Predator prequel Prey will be available in the Comanche language

In a first for any movie (well, any Predator movie for sure), the upcoming prequel, Prey, will feature a Comanche-language track. Appearing on the /Film podcast, director Dan Trachtenberg and producer Jhane Myers spoke about why including the option was so meaningful. “That’s really important to me being Comanche and working with our Comanche language department, also with working with Comanche language speakers,” said Myers. “But just the fact that people will have a choice, the world will have a choice to listen to the whole film in Comanche is amazing.”

According to Myers, while movies have been translated into the Navajo language, none have been available in Comanche. Myers continued:

“That’s never been done for my tribe, ever. There’s only a couple of movies. I think Star Wars, which was 30 years old when they transcribed it into Navajo, and then there was Navajo again for Finding Nemo, which was 20 years old when they did that. But this is the first time for a brand new film to come out and have that option to hear it all in the whole language. So that not only inspires the young language speakers of my nation, but that inspires a lot of other people and shows them, and like I said, shows the world what our language is about. Which is thrilling for me.”

Anyone who watched the trailer, which is in English, might be confused. Trachtenberg shot the movie in English, but the actors from the film re-dubbed the movie in Comanche. According to Trachtenberg, they attempted a Hunt For Red October approach in which the film would slowly transition from Comanche to English. In the end, they landed on shooting the film in English. “Both languages are spoken, but when you hear English, it’s as if it’s Comanche,” Trachtenberg said. “But what Jhane is speaking to is on Hulu, there will be a Comanche dub of the movie, so you can watch the entire movie in Comanche with the original actors returning to perform their roles.”

Prey lands on Hulu on August 5.