November 10, 2025 • 9 mins
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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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We've got a kiwi As starring in the latest version
of the Predator franchise. Now you don't know the Predator franchise.
First movie goes all the way back to eighty seven
start somebody called Arnold Schwarzenegger. Since then there have been
four others, as well as two Alien v. Predator films. Anyway,
Demetrius Cola Matangi is Predator Deck in Predator bad Lands,
(00:20):
and Demetrius is with us. Good morning, good morning. Now
I'm very well indeed, let's have a talk first of
all about the movie itself, when it was made, where
it was made, how it was made, and how you
got the part. Talk us through it.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So pretty much filmed in New Zealand, which was really exciting,
I guess just being from here. Got to shootcase a
lot of New Zealand locations and just show off the
beautiful country. But yeah, getting the part was quite a
funny process, just auditioning as pro and yeah, my character
(00:53):
is obviously an alien so doesn't really speak English, so
I had to do a taken just like I'm eat
up language, which was funny.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I did you know that was going to be asked
of you?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
No, So we didn't even know what the production was
during the auditioning stage. They just said that this will
be a creature from another planet, so you just take
it and put your own little spin on it. And
it was funny because I just like kind of integrated
like salmon and tonguen like into my language when I
did it, and obviously worked got me the job, which
(01:25):
was quite fun, and then had to do like a
little obstacle course show how I move. And then yeah,
we were because.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Because the interesting thing in the movie. A couple of
observations in the movie. First of all, you look enormous, yes,
in the movie, in fact, you're supposed to be in
excess of seven foot.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
All h something like that. So my character is actually
the runt of like the little so he's an undersized predator,
so he's not as large as the other ones, which
is why he's kind of outcast from the culture and
from his clan. Right, So yeah, it's pretty funny. Everyone
will see me and they're like, well, you're playing the predator, bro,
(02:03):
You're not even like you're not even that big brother.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Did you know about the Predators franchise, the series of
movies before you auditioned.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Or yeah, so my dad's a massive fan of the
first one. We used to watch that one a lot
growing up, and I, yeah, I know about the universe
and like the I think the characters so iconic, Like
you don't even need to watch the movie.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
I mean, so if you know about something, especially with
your dad and it goes back to the eighties of course,
the original movie. So if you go back to that
and you're now part of that, Yeah, it's crazy, man,
I mean that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
It's pretty surreal, to be honest, it kind of hasn't
really sunk in. Still they I'm a part of something
so big like the Yeah, the franchise has such a
massive fan beast, like you said, like spans like twenty years. Yeah,
you know, and yeah, it's kind of crazy to think
that I'm now part of it.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
So you got the part the language itself in the movie.
Was that scripted is the wrong word I suppose, But
did you add lib the whole thing or was there
some expectation that there was sort of a structure to it?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, So 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 sit you
up with the zoom call with this guy named Britain
who constructed the whole language. So they pretty much made
a language like it's a literal language now and I
had to learn those lines. And I was like I
(03:23):
have to learn a whole made up language, Like I
struggle speaking someone's song and now I have to learn this.
It was fun, it was.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Cool, Like how long did it take you? And can
you still do it?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah? I can still do It's it was so we
had like a month of proper pre production PRIP, so
they gave me pretty much it just like a month
and a little bit to just get the language down,
get the sounds right. There's a lot of different like
clicking noises and yeah there's no like lips, like because
you don't have lips, so a lot of the letters
like you can't do like p's or m's. Like it's
(03:54):
all very like, yeah, it was explained for.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
People who haven't seen it. I mean your character, I
mean really simple terms. You look like you got to
sack on your head sort of, don't you.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
That's that's pretty much it.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So what did they hire you, What did they see
in you to hire you?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I think movement was one, and then because a lot
of it was facial capture, so they pretty much just
took my face and put the predators on top of
it and used my emotions and my facial expressions right
to Yeah, pretty much, had you done that? No, this
is my first time doing any kind of super performing
or was it freaky? It was hot? It was it
(04:32):
was I was sitting a lot. Yeah, it was really
just there's like a lot going on. But I think
it really helped my acting because there's just a lot
that kind of takes you out of the scene, but
you have to force yourself to just stee in.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
It because because it's clear. But also to and from
what I've seen the movies, it's it's how much of
it's I don't know what did the phrases c gi'ed
or imposed later on? In other words, are you just
standing in front of a green screen trying to make
this look real? Or was some of it real anyway?
