Prey star Amber Midthunder shares her reaction to the success of the movie. Prey is the seventh overall film in the franchise that began with 1987's Predator and spread to include three sequels and two crossover films with the Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise. Prey, which was directed by 10 Cloverfield Lane's Dan Trachtenberg, premiered exclusively on Hulu earlier this summer on August 5. Since then, the film has amassed major buzz, becoming the most-watched premiere of any film or television series on Hulu in the United States and garnering a Certified Fresh rating of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY
Although there is an ensemble cast in Prey, which includes Dakota Beavers, Julian Black Antelope, and Blackstone star Michelle Thrush, Midthunder is far and away the performer who carries the movie on her back. She plays Naru, a young Comanche woman living in the Great Plains in 1719 who wants to be a hunter like her older brother. She is given the chance to prove herself when a Predator arrives on the scene, a threat only she properly recognizes. The film follows Naru on every step of her journey to defeat the creature, and Midthunder is featured front and center in nearly every scene of the entire film, her performance powering the entire emotional core of the project.
Collider sat down with Midthunder to discuss her role in Reservation Dogs season 2. Quite naturally, the conversation eventually turned to her leading role in Prey, and she discussed her overwhelming reaction to the success of the film. She said that the thing that affects her the most is "some of the interactions I’ve had with people, which have been really meaningful and really beautiful," though there is no denying the emotional power of the film's success, which feels like "we’re living in a dream." Read her full quote below:
To have some of the interactions I’ve had with people, which have been really meaningful and really beautiful, and really, really moving, there’s nothing that could top that. There’s no amount of chart breaking or anything that could top what that means to me. But then, you step back and look at all those other things, like the number one release and the high numbers on Rotten Tomatoes, and it literally feels like we’re living in a dream. I don’t think I thought about what would happen after the movie came out, but I know that I wasn’t expecting this at all, and I’m so grateful.
The success of Prey will likely send Midthunder's career into the stratosphere. Before properly bursting onto the film scene with her lead role in the prequel, she had been steadily accruing television credits in series with strong name recognition, including Longmire, Roswell, New Mexico, and the Dan Stevens Marvel series Legion. She's already become a hot upcoming actor, and should they opt to make a Prey 2 featuring the return of Naru, that will only help her star burn brighter.
In the meantime, Midthunder has clearly remained entirely down-to-earth about the success of Prey. While she obviously acknowledges how exciting it is that the movie is doing well financially, she is still focused on the reaction of the people who watch and love it. This is wholly in keeping with her biggest concern while making the movie, which was making sure it properly represented and respected America's indigenous people, and certainly speaks to her selflessness as a performer.