Robert Rodriguez Talks Difference Between Predators Trailer And Film

Those of you who saw Predators over the weekend probably noticed a difference in one significant shot that was a centerpiece of the trailer. The shot appears in the film, albeit in noticeably altered form. Evidently there were a few who've been irritated by the difference (really?) and fortunately, someone got producer Robert Rodriguez to talk about it.

I won't spoil the shot or the difference for those who haven't yet seen the film. Hit the jump for details and comments from Rodriguez.

The trailer shot in question is the one in which Adrien Brody's character is lit up by a score of Predator targeting lasers. In the film, there's just one targeting laser. And this has led anyone to cry foul? Rodriguez spoke about the difference to MTV:

You don't want people to always know...A lot of my movies have trailer shots that I shoot just for the trailer, so that people haven't seen the movie already but they get the feeling of what it's supposed to represent...It's kind of a good twist to do that...If you go and you think that's what it's going to be, and then it's not that and it ends up happening in another place in the movie.

All that taken into account, I find any grumbling about this shot to be pretty entertaining. Usually people complain that trailers show way too much. But in this case, there was a nice piece of misdirection used to, as Rodriguez says, get the idea of the movie across while retaining some surprise for those who actually pay to see it. I don't see the problem.

In fact, this has been the summer of trailers with significant footage that differs from the release cut of the film. Iron Man 2 used some misdirection (with the "you complete me!" line in the trailer) and the Get Him to the Greek trailer had big chunks of footage that aren't in the finished film. As far as I'm concerned, that's just fine, so long as the release cut of the film works. The misdirection is good, and it gives us something to look forward to as possible extra footage for DVD.