Judge Dredd Movie is Green Lit!

[Buddy]

If it even ever happens it WILL have Judge Death and WILL be made on the cheap.

And if Ron Perlam isn't Dredd everyone will be wasting their time.

Oh, and don't have any illusions about the helmet not coming off.

[JOE SOAP]

Oh, and don't have any illusions about the helmet not coming off.

that only matters if they get a "star" which I don't think they need to bother with this time.

I mean Perlman wore tons of Hellboy makeup that never "came off".

[radiator]

I have doubts that it would work if he didn't take the helmet off. It looked kind of silly in V for Vendetta when V wore a mask throughout, and some of the dialogue scenes in Spider-man are unintentionally comical.

The whole mask/helmet issue doesn't matter to me - its far more important that they get the tone of the comic down. Do it like Batman Begins/The Dark Knight - don't worry about the details, just get the mood right.

It occurs to me that Blood and Duty would make a good basis for a movie. Introduce Dredd as an absolute emotionless badass early on, then throw in the character of Vienna. Emphasise Dredd's awkwardness in human relationships, and you can also tell the whole Rico storyline in flashback. Dredd is then later on forced to show a human side by rescuing Vienna at the end a la Total War.

In fact to get around the helmet issue, you could have Dredd and Rico helmet-less as young men in flashback, but keep Dredd helmeted and Rico disfigured in the 'present day' scenes.

Alternatively just shoot it as a faux fly on the wall documentary and just crank up the black comedy aspect.

I don't think just because the first movie 'flopped' there's no chance of this happening - they gave The Punisher another shot after the Dolph Lungdren movie didn't they?

Sorry, I'm rambling.

[radiator]

If someone like Spielberg -guaranteed money in the bank director- can't find the cash there's no way a high risk Dredd film will.

The key difference is Spielberg is making mega-budget Hollywood movies, whereas I imagine a DNA-produced Dredd would be  far more modest in budget and ambition. Anyway, don't movies all break even eventually?

[JOE SOAP]

In fact to get around the helmet issue, you could have Dredd and Rico helmet-less as young men in flashback, but keep Dredd helmeted and Rico disfigured in the 'present day' scenes.

Alternatively just shoot it as a faux fly on the wall documentary and just crank up the black comedy aspect.

I don't think just because the first movie 'flopped' there's no chance of this happening - they gave The Punisher another shot after the Dolph Lungdren movie didn't they?

Why do you think they're going to rehash the Dredd/Rico storyline? I seriously doubt they will as individually it's too small a story and the film shouldn't be a Dredd personal story but one about the judges and mega city one so the audience actually knows what the POINT is.

The difference with the Punisher is that hey are B movies, low budget diect to video jobs. For Dredd to be successful you need a larger budget otherwise it will be shit. Mega City done cheap won't work. It's that simple.

[JOE SOAP]

If someone like Spielberg -guaranteed money in the bank director- can't find the cash there's no way a high risk Dredd film will.

The key difference is Spielberg is making mega-budget Hollywood movies, whereas I imagine a DNA-produced Dredd would be  far more modest in budget and ambition. Anyway, don't movies all break even eventually?

as I said, you can't make Dredd on a modest budget, unless it's animated. Dredd needs to be large budget otherwise it will never approach even Dark Knight standards which it should otherwise don't make it, there's not much point.

[radiator]

True, but I imagine that with DV, CGI etc you can achieve much more in visual effects these days for far less money (I'll again point to Sunshine), so it needn't be a $200m extravaganza.

the film shouldn't be a Dredd personal story but one about the judges and mega city one

But thats not a story. You need some sort of human angle. Besides I don't necessarily think they will base the theoretical movie on the Return of Rico, I just personally think thats still the best way to play it - I'm just a fan

[Hoagy]

Doing Death really really creepy, like on a par with early Alien ickyness could work. Really dark, emphasis on dark. Dingy, nasty no holds barred vehemenece. A proper villian with the phantasm crusty lips drawing back from the teeth, the absolute dehumanizing of the eyelessness behing that grill on his helmet. Like a void with teeth. Slick lighting and scuzzy backdrops being his environment as a phantasm. But when he takes a human form, it'll have to be intelligently done otherwise it could end up with him looking like a pantomime zombie.I say don't try to mirror the comic version but create a vile creature based upon the design and utterly terrify the audience with the machinations of a thoroughly dark, cold nightmare.

Dredd should be a brooding, killing machine, with subtle almost unintelligable satire filled with Sartre. Again there's oodles of potential for making a personality based on the comicbook character rather than trying to relate a comic onto the screen. I think a man who is GOING to hell and back to see how far it is could be close to acceptable. Worn future-leather, dirtyed by years of cleaning scum off the filthy distopian streets, a global envioronment of chronic paranoia and a megacity that takes bladerunner's city even further into cramped, Dave Taylor, extremes. More like Iain Banks' city in The Bridge.

[radiator]

I don't think the movie would need a potted history of Justice Department, the Judges etc or even an introductory voiceover - a capable director would be able to subtly explain who the judges are and why they are needed without whacking you over the head with it.

[Hoagy]

I don't think the movie would need a potted history of Justice Department, the Judges etc or even an introductory voiceover - a capable director would be able to subtly explain who the judges are and why they are needed without whacking you over the head with it.

Oh absolutely, steer well clear of all that. Let the tale tell itself. I'd never heard of Frank Millar's Sin City before I saw it on the screen or Bladerunner's origins. I thoroughly accepted these world though. They did have voice over's detective style though and again I'd challenge the writers to stay awy from it.

[JOE SOAP]

But thats not a story. You need some sort of human angle. Besides I don't necessarily think they will base the theoretical movie on the Return of Rico, I just personally think thats still the best way to play it - I'm just a fan

I never said it was A story but it is the basis of most Dredd stories and provides the background to tell the audience who the judges are and why they are. Most people never even understood the concept of instant justice from the first film.

You can't do the Dredd personal story, that is not really the best way to start a franchise. A Mega City story like America or even Chopper is a far better option than the "Dredd" one which to do right would involve 30 years of bloodline stories. Return of RIco is really only a short film in terms of story points.


I think you'd still need about $75-100 million with a cast of unknowns to do it right.

[paulvonscott]

I don't think anything will end up in the movie because fans want it, movies are just too big for that.  You just have to hope the people involved get it and have the ability to translate the strip to cinema.

I'd certainly like to see a good Judge Dredd film, but I'll take what I can get when it comes.

[JOE SOAP]

Oh absolutely, steer well clear of all that. Let the tale tell itself. I'd never heard of Frank Millar's Sin City before I saw it on the screen or Bladerunner's origins. I thoroughly accepted these world though. They did have voice over's detective style though and again I'd challenge the writers to stay awy from it.

those films played on the film noir and crime conventions in cinema. Dredd needs a little more to work.

[Buddy]

I bet Will Smith will play Dredd... he seems to be in everything else!

[Hoagy]

You've also got totalitarianism film like 1984 to Equilibrium, franz Kafa's the Trial to where the totalitarianism is the story. I think a glimpse at the PSU and Edgar's department and a few shot of ultimate doublethink should plainly observe a culture under such regime but easily shown to be enterprising and free roaming too.

Heath Ledger should've done it. He had an Esquerres mouth. 'sob'.
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