Action star Jean-Claude Van Damme played the title character in Predator — briefly — before being fired and replaced by Kevin Peter Hall.
What exactly went wrong isn’t totally clear (this Hollywood Reporter deep dive is the closest we may ever get to the truth), but it seems Van Damme arrived on set expecting to show off his martial arts skills but was instead fitted with a gigantic alien mask that limited his mobility and restricted his air so much that he kept passing out. Van Damme either quit, was angrily fired by producer Joel Silver, or was no longer the right fit for the role when the costume was redesigned for a 7-foot man.
Whatever the truth, the disappointment was short-lived for Van Damme. Eight months after the release of Predator, the Muscles from Brussels scored his own hit as the star of Bloodsport.
