'Prey' producer used her Oklahoma background, tribal heritage to help create 'Predator' prequel

On the screen, Indigenous actor Amber Midthunder embodies the hero of "Prey," the "Predator" prequel that pits her would-be Comanche warrior Naru against one of the universe's fiercest and ugliest trophy hunters.

Behind the scenes, the movie's hero role is arguably played by producer Jhane Myers, a Comanche and Blackfeet artist, dancer and filmmaker who hails from Oklahoma.

"Jhane is obviously invaluable to be working in lockstep with on this, not just for all of the Comanche authenticity, but also for the creative instincts," "Prey" director Dan Trachtenberg told The Oklahoman in a Zoom interview.

Thirty-five years after Arnold Schwarzenegger's commando "Dutch" Schaefer battled a towering, befanged Predator in a Central American rainforest, "Prey" moves the sci-fi action to the Northern Great Plains of the Comanche Nation in 1719.

"I wanted to work with Dan from the moment that ... I interviewed to be the producer," Myers told The Oklahoman. "We grew up on 'Predator.' I was like, 'I want to do this. It has a Native element, and the Native element isn't just a Native element. It's Comanche, and I'm Comanche.'  So, I couldn't wait."

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Not only has "Prey" garnered strong reviews — many critics have called it the best of installment in the long-running, notoriously uneven "Predator" franchise since the 1987 original — but the bloody creature feature also is capturing the cultural zeitgeist. Its Aug. 5 debut on Hulu comes at a time when Native American stories and creatives are enjoying increased and improved on-screen visibility.

"Everybody wants to feel like they have something to relate to. Everybody wants to feel like they have something where they feel seen. And I think that's what is really beautiful about our movie," said Midthunder, who is Sahiya Nakoda, in a virtual press conference.

Comanche producer tapped Oklahoma upbringing and tribal heritage for horror prequel

Hailing from the Penneduckah (sugar eater) and Yappaducah (root eater) bands of the Comanche Nation in Oklahoma, Myers is a world champion Women’s Southern Buckskin dancer, an accomplished artist specializing in traditional arts, beadwork and silversmithing, and a 2017 Sundance Institute Fellow.

When she interviewed with Trachtenberg  for "Prey," she said she was so nervous and determined to win the job that she "just opened my bag of tricks."

"I told them everything that I had in my talent arsenal: being a fine artist and able to recreate things, being Comanche and growing up in my Comanche homelands in Oklahoma. I just told him, basically, what I could do," she said.

Along with working as a producer on Native documentaries like "Words from a Bear," “Defending the Fire” and “LaDonna Harris Indian 101,” Myers has been a tribal cultural and community resource on several mainstream feature films and television series, including “1883," “The Wilds," “Monsters of God," “Magnificent Seven," “Wind River," “The Lone Ranger” and “Apocalypto."

But joining the "Predator" prequel opened a new universe of opportunities.

"It's a dream come true for me because I've been hired as a producer to do many other things. Sometimes it has somewhat of a Native aspect, or 'Oh, we want you to look at this' and 'What about this?' This, I got to be involved in every step and everything, all the way down to the music," said Myers, who lives in New Mexico.

"Edmond Tate Nevaquaya did some music research and brought us some old songs that were used. ... Robert Mirabal, who's one of my friends out here in Taos, he was able to create those really haunting chants and those things for us. All the way to the very end where you see the hide art, I got to call on some of my friends who are fine artists — and award-winning fine artists — to recreate (those). And everything was kept exactly in period."

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'Predator' prequel pits largely Indigenous cast against iconic cinematic creature

Filmed in the Stoney Nakoda Nation near Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with a largely Indigenous cast, "Prey" follows Midthunder's Naru, a skilled healer and tracker with a driving determination to become an equally capable hunter and warrior. She and her fellow Comanche encounter a formidable foe when an alien Predator arrives on the Great Plains looking to hunt apex predators for trophies and for sport.

"The main impetus for thinking of this movie is that I've wanted to make a period science fiction film before. I had been approached for other franchises and almost undertook them in reinventing them in period form," Trachtenberg said.

"Suddenly, I started thinking about this and how perfect it would be, especially if I was going to make an underdog story, to have the threat be as formidable as possible to our protagonist — and then to have the most incredible visuals in a setting we so rarely see them in."

The movie was filmed primarily outdoors using the rugged landscape and natural light to tell the 18th-century sci-fi story.

"Being locked up during the pandemic, it was great for me to be outdoors. And Calgary looks a lot like Oklahoma with its different types of terrain," Myers said.

She and Trachtenberg (“The Boys,” “10 Cloverfield Lane”) worked closely throughout the project, and the producer was even able to influence the creature design of the iconic Predator.

"Jhane influenced the design of the Predator's feet. (With) her rock-climbing background, she was like, 'I think he should have a dewclaw that sticks out so that he could be able to grab on to trees,'" Trachtenberg told The Oklahoman. "And there's a sequence towards the end where Naru whistles at night, which has a deeper meaning for certain Native American tribes in which that is a no-no. All of what Jhane had to offer, it was not just the authenticity of the Comanche aspects of the movie, it was just having an artistic mind like hers to have as a guide and to collaborate with."

'Prey' provides unprecedented opportunity to showcase the Comanche language

For Myers, the culmination of her horror movie dream was not only incorporating Comanche words into the story, which is primarily told in English, but also creating a version of "Prey" that is fully dubbed in Comanche.

Both versions will be available to stream upon the movie's Aug. 5 debut exclusively on Hulu.

"This is the first time that there's ever been a movie in total Comanche, and this is the first time that there's ever been a new movie upon release that you get the option to watch a Comanche dub," Myers said.

"Not only does it hopefully revitalize language and preservation within the Comanche Nation, but it brings the Comanche language and the culture to the world. On 8/5, the world will be able to hear Comanche, and to me, that's just something that's incredible. I would have never dreamed that that could happen."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: 'Prey' producer lives a dream working on Native-themed 'Predator' film