In location?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah, most of it were shown on location, So yeah,
I think that's why. Yeah, filming in New Zealm was
a massive bonus because we probably pretty much have the
best locations in the world. And yeah, I was in
a prosthetic suit, so everything around my body was like
everything you see I was wearing except for the feast,
So the feacet was just cut up so that they
could capture the expressions.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
How much did it take you to get ready of
every day putting that on and off and getting sorted?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
And I was lucky because it was only like an hour, Like, yeah,
it just comes down of course makeup, Yeah, no makeup,
but yeah, once it's on, it's on, and you can't
really move.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I'm not surprised anyway. Listen, how I want to know
how they do this because there's basically two of you
in the movie. Your co star are your co star
turns up with half a body missing? Yep, yep? How
do they do that? And how do you act in that?
Speaker 2 (05:49):
So our pretty much had to just wear like blue
pants and then her top half was yeah, all set
for screen, and then her leg are just blue and
they're like held up by like ropes. And it's a
lot of imagination.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
This is this is the acting thing?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, isn't It's a It was a lot, yeah, just happening,
especially with the rigging because since she can't walk, I
have to carry her on my back.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Did you literally have to do that?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, So we were like strapped together a lot back
to back, which was quite funny.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Well see, that's the funny thing about the movie. There
was humor in the movie. And I mean it's a
humorous but it's a sci fi and all that stuff,
but it's got good humor to it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I think just the situation itself was humorous, Like we
weren't trying to play too much comedy. I think the
comedy just came through and like what was happening is
like so ridiculous. Yeah, it just makes it funny, which
is really cool. Like to know, a lot of the
reactions like to the film say like, yeah, the comedic
beats are quite funny.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Because I just I didn't realize she was strapped you back.
I mean I saw her strapped you back, but I
assume that that was I don't.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Also, so she's physically st Yeah, this seems like a
low tech movie because something it's like a high tech movies. Actually,
you're strapping your actors to your back for God's sake. Yeah,
I know.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
My shoulders were quite sore after but it's good training.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
I guess do they have rules and regulations around that?
And you know injury prevention and insurance cover and you
know I would what if you dropped it?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Oh man, probably have to get recast or something. But
you know I was quite safe in the stunt team
in short like that. Yeah, those things wouldn't really happen
with the risk.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Was is this your sort of movie? I mean as
an actor, of course it is. You do what you know,
But is it you you would watch this sort of movie? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
To be honest, I think just like the whole premise
of it. You know, it's an underdog story. It's like
the first of its kind in the franchise, you know,
where it's the first film that follows the Predators the protagonist.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, like all of these elements are quite interesting to
me just in general.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And l you mentioned el El Fanning and she's a
name so she did you know of her? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Of course I think everyone news her.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well yeah, but I mean were you kind of like
freaked out by it all?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I think I was as nervous after us. I was like, yeah,
she has such a massive presence, Like I was kind
of not intimidated but I was just like, oh, man,
if she's going to be a diva, this is going
to be a long shoot.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
And she wasn't. She doesn't. I don't know it, but
she doesn't. I've seen a lot of her videos and stuff,
and she hasn't. She seems like a perfectly normal person. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
No, she's so kindy, like yeah, and like really good
at her job, knew how to like kind of run
the set and you know, makes people feel really good.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Is she helpful as an actor?
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, definitely she. I put up a lot of game
from her, just like watching her process and how she
interacts with others, and yeah, just the way she is
on set.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It's like fantastic. So you you seem to me to
be a young man living their dream. Oh, I mean
you're on your way. I mean, this is your part
of a franchise. Now I assume there's a potential for
more Man.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Hopefully, god willing, we'll see it's. Yeah, it's it's.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
And really good.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
So far, we'll just trace the editor.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Good on, well, good luck with the movie because it
was made a while ago, so you know, these things
take time, and by the time it gets to the
theaters and the streaming and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
It's you know, yeah, man, is that saying good things
take time? Hopefully this is a good thing and.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Well all the very best with it. Nice to talk
with you.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Thank you so much, YouTube brother, thanks for.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Having Mutrius Kloa Matangi.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
We've got a kiwi As starring in the latest version
of the Predator franchise. Now you don't know the Predator franchise.
