection that, you know, from the, in terms of the characters, but I'm just, it's very rare for any kind of remake or continuous on story from the '80s and the '90s for them to work properly, and I think they've kind of got a grasp on the Alien, franchise…

10:20Jawad Mir... As well as the Preda… the Predator franchise. And I'm, I've never seen... Well, I've seen the trailers of Alien versus Predators. I've never seen the actual films just because the trailers look terrible for me. But I'm looking forward to those worlds getting connected in these new stories that they're trying to tell, which is gonna be really great.

10:37Ra VincentRight. Right. I think it is r… really good. It's a great opportunity to make the world, the whole franchise massive, right? So one of the tools that we employed for Predator: Badlands was the ability to t… tap into all of that, canon work.

11:01Ra VincentSo all of the architecture that was established, in the, in the early Alien films kind of gave us a v… gave us a good basis to develop our distant future version. And, Badlands doesn't necessarily have a determined timeline, but it does exist much later than anything else that has been…

11:29Jawad MirYeah

11:29Ra Vincent... Developed. So that…

11:30Jawad MirYeah

11:30Ra Vincent... Just kind of allowed us an opportunity to put another layer of kind of, future technology into the aesthetic.

11:39Jawad MirLovely. I would love to get back, I would love to talk about how you got into this business, but before I do that, I just wanna sort of briefly talk about, initially, how you got on board on Predator: Badlands and your r… professional working relationship with Dan, who was the director. What was that like?

12:03Ra VincentWell, I'd never worked with Dan before. And, I had heard that… We, the Predator Badlands was doing the rounds trying to find a country to film in. And, it was kind of word of mouth that I'd heard that they had been to New Zealand t… two times for location visits and to find out whe… whether or not there were environments that would s… be suitable for part or all of the film. And, so what I did is I chased them up. I went to my agent and gave him instructions that, you know, this is a beloved, piece of film history for me, and something that I think, you know, if it's done right, it could re-energize the whole Predator franchise. And he, my agent hooked me up with Dan and Ben Rosenblatt and Dan Trachtenberg, and, they were introduced to me via a studio friend of mine, Ravi Mehta, who is, who was one of the st… studio bosses at 20th Century.

13:33Ra VincentAnd, I think upon his recommendation, because we'd worked together on some films before, Dan and Ben met on a Zoom call and asked me a bunch of kind of approach questions and some, little es… aesthetic kind of, a bit of a, an aesthetic questionnaire. But I think one of the things that sold them on me, apart from my, work history, was the fact that, I'm native New Zealander. So being, Maori and being a production designer, I have a relationship with some of the, some of the ethos in, built into this movie. And we kind of used,..

14:34Ra VincentWe used the effect of tribal traditions or, the deeper, inherited tribal traditions and languages and the emphasis on kind of, honor and spirituality and all of that stuff to build a more believable character. Now, I know that the, I know that the Yautja already have firm lore that everybody knows about, but the thing that makes them, like, really truly, a great, clan culture or, tribal, group is that the lore is, historical and it's solid for that clan.

15:34Ra VincentIn Maori tradition, we also have, traditional rules and cultural, activities that we undertake that ha… that are passed on generationally, and they kind of, they deal with kind of, honor and spirituality and, m… music and art and the way we talk to our ancestors and the way we, way we honor our ancestors and, that kind of tribal language or the way, tribal peoples go about communicating and being together is, in a way, replicated through some of the intent in the Yautja world. So…

16:28Ra Vincent... To cut a long story short, some of the benefits that came with hiring me, not only for the es… the aesthetic, contributions, was the fact that I already understand what it means to belong to a clan or a tribe.

16:50Jawad MirInteresting. That's really fascinating. And the world of Yautja, right, and the ships, I mean, in the beginning and the end and, the weaponry and, I mean, the weaponry is more like props, but still the design of the ship, just tell me, like, the process behind that. Was there any reference that you took from Predator 2? The way, you know, if you... I mean, it wasn't really a ship, but there was a little bit of aesthetic in there, and it turns into a ship. Was there any sort of reference points that you took from the earlier films, or was it something Dan and you kind of figured we gotta bring something new by…

17:31Ra VincentWe…

17:31Jawad Mir... While preserving the authenticity of the originals?

