I understand the need for redemption from the “Alien vs. Predator” movies and if adding more xenomorphs made “Aliens” an action-charged flick, then adding more Predators can’t be a horrible idea.  Recent casting news seemed sensible: Danny Trejo, Walton Goggins, Alexa Braga, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (his nickname is “Ali” although I can’t possibly imagine why he would need a nickname), and UFC fighter Oleg Taktarov.  A team of ass-kickers, just like in the original “Predator”.  But who would lead this band of modern-day vikings?

Adrien Brody.  Because when I think “bad-ass”, I think, “Adrien Brody”.  That’s who’s leading them.  Oh, and Topher Grace may also be in the gang, also as a bad-ass.  Let this casting news sink in a bit and then hit the jump.

According to Production Weekly’s Twitter, Director Nimrod Antal’s “Predators” will begin shooting September 28th at Robert Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas. I’d imagine this is pretty accurate as 20th Century Fox is releasing the film July 7th, 2010. More after the jump:

While I have said many unflattering things about 20^th Century Fox this past year due to their handling of certain fanboy properties, it looks like things might be changing at the studio. The reason…according to writer/director Robert Rodriguez, who I spoke with at Comic-Con, FOX is giving him total artistic freedom to make his “Predator” movie - which he’s calling “Predators”. According to the maverick filmmaker, FOX wants him to make a non-studio, studio movie. Meaning, they want him to make it outside the studio system and once the film is done, they’ll take over. He went on to tell me that FOX wants a “cool, bitchin’ movie”. As a fan of the first “Predator” movie and also of Robert Rodriguez, I cannot wait to see what he’s going to put together.

Check out what he said about “Predators”, Comic-Con, “Shorts” and “Machete” after the jump:

Do you know who Nimrod Antal is?  It’s okay if you don’t.  He’s the man behind “Kontroll”, “Vacancy”, and the upcoming “Armored”.  But you should start getting familiar with him because Robert Rodriguez just brought him on board to direct “Predators”, the first official sequel in the “Predator” franchise since we won’t count the “AVP” films and all their wretchedness.

Speaking with AICN, Rodriguez confirmed the hiring (which had been rumored in the past week or so as LatinoReview reported) and said that it was Antal’s work on “Armored” that really put him over the top.  Rodriguez compares Antal to Quentin Tarantino in being able to handle a large cast in a character-driven movie.  Also, judging from the interview, while Rodriguez is tight-lipped on the plot, he’s kind of selling it like “Aliens” but with Predators.  I don’t know if that’s any reason to complain, but I think it would be nice to have a film that can stand on its own as an action-horror flick rather than just using the “Predator” name.

Click over to AICN for the full story.  Antal’s “Armored” is slated to hit theatres on December 4th.