From what we've seen of
DREDD so far, it would appear as if the look of the 2000AD character is very faithful to the comics books (right down to the trademark grimace supplied in the remake by
Star Trek actor Karl Urban). However, there is ONE part of the costume which has made a fair bit less garish.
"I felt the eagle would snag fabrics or something as Dredd would walk past them - curtains trailing after his arm," writer Alex Garland tells
Empire Magazine in the latest issue on sale today.
"I was quite keen to move him away from the superhero, make him very much a man who, when people shoot at him, has to take cover. There's a human being there and to help ground it, we gave him, as you can see, body armour."
We recently heard from Garland about his plans for a trilogy (which will of course depend on the success of
DREDD this September) and he told the magazine more about how that idea came about.
"I worked on this whole script about Judge Dredd versus Judge Death, who is a supernatural character (a zombified version of Dredd from a parallel dimension where living is a crime). Then I realised that this was not the best place to start a Dredd story, but to end it. And a trilogy shape began to emerge out of that wrong step." The sequel will see the title character head into a very different terrain as,
"there is, outside of Mega-City One, this desert terrain, The Cursed Earth." Meanwhile, Judge Death will be the perfect way to finish off the trilogy as it would mean that we see,
"The city coming under this huge threat."
During a routine day on the job, Dredd is assigned to train and evaluate Cassandra Anderson, a rookie with powerful psychic abilities thanks to a genetic mutation. A heinous crime calls them to a neighborhood where fellow Judges rarely dare to venture- a 200 story vertical slum controlled by prostitute turned drug lord Ma-Ma and her ruthless clan. When they capture one of the clan's inner circle, Ma-Ma overtakes the compound's control center and wages a dirty, vicious war against the Judges that proves she will stop at nothing to protect her empire. With the body count climbing and no way out, Dredd and Anderson must confront the odds and engage in the relentless battle for their survival.
STARRING:
Karl Urban as Judge Dredd
Olivia Thirlby as Judge Anderson
Lena Headey as Madeline Madrigal
Domhnall Gleeson as Travis Synders
Langley Kirkwood as Judge Lex
Francis Chouler as Judge Guthrie
Deobia Oparei as Judge T.J. Alvarez
RELEASE DATE: September 7th, 2012 (UK) September 21st, 2012 (US)