Sometimes, all it takes to push a risky idea forward is one encouraging voice, and in the case of the 2025 movie release, Predator: Badlands, that voice belonged to James Cameron. Director Dan Trachtenberg recently revealed how a few offhand comments from the Aliens filmmaker gave him the confidence to forge ahead with what might be the boldest Predator film yet, though Cameron himself might not remember the conversation that lit the spark.
Trachtenberg recently counted a dinner he had with the Cameron while prepping Badlands in New Zealand. At that point, Trachtenberg had just driven eight hours to visit the legendary director on the set of the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash. After walking the Terminator creator through his high-concept pitch for Badlands, the two sat down to eat, where Cameron delivered a line that stuck with Trachtenberg throughout production. As the filmmaker tells THR:
