Karl Urban is Judge Dredd

This one has been rumoured for a while now and Empire have gotten the confirmation that Karl Urban will indeed don the Judge's helmet, and he won't be taking it off!

Karl  Urban has been confirmed for the leading role in Judge Dredd by producers Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich of the new film. Urban had been rumoured for the role already, but in a Movie-Con Q&A this evening the pair confirmed that he has been cast for the film, shooting in South Africa soon.

“The main thing about Dredd is that it’s a fantastic comic that was completely messed up 20 years ago," said Macdonald. "Our idea is to make a very hard, R-rated, gritty, realistic movie of Dredd in Megacity, so we’ve got to get the tone right. He’s not going to take off his helmet. His bike is going to feel real. He’s going to hit people and it’s going to feel real."

"There’s been a change in comic-book movies; they were treated unseriously and now they’re treated seriously. We’ve cast a guy called Karl Urban to play Dredd. We’ll be shooting in Johannesburg, it’s being directed by Pete Travis, we’re shooting with the people who did District 9 – and if we get it right, Alex has a couple of ideas for other stories as well. It’s not based on any one comic, and John Wagner is involved in every decision."

"Unseriously?"............anyway, this is momentous news for Dredd fans who have waited 15 years for their guy to get another shot at the big screen, after the much maligned Sly Stallone version.

From what I've read the script is a tight Die Hard style actioner, big on set pieces and minimal on everything else, which seems like a smart way to relaunch the character. I liked director Pete Travis' debut "Vantage Point" and Dredd has potential for cool big screen carnage, so I'll be following this one.

For all those feeling a little nostalgic or like suffering I'm ending this piece with a treat, the trailer for Sly's Judge Dredd, enjoy!

Comments

[Lighthouse]

Jesus, has it really been 15 years since Sly's Judge Dredd came out?