17:35Ra VincentWell, the lovely thing about the kind of the cultural identifiers or symbols that have been developed previously by, previous directors and production designers for Yautja, culture, is that there's already a written or drawn runic language and that language, those symbols kind of behave as pictographs and you can kind of determine a bunch of cool design just from looking at the written language. There's, there's a, there's a bit of ornamentation in previous films which, you know, c… have a go at kind of something in the background. But once you attach those motifs to something a bit more solid and consistent like the runes, you can find identifiable shapes and use those as your design leads.

18:46Ra VincentAnd, you know, Quay's ship is very much, a derivative of one of those, motifs. So I think, Predator 2 has some runic language which is p… graphic rather than, written words, and that's in one of the, one of the spaceships. And we kind of took that generic pattern and kind of gave it a little more meaning.

19:28Ra VincentIt's also something that happens in, Maori culture, is that you can tell stories through traditional symbols. So we kind of... I know we ha… had established a written language by a language professor who helped us write the written Yautja language and the voiced one, but there is also this, these groups of patterned motifs that, also we've kind of... The intent is to give them meaning.

20:11Ra VincentI think Quay's ship is born of, you know, one of, one of m… many of those kind of, m… motif patterns that we, that we'd developed. There's, certainly with the, with Maori wood carving called whare patterns, there are identifiable, family differences. So with Quay and Dek, you know, the idea I think for Predator: Badlands is to keep their, symbology specific to their family but still leave it open for interpretation for other Predator movies.

21:01Jawad MirOne thing I loved about this particular... I mean, it was in Killer of the Killers too, but what really reminded me, and I don't know if Dan got inspired or is it like one of those subconscious things, it kind of reminded me of the Klingons from Star Trek.

21:17Jawad MirYou know, the language, the culture, the honor. You know, the whole honor thing, that's what Klingons were all about, and that's exactly what, you know, the honor and the clan and is all about. And I just felt that was really cool because when you create a world or a species and then you create a language around it and a culture and how they behave, it just makes it so authentic. And I think that opening part, the first 10, 15 minutes that wa… that really sets up the film in a very amazing way. Like, it just identifies who the characters are and what's important to them and... Yeah, I just wanted to make a comment that I just thought, you know, I've grown up with Next Generation, so the Klingon thing really resonated with me, the honor part.

22:07Ra VincentAnd then, and that, their development has been kind of years and years in the making, so they also have some kind of traditional kind of, story to pull back on.

22:20Jawad MirYeah. It's really cool I think. And then, and in... What was the most challenging part for you, whether it's a sequence or a scene, in terms of getting the them… the thematics right, the production design right to reflect of the environment that the characters were in?

22:42Ra VincentI think we had a pretty good handle on what we wanted the film to feel like. And I feel like we, in the early stages, knew who Dek was and how we wanted him to react to the world. The thing that was the most difficult, I think, for me as a production designer and for my team, was being able to render those environments, to their very best knowing that we weren't 100% solid on our, maybe our shooting days and then the... There was, there were multiple iterations of the script because I think the further we went into principal photography and the more we shot, the more I think op… the world opened up for Dan and Ben, and they kind of... There were o… new opportunities.

23:49Ra VincentYou know, like a kid in a candy store, we'd go to these locations, there'd be like 20 different versions of one really cool thing. All we had to do…

24:00Jawad MirYeah

24:00Ra Vincent... Was kind of like nail ourselves down to one choice. So as a, as a remedy for that, what we did was brought our whole kit of parts with us on the road so that we were able to kind of divert in any direction that Dan and Jeff and Ben wanted to go. And, it's a, it's a, pretty neat thing to have a wonderful agile team who don't…

24:35Jawad MirYeah

24:35Ra Vincent... Mind changing their workday the morning they come to work, you know? I think it's part of the creative process, definitely was part of our creative process as a film crew to just roll with it and let it be an organic thing. Some days we would go to work and it would be blowing a gale, and then…

24:57Ra Vincent... Two hours later it would be totally still. So…... We'd just swap out the things, right? We'd maybe…

25:04Jawad MirYeah

25:04Ra Vincent... Try and try something different because the, all of a sudden it's sunny, right?

25:11Jawad MirYeah.

25:11Ra VincentSo they were v… w… they were all very agile and everybody was up for a challenge, and it was a challenge.