First movie goes all the way back to eighty seven
start somebody called Arnold Schwarzenegger. Since then there have been
four others, as well as two Alien v. Predator films. Anyway,
Demetrius Cola Matangi is Predator Deck in Predator bad Lands,
(00:20):
and Demetrius is with us. Good morning, good morning. Now
I'm very well indeed, let's have a talk first of
all about the movie itself, when it was made, where
it was made, how it was made, and how you
got the part. Talk us through it.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So pretty much filmed in New Zealand, which was really exciting,
I guess just being from here. Got to shootcase a
lot of New Zealand locations and just show off the
beautiful country. But yeah, getting the part was quite a
funny process, just auditioning as pro and yeah, my character
(00:53):
is obviously an alien so doesn't really speak English, so
I had to do a taken just like I'm eat
up language, which was funny.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I did you know that was going to be asked
of you?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
No, So we didn't even know what the production was
during the auditioning stage. They just said that this will
be a creature from another planet, so you just take
it and put your own little spin on it. And
it was funny because I just like kind of integrated
like salmon and tonguen like into my language when I
did it, and obviously worked got me the job, which
(01:25):
was quite fun, and then had to do like a
little obstacle course show how I move. And then yeah,
we were because.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Because the interesting thing in the movie. A couple of
observations in the movie. First of all, you look enormous, yes,
in the movie, in fact, you're supposed to be in
excess of seven foot.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
All h something like that. So my character is actually
the runt of like the little so he's an undersized predator,
so he's not as large as the other ones, which
is why he's kind of outcast from the culture and
from his clan. Right, So yeah, it's pretty funny. Everyone
will see me and they're like, well, you're playing the predator, bro,
(02:03):
You're not even like you're not even that big brother.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Did you know about the Predators franchise, the series of
movies before you auditioned.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Or yeah, so my dad's a massive fan of the
first one. We used to watch that one a lot
growing up, and I, yeah, I know about the universe
and like the I think the characters so iconic, Like
you don't even need to watch the movie.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
I mean, so if you know about something, especially with
your dad and it goes back to the eighties of course,
the original movie. So if you go back to that
and you're now part of that, Yeah, it's crazy, man,
I mean that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
It's pretty surreal, to be honest, it kind of hasn't
really sunk in. Still they I'm a part of something
so big like the Yeah, the franchise has such a
massive fan beast, like you said, like spans like twenty years. Yeah,
you know, and yeah, it's kind of crazy to think
that I'm now part of it.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
So you got the part the language itself in the movie.
Was that scripted is the wrong word I suppose, But
did you add lib the whole thing or was there
some expectation that there was sort of a structure to it?
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Yeah, So 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 sit you
up with the zoom call with this guy named Britain
who constructed the whole language. So they pretty much made
a language like it's a literal language now and I
had to learn those lines. And I was like I
(03:23):
have to learn a whole made up language, Like I
struggle speaking someone's song and now I have to learn this.
It was fun, it was.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Cool, Like how long did it take you? And can
you still do it?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah? I can still do It's it was so we
had like a month of proper pre production PRIP, so
they gave me pretty much it just like a month
and a little bit to just get the language down,
get the sounds right. There's a lot of different like
clicking noises and yeah there's no like lips, like because
you don't have lips, so a lot of the letters
like you can't do like p's or m's. Like it's
(03:54):
all very like, yeah, it was explained for.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
People who haven't seen it. I mean your character, I
mean really simple terms. You look like you got to
sack on your head sort of, don't you.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
That's that's pretty much it.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So what did they hire you, What did they see
in you to hire you?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I think movement was one, and then because a lot
of it was facial capture, so they pretty much just
took my face and put the predators on top of
it and used my emotions and my facial expressions right
to Yeah, pretty much, had you done that? No, this
is my first time doing any kind of super performing
or was it freaky? It was hot? It was it
(04:32):
was I was sitting a lot. Yeah, it was really
just there's like a lot going on. But I think
it really helped my acting because there's just a lot
that kind of takes you out of the scene, but
you have to force yourself to just stee in.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
It because because it's clear. But also to and from
what I've seen the movies, it's it's how much of
it's I don't know what did the phrases c gi'ed
or imposed later on? In other words, are you just
standing in front of a green screen trying to make
this look real? Or was some of it real anyway?
