Featured image by Sam Nystrom Costales
Danielle Sanchez, Executive Editor and Co-Founder of Historifans and Assistant Professor of History at Colorado College, attended Colorado Springs Comic Con in August 2022. In addition to geeking out over all of the nostalgia, fan art, cosplayers, and merch, she had the opportunity to interview Carey Jones, who plays Black Krrsantan in The Book of Boba Fett and Tracker Predator in Predators.
Editorial Note: This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Danielle Sanchez: First off, I am thrilled that I have the chance to interview you for Historifans. I can’t wait to dive into both The Book of Boba Fett and the Predator franchise. Let’s start with The Book of Boba Fett. What was it like taking the character of Black Krrsantan, who had only existed in the comics, and bringing him to life.
Carey Jones: It was an amazing experience. I never thought that I would ever be a part of Star Wars. Just getting the opportunity, first and foremost, was a lot of fun. The good thing about Krrsantan is that there were graphic novels that I could look at so I could get a sense of who he was and his mannerisms. Essentially, I felt he was a guy who was kind of lost in terms of who he belonged to, without his family and friends. He was kind of a loner. I think when people are alone like that, they tend to make the wrong decisions. I think that is basically his path. After I developed an understanding of Krrsantan, it was just a matter of putting on the suit and going through the motions of figuring out how he walks, how he stands, and his overall look. It was a process that I was able to do over a matter of months, but it was fun.
DS: Can we talk about the fan responses? Everyone was freaking out when you appeared in The Book of Boba Fett! Was that surprising for you?
CJ: I was kind of scared at first, so I didn’t really look at anything online for awhile until I got the sense that people liked it. Eventually, people told me that I should check it out. At that point, I started reading and watching fan responses online. I was happy that everyone dug it. They liked what I did with it and how I brought Black Krrsantan to life, which is very important to me because I’m a fan too. I want people to watch these shows and really feel like they’re getting out of it what they want.
Note from Danielle: This is the part of the interview when I convinced my 10 year old son, who acted as my intern for the day, and Carey Jones to do their best Wookie impersonations. This tidbit was too cute to cut from this article, but it obviously doesn’t come through in a transcribed interview.
DS: Let’s talk about another one of your iconic roles. What was it like playing a predator?
CJ: I grew up watching the first Predator movie and was a huge fan. I even tried to make Predator masks and sculptures as a kid. I took the role really seriously because I didn’t want to play this character that I’ve held so tight to my heart and then mess it up.
DS: So the stakes were higher for you?
CJ: Yes. It’s like my approach with Krrsantan: How does he stand? How does he look? How does he move? I worked hard on this every day and even after each take, I would sit back and figure out maybe I could do this better and that better. I had a lot of fun while filming Predators, but I also made sure that what I did with the role was true to the original film. I think that it’s very important to invoke that spirit because that’s what everybody loved.
DS: My son wants to show you the minifig he picked out earlier today from the merch area: it’s a predator. He loves all of the films, especially Predators and Prey.
CJ: I didn’t know they make Predator minifigs! That’s awesome!
DS: Predators was actually the first film that I watched in the Predator series. My parents weren’t sci-fi fans, so I wasn’t exposed to the franchise until college. My favorite scene in Predators is the fight with Hanzō Kawakami. The entire scene is beautifully designed, choreographed, and shot. It is truly iconic. After Prey came out, a lot of people on social media talked about how Predators is an incredible film and it didn’t get the attention that it deserved.
CJ: I had fun doing it. I loved that it was the first time that the audience found out that there were different types of predators. There was the classic Predator, which was in the original film, the one that Kevin Peter Hall played. The audience finds out that there is the Berzerker Predator that essentially hunted the classic predator and was part of the dominant Super Predator Clan at the time. Even within that hierarchy, there also are different predators. There was the Berzerker, who we called Mr. Black on set, who was the leader. There was also Tracker (the one with the tusks), and Falconer and I’m sure you know, you can interpret that there were others that had their own sort of specialty.