25:20Jawad MirOne thing you mentioned about being a kid being in a candy store while you go on location, and I can totally attest and relate to that. I'm working on a proof of concept of a short film that will be turned into a feature. And everybody's like, "Why don't you just shoot it here?" Like, you know, build a set.

25:39Jawad Mir... And I'm like, "No, I need to go to location." So Jordan and Poland. And when I went to Jordan for location scouting, I mean, the location that I saw, I'm like, I wish I could just use all these locations because they're all so cool.

25:52Ra VincentYeah.

25:52Jawad MirAnd then all these ideas start generating. Like, you start visualizing the script. This is where this scene's gonna take place. This is where this is gonna take... It's, it's a beautiful process. I absolutely love it, and you just reminded me…

26:02Ra VincentIt is

26:02Jawad Mir... Of that when you mentioned.

26:05Ra VincentAnd it's so great. I mean, it's good to have the restrictions though, too.

26:10Jawad MirYeah. I'd agree. I agree.

26:12Ra VincentFi… find yourself kind of, locking into a couple of locations and then trying to make them look bigger than they are, you know?

26:20Jawad MirYeah. And the key thing also you have to factor in, because the budget, is that, you know, you have to make sure the locations, as long as they work with your script, they have to be close to each other logistically. So you're not just packing your bags with the crew and, you know, going like…

26:33Jawad Mir... You know, if you have a big budget, sure. But if you don't, then you gotta factor all those things in. Like, are they prox… you know, proximity, they're close or not. But yeah, no, I would love to get back to your career. What got you into production designing? What was the catalyst that inspired you?

26:52Ra VincentWell, I'd been, I'd been, a fabricator for a long time, and built trees and castles and rocks and things, natural environments. And, through that, through learning my way around construction and how to build all these big, beautiful environments, I went into art direction because I was handling quite big teams. And, from art direction, you know, there's a, there's a next door neighbor of art direction is set decoration. And, set decoration took advantage of some of the other things that I love and want to be involved with, which is, furniture making and glassblowing and, foundry work and sculpture and... But I mean, there's a whole world of, technical artisan techniques which I'm fascinated with, which…

28:01Ra Vincent... I get to satisfy that kind of urge through set decoration. And then, my last set decoration project was the three Hobbit films, which I loved, working on. They were, they were a real treat because we really did get those opportunities to work with the proper artisans. We'd be casting bronzes, blowing glass, and gilding timber, and doing all that stuff, but doing it for real. So that was a…

28:37Ra Vincent... Treat. St… straight after that, I was, approached by Taika Waititi to do, to collaborate with him on his vampire film, What We Do in the Shadows. Little m… mockumentary style film, which was tiny in its c… concept, but we, found a whole lot of ways, creative ways around, financial problems, and made it quite big. And, as a result, it was fairly s… successful little picture, which then born a group of spinoff TV shows. One was, the FX, What We Do in the Shadows FX TV show, which went on for four seasons.

29:33Ra VincentAnd then a little local production in New Zealand called, Wellington Paranormal, which is a funny, very small budget, locally made Wellington television show. So it's been, it's been going for four or five years now, and has sold in quite a few different territories. But it's taken that same, recipe, bunch of comedians just winging it, put them in a nice and a pretty box, like a set.

30:12Ra VincentAnd our case was a old, dilapidated old flat. And, you know, just let them be, characters in their own movie. And a lot of these things are kind of partially scripted, unscripted, partially scripted sort of skits, which, Which was hugely successful. And, then I've collaborated with Taika on a few other shows that have been larger in budget scale.

30:43Jawad MirNice. I think the only…

30:46Ra VincentYeah

30:46Jawad Mir... New Zealand show I've seen was more recently, I've only seen the first season, Bad Sisters. I don't know if you've seen it.

30:54Ra VincentBad Sisters?

30:56Jawad MirIt's on Apple TV.

30:57Ra VincentYes, have you?

30:59Jawad MirIt, so they have two season and it kind of didn't really need a second season, but the setup of this, first season is that there's four sisters. You know, one of them is quite independent, the other one is divorced, and the third one is like, you know, dating around. And the fourth one is married and she has a really crappy of a husband. And the series begins as, like, basically he's dead, and the whole show is around how, who killed him and the four sisters. Are they, you know, possibly the ones who were behind it? It's a, it's a funny show. It's, it's, actually quite entertaining eight episodes. I recommended it. Don't bother with the second season it, there's no point, but the first one was great.

