Judge Dredd returns this year, with ten times the scowling attitude and embodiment of the law. It’s an action film that we’re quite psyched for, but it hasn’t been an easy ride back into Mega City One, as director Pete Travis explains, regarding certain controversies and rumours surrounding the film.
Talking to Empire, Travis had only one real explanation for the perceived issues with producing the film, surrounding himself and writer Alex Garland.
“It was all bollocks, really,” Travis said. “Dredd was always an extraordinary collaboration between lots of different people. Alex’s interpretation of Dredd’s world was the inspiration for me to get involved.”
At one point, rumours were circulating that Travis had been blocked from the editing room, by the producers of the film. “I have no idea where that came from,” said producer Andrew Macdonald, as he highlighted how the film had an unusually tight partnership between Travis and Garland.
“We stand by the unusual collaboration. Everything was built around the script and the character.”
Word of mouth has been positive so far for Dredd, with sneak peek audiences loving the action-packed spectacle, praising the gory violence that unfolds in 3D. Should the film do well at the box office, a sequel is all but guaranteed, but where exactly would Dredd go after cleaning up the big Meg?
Most likely that radiation hotspot, the Cursed Earth according to Garland, which might even set up the first big screen appearance of Dredds deadliest enemies, the Dark Judges.
That alone has me excited, but I’d probably be over the legal limit if they happened to include this scene in a future sequel;
Dredd 2: Prepare to gaze. Catchy title, right?
Last Updated: July 27, 2012
James Francis
July 27, 2012 at 13:15
We can only hope… but Dredd might become a low-fi hit, so low-budget but high-execution. Once a project like that gets room and budget, things tend to fall apart – like an angry metal band’s sophomore album.