Dimitrius Koloamatangi: Kiwi actor on his role as Dek in 'Predator: Badlands'

A Kiwi is at the helm of the latest movie in an iconic franchise. 

The first Predator film was released in 1987, and four films —and two Alien vs Predator films— and 38 years later, Kiwi-born Dimitrius Koloamatangi holds a starring role in ‘Predator: Badlands’.  

Auditioning for the role of Dek was a bit of a funny process, Koloamatangi revealed to Mike Hosking. 

“My character is obviously an alien, so he doesn’t really speak English,” 

“So I had to do a take in just like, a made-up language.”  

While the audition process had Koloamatangi integrating elements of Samoan and Tongan into his own language, for the actual film, he had to learn something entirely new. 

“When I jumped on, I had thought I could just freestyle and do my own thing, which I was like, ‘oh this is gonna be fantastic, no lines.’” 

“But then they were like, oh we’re gonna set you up with the Zoom call with this guy named Britton who constructed the whole language,” Koloamatangi told Hosking. 

“I was like, bro, I have to learn a whole made up language? Like, I struggle Samoan somewhat fluently, now I have to learn this? But it was fun.” 

The Predator franchise is iconic, boasting a massive fanbase, including Koloamatangi’s father. 

“My dad’s a massive fan of the first one – we used to watch that one a lot growing up,” he said. 

“It’s pretty surreal to be honest,” 

“The franchise has such a massive fan base, like you said, spans like 20 years, you know, and, yeah, it’s kind of crazy to think that I’m now a part of it.” 

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