In location?
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yeah, most of it were shown on location, So yeah,
I think that's why. Yeah, filming in New Zealm was
a massive bonus because we probably pretty much have the
best locations in the world. And yeah, I was in
a prosthetic suit, so everything around my body was like
everything you see I was wearing except for the feast,
So the feacet was just cut up so that they
could capture the expressions.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
How much did it take you to get ready of
every day putting that on and off and getting sorted?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
And I was lucky because it was only like an hour, Like, yeah,
it just comes down of course makeup, Yeah, no makeup,
but yeah, once it's on, it's on, and you can't
really move.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I'm not surprised anyway. Listen, how I want to know
how they do this because there's basically two of you
in the movie. Your co star are your co star
turns up with half a body missing? Yep, yep? How
do they do that? And how do you act in that?
Speaker 2 (05:49):
So our pretty much had to just wear like blue
pants and then her top half was yeah, all set
for screen, and then her leg are just blue and
they're like held up by like ropes. And it's a
lot of imagination.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
This is this is the acting thing?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, isn't It's a It was a lot, yeah, just happening,
especially with the rigging because since she can't walk, I
have to carry her on my back.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Did you literally have to do that?
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, So we were like strapped together a lot back
to back, which was quite funny.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Well see, that's the funny thing about the movie. There
was humor in the movie. And I mean it's a
humorous but it's a sci fi and all that stuff,
but it's got good humor to it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I think just the situation itself was humorous, Like we
weren't trying to play too much comedy. I think the
comedy just came through and like what was happening is
like so ridiculous. Yeah, it just makes it funny, which
is really cool. Like to know, a lot of the
reactions like to the film say like, yeah, the comedic
beats are quite funny.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Because I just I didn't realize she was strapped you back.
I mean I saw her strapped you back, but I
assume that that was I don't.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Also, so she's physically st Yeah, this seems like a
low tech movie because something it's like a high tech movies. Actually,
you're strapping your actors to your back for God's sake. Yeah,
I know.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
My shoulders were quite sore after but it's good training.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
I guess do they have rules and regulations around that?
And you know injury prevention and insurance cover and you
know I would what if you dropped it?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Oh man, probably have to get recast or something. But
you know I was quite safe in the stunt team
in short like that. Yeah, those things wouldn't really happen
with the risk.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Was is this your sort of movie? I mean as
an actor, of course it is. You do what you know,
But is it you you would watch this sort of movie? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
To be honest, I think just like the whole premise
of it. You know, it's an underdog story. It's like
the first of its kind in the franchise, you know,
where it's the first film that follows the Predators the protagonist.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, like all of these elements are quite interesting to
me just in general.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
And l you mentioned el El Fanning and she's a
name so she did you know of her? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Of course I think everyone news her.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well yeah, but I mean were you kind of like
freaked out by it all?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I think I was as nervous after us. I was like, yeah,
she has such a massive presence, Like I was kind
of not intimidated but I was just like, oh, man,
if she's going to be a diva, this is going
to be a long shoot.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
And she wasn't. She doesn't. I don't know it, but
she doesn't. I've seen a lot of her videos and stuff,
and she hasn't. She seems like a perfectly normal person. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
No, she's so kindy, like yeah, and like really good
at her job, knew how to like kind of run
the set and you know, makes people feel really good.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Is she helpful as an actor?
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Yeah, definitely she. I put up a lot of game
from her, just like watching her process and how she
interacts with others, and yeah, just the way she is
on set.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It's like fantastic. So you you seem to me to
be a young man living their dream. Oh, I mean
you're on your way. I mean, this is your part
of a franchise. Now I assume there's a potential for
more Man.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Hopefully, god willing, we'll see it's. Yeah, it's it's.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
And really good.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
So far, we'll just trace the editor.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Good on, well, good luck with the movie because it
was made a while ago, so you know, these things
take time, and by the time it gets to the
theaters and the streaming and all that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
It's you know, yeah, man, is that saying good things
take time? Hopefully this is a good thing and.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Well all the very best with it. Nice to talk
with you.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Thank you so much, YouTube brother, thanks for.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Having Mutrius Kloa Matangi.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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