31:43Ra VincentIt's on Netflix. I don't know whether we've…

31:45Jawad MirNo

31:45Ra Vincent... Got it yet in New Zealand.

31:47Jawad MirNo, it's on A… it's on Apple TV.

31:49Ra VincentOn Apple TV?

31:51Jawad MirYeah. I mean, it's a New Zealand show, so I'm sure you guys will have it. There has to be.

31:55Ra VincentI don't know. The local content providers are a little, kind of, it's wee bit backwards. I mean, it's like when, 'cause we export lamb, all the best lamb gets…

32:08Jawad MirYeah

32:08Ra Vincent... Wrapped up and sent off in an airplane to somewhere else. I'm, I'm sure some of our best TV shows are findable here still.

32:21Jawad MirSo tell me…

32:22Ra VincentYou know, I'll keep a lookout for it. Three Sisters.

32:25Jawad MirYeah. B… Bad Sisters. Bad Sisters.

32:27Ra VincentOh, Bad Sisters.

32:28Jawad MirYeah. Yeah. Your first film was Fellowship of the Ring, correct?

32:37Ra VincentMy first…

32:39Jawad MirFeature films, theatrical. At least according…

32:42Ra VincentYeah. As a, as a decorator. No, I

32:46Jawad MirNo, it…

32:47Ra VincentYeah, as an set decorator.

32:49Jawad MirYeah. What was... I would love to know because I remember when the marketing campaign, internet was new in its third, fourth year, started on Lord of the Rings. You know…

33:02Ra VincentRight

33:02Jawad Mir... They had, I specifically remember that. They sh… had some stuff at, I think it was Comic-Con or one of those p… places, and then they showed a featurette and then the trailer came out. Getting that call to work on a film like Fellowship of the Ring, Lord of the Rings…

33:18Jawad Mir... And getting it from Peter Jackson, who granted he wasn't really a big name, but he had done some incredible films even before that. Do you remember that, the call that you got to be on that?

33:31Ra VincentYeah, I actually pursued that. Again, that's another one that I went after. And, I joined the fabrication department. The sculpting, polystyrene ... Figures for Weta Workshop at the time, I think. We, they had just started. And, my father was working there. He was a scenic backdrop artist and had a little bit of part-time work with that gang, and I, that was my kind of backdoor entrance.

34:08Jawad MirNice.

34:09Ra VincentSo I managed to get on that team. And, my father had done previous shows like Lovely Bones and

34:22Jawad MirPeter Jackson

34:22Ra Vincent... Bad Taste. Yeah.

34:24Jawad MirYeah.

34:24Ra VincentPeter Jackson films. And, he was kind of trying to get out of the business and I came in to help…... I'd come in to help him little bits and little bits and then, e… eventually I realized that actually I'm quite good at this and might as well stick around for a few more weeks, and here we are 22 years later.

34:50Jawad MirThat feeling, I don't know if it, may… maybe you remember it or maybe you don't even, maybe you didn't even get it, that feeling of seeing your name in the credits for the first time… ... In a film…

35:01Ra VincentYeah

35:01Jawad Mir... Obviously as big as... What was that feeling like?

35:04Ra VincentNo, yeah.

35:04Jawad MirThat must have been exciting.

35:06Ra VincentIt was fantastic. By the way, we were in France, in Paris building…

35:12Jawad MirFor Cars?

35:13Ra Vincent... Some, for, no. We were building, an exhibition for the release…

35:20Jawad MirOkay

35:20Ra Vincent... Of the first film.

35:21Jawad MirI see.

35:22Ra VincentAnd it was, it was mostly for the, for the, premier party of a few Ringwraiths standing on a castle in, as decoration for the party. And, I watched the first, watched the first film all, and, dubbed in French…

35:42Ra Vincent... With English subtitles. But I get to see my name in the credits, so that was pretty exciting. In fact, what is it now? It's 27 years later.

35:54Jawad MirYeah. Almost.

35:55Ra VincentAlmost.

35:55Jawad MirIt came out in the late '90s, I think. Yeah.

35:57Ra VincentYeah.

35:58Jawad MirYeah. Yeah. Wow. Incredible, man. That's really cool.

