How Did Jesse Ventura End Up Starring In The Film Predator?

If you ask people to name one of the most iconic action films of the 1980s, the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle Predator would be incredibly high on that list.

However, most of the best lines of the film and the ones that end up on pop culture t-shirts are not spoken by Arnie himself but by his slightly bigger co-star, Jesse Ventura.

Whilst “get to the chopper” is one of the most famous action movie lines ever, and “stick around” is perfect action movie fodder, practically everything The Body says is immensely quotable, particularly how his chewing tobacco will make you a “Sexual Tyrannosaurus”.

This is hardly surprising, given that whilst Arnie famously hardly spoke in many of his films up until Predator, Jesse Ventura had spent decades talking people into the arena to watch his matches as a professional wrestler, and would spend another decade as a commentator.

Predator was his big break as an actor, but were it not for a suggestion by Mr Schwarzenegger himself, he may not have had the opportunity.

Initially, Predator was meant to be a sci-fi twist on The Most Dangerous Game, with a group of alien hunters and a single combat soldier. Eventually, this would become a single alien duelling it out with an action movie soldier.

Arnie read the script and, though he saw potential, did not like the film having so few characters and fewer chances to build tension. The Predator is hardly going to kill Arnie off, after all.

Instead, Mr Schwarzenegger suggested having a crack team of commandos, and the producers quickly searched for larger-than-life characters.

They quickly found Carl Weathers (of Apollo Creed fame) and Jesse Ventura, who was not only a larger-than-life pro wrestler but had previously been a Navy SEAL, providing extra authenticity to the role. 

Of course, with lines such as “I ain’t got time to bleed”, it turned out to be a masterstroke, and Arnie and The Body would collaborate the same year for The Running Man.