A Transformers Legend Created The Predator's Iconic Clicking Sound
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There are few action (or sci-fi) movies that can rival the original "Predator" as far as enduring entertainment value goes. Directed by John McTiernan (of "Die Hard" fame), it's not only a stone cold classic and one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's best movies, it launched an entire franchise that is still going strong to this day. None of that would have been possible if the filmmakers hadn't nailed the creature at the center of it all. What you might not know is that a "Transformers" icon had a hand in crafting the Predator as we know it.
"Predator" centers on a military specialist named Dutch (Schwarzenegger) whose team is called in to eliminate a mysterious threat in the jungle. They quickly discover something far worse than they could ever have imagined; an alien with advanced tech hunting humans for sport. Let the games begin.
The stellar creature design was obviously crucial in crafting the Predator, but there was also the now iconic clicking sound that the alien beast makes. That's where Peter Cullen comes in. Best known as the voice of Optimus Prime in the "Transformers" franchise, he is also the man responsible for making the Predator sound the way that it does. In a 2023 interview with Collider, the actor recalled how it all went down.
"Years ago on the beach in Massachusetts, at low tide, there was an upside-down horseshoe crab, and it was a hot day, and the bubbles were coming out of it, and its legs are like this [gestures], and all those bubbles are breaking, and they're making that little [mimics Predator click]. So, I figured, 'That's stuck in my brain.' When they asked me to do the Predator, 'What do you see?' and this gray streak went across the screen, and they said, 'Can you come up with something?'"
Peter Cullen made movie magic in short order on Predator
Cullen already had a decade of voice work under his belt at this point, but with the "Transformers" animated series and 1986's "Transformers: The Movie," he had become a rising star in that world. After some tinkering with the microphone, Cullen managed to make some magic happen in short order.
"They finally get it down to about right here where I need it, and I just said, [makes Predator click sounds] — I did it better back in those days — as this streak went across the screen, and [the director] got so annoyed. He said, 'Alright, that's enough!' He got up, and the voice came from behind him and said, 'You better come up here and listen to this.' [Laughs] He went up, and he was so cranky going up those stairs, and I think about five minutes later he comes [gestures happy skipping], he's going like this. He had just found his happiness streak, and there it was.
"We did the whole film in that day. I did all of it, every reel, and they've been using it ever since ... for free. [Laughs]," Cullen quipped.
Indeed, the Predator still uses that clicking sound to this day. The whole thing works a little better if you can actually hear Cullen telling the story, which you can do in the video below. In any event, the actor managed to help carve out this small piece of cinema history, all inspired by a horseshoe crab.
The "Predator" franchise is currently in the midst of something of a renaissance thanks to 2022's "Prey." This year saw the release of the animated "Predator: Killer of Killers," which teed up a very intriguing future for the series. Meanwhile, director Dan Trachtenberg also has a new live-action movie in the can in the form of "Predator: Badlands," which is building a bridge to the "Alien" franchise for an epic crossover. We'll surely be hearing a lot more of Cullen's clicks in the coming years.