36:03Ra VincentIt's pretty cool

36:04Jawad Mir... I'll j… I'll dive back into, Badlands. There's so much opportunity, you know, even after the way the killer of the killers ended. "Let's go on a hunt," that was the last line, and then you see the, all the characters from all the Predator movies, you know, in, almost, like, frozen. And even…

36:27Jawad Mir... The way this ended. I mean, I'm not gonna reveal the last line because it's… ... Even though the film... But you know what I'm talking about. It talks about a relationship…

36:36Ra VincentYeah

36:36Jawad Mir... Right? Like, it's just, where do you see, the… I don't wanna know what Dan may have talked to you about or Dan may have not talked to you about it. Where do you see this w… goes now? I mean, obviously there's definitely room for a sequel or sequels the way this one ended.

36:52Ra VincentI think, we should... I mean, Dan's broken it open enough so it doesn't have to be the, and the next story doesn't have to be Dec and Thea. It could be any number of the, of his clan, you know? It could even be the clan that lives across the salt lake on the other side of the planet, right? Maybe there is a version where if the franchise wants to let it go, it becomes more of an Avatar type, world…

37:25Jawad MirYeah

37:25Ra Vincent... Build where we're dealing with different tribal groups and their experiences of one another, and then maybe, you know, their ex… their personal experiences abroad. I mean, I guess perhaps James Cameron's gonna send a Na'vi off on their own adventure one day.

37:47Jawad MirWell, I mean, he did say…

37:47Ra VincentWho knows?

37:48Jawad Mir... There's four and five, but he probably is not gonna direct it. But I'm looking forward to seeing…

37:53Ra VincentIt'll direct itself eventually.

37:56Jawad MirProbably…

37:57Ra VincentYou know, everyone…

37:57Jawad Mir... The way things are going

37:58Ra Vincent... Everyone'll come to work, know exactly what to do that day, it's all c… becoming second nature. And as an audience…

38:06Jawad MirYeah

38:06Ra Vincent... We all come into the theater knowing we're gonna get a good treat, and, you know, we've already bought into it. It'll be a success.

38:14Jawad MirAnd it's inter… it's interesting you mention Avatar because now that I think about it, again, I mean, that doesn't mean that these films are similar. The whole relationship part, you know, in Avatar II it was explored with the father and the son, right? In Avatar III it's obviously gonna be there too. And it's similar in Badlands, like the brother, the father, and then the sister, and then the, offspring, if you know what I'm talking about, right?

38:44Jawad MirIt's all those relationships that really make it... That's, that's one of the things I loved about the film, honestly, because, you know, we've seen Predators so many times before attacking and killing. I mean, how many times are we gonna see that? But Dan really brought something fresh

38:59Ra VincentYeah

39:00Jawad Mir... To this, and I absolutely love it.

39:03Ra VincentYeah, me too. Having a look at to see how those guys live in their own homes is quite a treat.

39:09Jawad MirYeah. And I… ... I really like the little nudges of, tribute to aliens. There's a little scene towards the end, you know, that was really cool. Then the preparation for the hunt, which kinda reminded me of the first Predator. And it… it's just little tributes. He did that with Killer of the Killers with, Predator 2 with the gun 1713.

39:31Jawad MirAnd, you know, truly a hardcore fan and he's doing a fabulous job on it.

39:35Ra VincentHe is doing a fabulous job. It was actually, once in a lifetime treat there, and, I don't know whether I would ever be invited back for another, Predator film, but if I was, I would be 100% keen.

39:52Jawad MirOh, I would love to see you work on Alien versus Predator whenever they start that because…

39:56Ra VincentOh, yeah

39:56Jawad Mir... That's around the…

39:56Ra VincentThat'd be...

39:57Jawad MirThat's around, that's around the corner, I would say two to three years, the way things are going.

40:02Ra VincentHave some... I mean, you can't help but have some good ideas just pop into your head.

40:07Jawad MirYeah. Well, so you're working on Spaceballs 2. Anything else that you would like to work on genre-wise or with a director that, you know, you sort of, it's kinda like a wish list if you have one.

40:21Ra VincentI'd like to do some grand space opera, and I'd like to maybe also one day do a musical.

40:30Jawad MirWhat brings that inspiration from space opera and musical? You grew up on that?

40:36Ra VincentI think there's a, there's a couple of things missing from my repertoire. You know, I feel like I've covered off a few kinda basics, but then there's like these extraordinary moments where you could like where the film is like 100% about the extravagance. So, you know, this is an opportunity to just kind of be in it for your own, for your own sort of decadent enjoyment.

41:06Jawad MirSo if you're doing a musical, would it be by default Rob Marshall? Because, I mean, he's done so many of them.

41:14Ra VincentMaybe. Maybe.

41:17Jawad MirNo, I hope you…

41:18Ra VincentI would…

41:18Jawad MirI hope you get to do them then.

41:20Ra VincentOh, yeah. I keep going to the movies in the hope that, I'll be able to work out what it is uniquely special that I can provide to change the game enough to make it, keep it interesting.

41:36Jawad MirYeah. Are there any particular sets or production design that you love that's not yours over the last 20, 30, 40 years that you have seen? Like, something that pops out to you all the time, inspires you?

41:49Ra VincentWell, I mean, I've always been a fan of, I'm a deep Star Wars fan from very early… ... Stuff, and I really,.. I mean, I get a lot of enjoyment out of, out of comic books weirdly, and that's just something that's happened in my older age. I've picked up comic books and have started to appreciate them in an entirely different way. The, way you can compose a scene with just limited number of objects in the room. I'm kind of, I'm really interested in old classics. You know, the… Tarkovsky

42:49Ra Vincent... Films. I mean, I really love,.. Oh. Shit, it's been, it's gone out of my brain, but I actually am a lover of all film, and I kind of, it's very hard to kind of boil it down to you, mate…

43:09Jawad MirYeah, no, I get, I get it

43:10Ra Vincent... To the favorites.

43:11Jawad MirI get it.

43:11Ra VincentRight?

43:11Jawad MirI get it. Yeah.

43:11Ra Vincent'Cause everything does a different thing to you.

43:14Jawad MirTo, yeah.

43:14Ra VincentAnd I respond to, other designers' work, with gratitude for just being, for helping beautify the experience. Yeah.

43:30Jawad MirYeah. I mean, you guys do, you guys literally, you know, it's a collaboration obviously. You know, there's a cinematographer, there's, visual effects, there's gaffer, there's director, writer, producer, editor, all that stuff, but the worlds that you guys create, you know, is, I think the film heavily depends on that. And…

43:51Ra VincentWell, you ne… it needs to be supported by something and, you know…

43:54Jawad MirYeah

43:54Ra Vincent... If you can create a firm base for everyone else to play around on, that's…

43:58Jawad MirAnd then the…

43:59Ra Vincent... It's still some of my…

43:59Jawad Mir... They get inspired too, and they get inspired too, and then they come up with wild ideas, right? That's the whole thing.

44:05Ra VincentYeah. Yeah.

44:05Jawad MirAs we sign, as we sign off, Ra, any particular s… story that you can share from the set of Predator: Badlands that makes you laugh or makes you wonder about the day of the shoot or the day when you guys were working?

44:23Ra VincentNothing terrible, but I do remember our last, our last day of principal photography, we were so excited about coming to an end, but there was a whole lot still on the list… ... That we hadn't quite got to. The idea was we'd, like, make our day and move on. There wasn't enough time for sets to be standing for days on end. We would kind of push a set in, build it, shoot it, and then take it out that night in order to push another one in next day. And on our last day, we had all of the pieces of all of the sets that we had pre, shot through principal photography sitting in a big line outside the studio door so that we could do a real hardcore blue screen day and have, and finish on a high note. We would slam out all of these little pieces of work that had been storing up for the last three months all in the last day. So that was kind of exciting, and it was a testament to the, that particular attribute I was talking about where the local crews would like, "Eh, you know. What do you wanna do next?

45:42Ra VincentOkay, we'd do this. What do you wanna do now? Let's do this." Yeah. It was super flexible, and everyone had fun.

45:51Jawad MirThat's really great, man. That's really great. I really wish you all the best, and I would love to have you on maybe the new year, we could talk about maybe Hobbit, maybe Lord of the Rings or something else that you would be interested in.

46:04Ra VincentAwesome, man.

46:04Jawad MirThat'd be really fun.

46:06Ra VincentThank you very much.

46:07Jawad MirNo, thank you, and, thank you for being part of this incredible film. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.